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A Comprehensive Guide to Battery Powered Sanders: Comparing Brands and Performance
Sanders are vital tools for many woodworking and construction projects. They are used for a variety of purposes, such as smoothing rough surfaces, removing paint, and shaping wood. Among the different types of sanders, random orbital sanders are the most popular due to their versatility and ease of use. While most of the power tools available on the market today are battery-powered, battery-powered sanders are still relatively new. This guide will examine the various battery-powered sanders available, compare them, and help you make an informed decision on which one to choose for your upcoming projects.
Introduction
This guide is based on a video uploaded by Engineer775 on their YouTube channel. The video compares the performance of five different brands of battery-powered sanders: Bauer, Ryobi, Craftsman, Black and Decker, Ridgid, and Cobalt. The video tests these sanders on several parameters such as:
1. The amount of wood removed in a specific time frame.
2. The grip on sandpaper.
3. Dust collection efficiency.
4. Vibration levels.
For the purpose of this guide, we’ll discuss the various brands and their features, and summarize the findings of the video to tell you which brand performed best.
Bauer
Bauer offers one of the most economical options in the battery-powered sander category. Priced at just $35, it comes with a three-millimeter orbit and a heavy-duty motor that is guaranteed for 90 days. The sander is capable of 10,000 orbits per minute and has an industrial fan-cooled motor with sealed bearings. It features onboard dust collection, which helps keep the workspace clean. The Bauer sanders are made in China.
In the video, the Bauer sander removed 8 grams of wood in four minutes from a piece of oak with a Janka hardness rating of 1300. The dust count was reasonably low at 6,600 small and 1,700 large particles per 0.1 cubic feet. The dust bag collected most of the dust, but a small amount of escaped from a few areas of the sander.
Ryobi
The Ryobi brand is priced at $45, only $10 more than the Bauer brand. It comes with a 10,000 orbits per minute speed setting and onboard dust collection. It also has up to 40 minutes of use with a four-amp hour battery and a three-year manufacturer’s warranty. The Palm grip design increases user comfort during extended use, and the Ryobi uses hook and loop accessory fastening.
In the video, Ryobi removed 12 grams of wood in four minutes from the sample piece compared to Bauer’s 8 grams. It had a lower dust count of 5,600 small and 1,500 large particles per 0.1 cubic feet. The sanding disc spun smoothly with little to no vibration. Ryobi showed impressive performance when compared to its lower-priced counterpart, the Bauer.
Craftsman
The Craftsman brand, priced at $52, offers a three-year limited warranty, 10,000 orbits per minute, a high-performance dust collection system, and a low profile, and lightweight design.
Craftsman isn’t just the lightest of the sanders mentioned; it’s the lightest yet of the brands examined in the video at 950 grams. It produced the most dust yet, 8,200 small and 1,050 large particles per 0.1 cubic feet. The Dust collection system design performance was impressive, but it was the most squirrelly brand and required a lot of supervision and user input. Craftsman removed 14 grams, with the dust bag coming up 4 grams short on the wood dust.
Black and Decker
The Black and Decker brand comes at a price of $65 and comes equipped with a 1.5 amp hour battery along with a battery charger and the tool itself. It offers up to 11,000 orbits per minute, uses a hook and loop accessory fastening system and a palm grip design, making it easy to use for an extended time. Its compact design is also convenient to maneuver into tighter spaces.
According to the video, the Black and Decker produced the most dust yet in just four minutes of use: 9,700 small and 1,250 large particles per 0.1 cubic feet. However, the dust collection system fell short where the sanding disc was spinning clockwise at a high speed, spewing out dust and leaving two grams of it outside the bag. The fast-spinning sanding disc threw the sandpaper off in places requiring additional waste in sanding paper to finish the job.
Ridgid
The Ridgid brand came in at a price of $78 and offered variable speeds, dust collection, and soft start and brake pads to prevent gouges on work surfaces. The Ridgid brand comes with a lifetime warranty and up to 60 minutes of run time and at a variable speed of 7,000 to 11,000 rpm.
The video demonstrated that Ridgid’s dust collection efficiency was below average, with its dust collection bag, starting at 68 grams and gathering only four grams of dust. Although producing the least amount of noise at 82.7 decibels, compared to the other brands, the Ridgid was the most squirrelly and required a lot of supervision and guidance from its user. It removed 8 grams of wood but left 4 grams of dust outside the dust bag.
Cobalt
The Cobalt brand was the last one tested. Priced at $130, it is the most expensive brand among those tested in the video. It is equipped with a brushless motor, which is deemed to improve battery life and longevity. This sander provides up to 11,000 orbits per minute, a low-vibration system, and a run time of up to 3.6 times longer than most sanders in the market.
