I am in the process of restoring my cedar deck and knew that there would be a lot of sanding in the process. Rather than overwork and potentially destroy my PC Random Orbit sander, I chose to pick up a cheap HF sander--on sale for 24.99. FOr the basis of this review, I will compare to my PC 333 5" Random Orbit. The HF specs will always be listed first:

Motor: 2a vs. 2.4

No power issues. I ran this sander last night for almost 3.5 hours non stop. It got slightly warm, but nothing serious given the run cycle There is less vibration in the HF and it is about 1/2 as loud. Both are 12,000rpm.

Dust collection:

HF: Cloth Bag. PC: Solid tube/filter

Neither are particularly effective, however, the PC is slightly better

Switch:
HF: Sealed. PC: No sealed.

Overall, both use standard hook & loop paper. The HF does have a rubber pad on top, which makes it slightly more comfortable to use. The sanding bed on both is virtually the same. No perceptable difference in cord length. I'd give a slight edge to the HF in total ergonomics. The biggest drawback is the dust collection. The dust collection port is an odd oblong-oval shape which would make hooking up to a shop-vac or DC a little less convienent, unlike the PC which would use a 1 1/4 vacuum collection.

I will continue to use this and see how it holds up, but initial impressions are pretty good.