The Cobalt brand is much quieter than the Ridgid brand at 79.9 decibels. The Cobalt sander creates the least amount of dust and mops the dust efficiently with its onboard dust collection system, which is a critical feature that is sometimes overlooked in sanders. It also produced the least amount of vibration, making it easy to use for an extended time, but it is relatively heavier than some other brands. At the highest setting of 6, the Cobalt brand dug 16 grams of wood out of the test oak piece, twice the nearest competitor, the Ryobi.
Conclusion
After thoroughly testing the various brands of battery-powered sanders, the Cobalt brand comes out on top with the best performance. Its onboard dust collection, low-vibration system, and brushless motor make it a good investment for those willing to spend more on the tool. The Craftsman brand is a close second, with a highly efficient dust collection system. At $35, the Bauer brand got the job done, although it produced a slightly higher amount of dust. The Black and Decker brand is a noisy and inefficient tool, with its dust collection system falling short but gets the job completed. The Ryobi brand was impressive and comes close with its performance and overall package, while the Ridgid brand produced the least amount of dust but was the most squirrelly and required a lot of supervision.
In conclusion, it’s pertinent to research your needs carefully and make an informed decision based on factors such as your budget, project scale, and sander features, such as dust collection, performance, and weight. You could learn so much more about tools, tips, and tricks from YouTube channels such as Engineer775, where they help to break down the complexities of power tools and make it simpler for even a beginner to understand.
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How about belt sanders
Cordless belt sanders
Holy cow, what a thorough and analytic review. Absolutely superb. I look forward to watching more videos in your library and ones to come.
You can't be serious here? No Festool, no Metabo… Are we talking about the best? Also Bosch and Hikoki have models that would easily wipe the floor with your models. (cable: 3M, Facom, Bahco)
You are so smart organizing these tests! Love it!!
I have used and abused the royobi ime not to disappointed with how long they last and work switch issues new one might fix that . Every one I've killed has been me abusing it. I get more than my money worth out of them it never gets a day off. My go to sander . I can by 2 for the price of other brands and they last just as long as one royobi
It would be good to see palm/detail sanders compared. The usual battery powered brands against a cheap mains powered sander would be great as well
Stuck with dewalt have to much invested. Good enough for me. Great test as always!!!
If it's vibrating fast and removes surface the fastest, it's a win for me! I do all of my sanding outdoors so dust collection matters little. Oh and I own a Bauer corded not cordless but I really like the Kobalt.
I have an interest in buying a corded orbital sander. I am not interested in a battery sander so I would love to see a corded sanded review from you.
DEAR PROJECT-FARM: THIS TIME I AM SORRY TO DISAGREE WITH YOUR TEST… Look, all these sanders are only "good" for relatively small jobs… Their orbit size is just too small, their power is also low, and their usefulness is limited to a job of approximate size of up to a medium sized desk top or smaller!… Forget using them for a large 8-person dining table top, a large piano, or a 20 step stair, much less a small bedroom wooden floor!
My experience started with a corded Bosch, model PE12AE many years ago. After using it througly, I became aware of its limitations (5" platter, less than 400 watts, 1/8" orbit size, and only a free-spinning excentric bearing driving the pad…
At that time, the then new larger, more powerful (above 750 watts) sanders became available; with a larger orbit size (1/4"), larger 6" platter, more than double the power of the former ones, and a new GEARED transmission selectable mode, the new ones are a VERY DIFFERENT KIND OF ANIMAL!
Here in my country, the only four available models were the renowned FESTOOL ROTEX, the less known but specialized MIRKA DEROS, the Large Bosch 150 mm, and the Makita BO6050… Both the ROTEX and the MIRKA are just too expensive for me, the Bosch was said to have plastic gears, so I went with the Makita BO6050, and it resulted in a LARGE improvement over my old Bosch 5"one… Now, for example, polishing a midsize car with my new powerful Makita (about 892 watts), it cut the job from more than four hours, to a much faster one hour and ten minutes… Tackling a large dining table now takes me a third of the time, and switching out the GEARED rotation, transforms it into a nice polisher capable of fine polishing automotive paint fast and easy, and without burning or eating the paint coat. It is like having two machines in one. For me, it is no way back to restrict myself to a puny 5", run-of-the-mill underpowered sander. Please take into account that sanding large surfaces takes too much time, so no cordless sander is going to be a good selection, unless you have plenty of batteries and a nearby charging stand. Lastly, ask yourself a question: Why use a random orbit cordless sander that will need a stiff, thick and cumbersome vacuum hose, so that the thin, light and flexible cord will not be of any practical consequence? FORGET ABOUT THE DUMB, BUSINESS-ORIENTED TREND OF HAVING "ALL CORDLESS" TOOLS!, unless you are in the middle of a desert, corded makes much more sense, and the money you will save from not having to buy replacement batteries will allow you to buy much better, durable and solid corded tools!
How about a review of cordless belt sanders?
Have you tested Electrical Contact Cleaners? I think WD40 is even one. An expensive one that people rave about is Deoxit d5 and there are many more. But how well do they do at actually clean electrical contacts, switches, etc.
In my opinion, this is the type of tool that you can cheap out on. I have the bauer and it works fine. It is a tool that does 1 job and they'll all do the same thing, just within various periods of time. Sure time is money but if youre not working on projects 24/7, I say go budget. When you're sanding, you're usually in the detailing and quality checking phase of a project anyway, so go ahead and take your time to get it right and know you're making quality pieces using an affordable tool make that money.
Great review but any real sanding job that I do is just too much for a battery sander. It's out of power way too soon. Please do a corded sander review. Generally speaking, I use cordless only with screwdrivers and drills (for nut and bolt application or removal). I find that battery tools are only worthwhile when their overall power usage is minor. If a "job" has to be done, a corded tool is far less frustrating as it just keeps running.
I swear this is one of the top 3 best channels for useful information on tools and such hands down!!!
Fantastic review as usual. Would like to see a belt sander review.
Would be great to see some of these along with higher end corded sanders like Mirka, Festool, 3M and Bosch GET75-6n. Regardless, I appreciate your work! Thx!
Would this be the exact same for CORDED?
lol I got my 2 ryobi sanders a rotary and square for $20 on facebook store and have been using them for 2 years now.
These videos keep proving to me that the Kobalt brand is just as good if not better than names like Dewalt Makita and Milwaukee… 😮
you aren't supposed to put much downforce on a random orbit sander to get the best performance out of it
vibration and downforce required are a huge deal when having alot of sanding to do
Could you do a series of made in the USA battery powered tool face offs? Craftsman, dewalt, Milwaukee, etc.
Thanks for including Kobalt! I buy their tools because my town has no HD and am always sad when I see them missing from your line up
I guess we can see where a part of the Bosch cost goes: to research for dust removal and anti-vibration. Some others preffered brute force.
I love your videos, helps me a lot when buying tools, I would like to see high end finishing sanders like the festool, Bosch and mirka, I know is going to be expensive but all the videos I see for these type of sander are all bias
I love your videos and today I came specifically to check to see if you had anything on sanders as I've got a deck project coming up at my house and need to buy some gear. It would be interesting to review random orbital/geared sanders… I used to work in the trades and we used the Festool Rotex which what unparalleled in perfomance but quite expensive. It would be interesting to see what would compete with that level gear… all those are corded though. Another factor in deciding what to buy is what system have you invested in? DeWalt, Milwaulkee, Ryobi, Bosch etc. What do you have more of at home and how does that change your buying considerations. Tough decisions so thank you for the work you do!
Great Video. Would have liked to see Porter Cable as well. Thank you
Love all your videos, always been a subscriber and enjoy all your content, I needed a belt sander this weekend and went to harbour freight got the 45$ model. And wish you had a video , I can’t even return it because when I put it down it burned the wire , the machine works for three minutes and then goes right to full speed and you can’t slow it down, destroy8ng wood in the meantime, I hope maybe you could do a video and see what’s a good brand …..save some others my grief ……it sanded ok but once it got warm it was awful. And vey. Dusty. Dusty ……keep up the great work sir
Excellent testing! Now I'm going to end up with another different battery tool. ;D
Still not sold on battery powered sanders. However, this test could generally speaking translate to their corded brethren. Maybe.
with the popularity of file sanders increasing maybe that might be something to compare not only the tool but also the belts. as a collision tech I use both the 1/2" and 3/8"mini on a regular basis, they are indispensable when removing spot welds
I feel like in most of his videos he for-sure favors Milwaukee over other brands. Not insulting or anything, Milwaukee is a good company
WoW~ Great Video! Sad part was when you said Made In China. Which I think should be outlawed and made here! Making think about my Milwaukee and switching to DeWalt. Just so China will not get our money! Milwaukee by the way is closer to $149 or is that the Next Gen?
Howdy again. Was wondering if you do this test or any other power tools if you could include Skil brand in them? I have a few budget Skil and Wen brand tools (electric planer, orbital sander etc.; I saw you did Wen for the grinder, appreciated). While I like brand name, I’m po, heheh. Thanks in advance.
Edit: Think I saw a few grizzly power hand tools in the scene recently.
Just a note it's cheaper to buy the DeWalt kit which has the tool, tool bag, their fastest charger, and an ah4 battery for only $119. vs the $149 just for the tool.