Which ROS to choose?

[xli1]

Just got a $50 gift card for Homedepot. I am thinking of what to buy. Currently, a radom orbital sander might suit my needs. I checked the homedepot.com and find out that there are several of them at the price range between $34.88 to $69.97, including: Ridgid R2600, Dewalt D26451K, Ryobi RS241, Porter Cable 333k, Milwaukee 6019-6. I would prefer to have variable speed, so only Ridgid and Dewalt left. I also find that in local store, they might still have Ryobi variable speed ROS for around $50. Now, I can not decide which one to choose. So please give me some advice on this. I would like to know what are your experiences on these tools and what are the pros and cons, thanks a lot for any suggestions.

[LarryG]

Last night I was looking for an article about some kitchen cabinets that I liked the design of, and happened to run across an ROS comparison test in Fine Woodworking. I remembered seeing your post and spent a few minutes skimming the article. I forgot to bring the issue with me today, but here are a few things I can recall offhand:

Both the Editor's Choice and Best Value award went to the Bosch. They also tested an apparently identical sander from Klingspor's but it did not share the top honors since it cost $10 more than the Bosch.

Although they didn't outright say so, interpreting the test results matrix would put the Makita in second place by a slim margin. (I noticed this because I own this sander.)

The P-C lost points by having, IIRC, the worst (i.e., most obvious) scratch pattern left on the wood by its random-orbit pattern. This was surprising to me for such a well-known brand of power tools.

The Ryobi didn't do well at all; they said it was very difficult to control.

I'm pretty sure the Ridgid was included but I don't recall how it did, sorry.

I do recall that WOOD Magazine also tested a batch of RO sanders fairly recently, but I don't remember the results well enough to risk quoting them. If you can wait another day, I'll dig out both magazines tonight and will post more info tomorrow.

[lcm1947]

I have the article and it does give the Bosch top honors in both " Best Overall " and "Best Value". As far as how the readers rated theirs was Festool came out first so if you have that kind of money it would be a good choice for you. Ridgid came in second and happens to be the one I have. I mainly bought it for it's price, variable speed and you can hook up a shop vac straight to it without having to buy a special attachment that is required to hook it up to a vac. The only problem I see with the Ridgid is that you can accidentally brush against the off button and shut it off by mistake pretty easy. I don't like that but really not a big deal for getting the other good things about the tool. Also it's not as good as the Bosch or Makita on any of the rating. Now if I had to do it all over I'd buy the Bosch first and then Makita. Actually the Makita has the better rating for external dust collection by 10% and the better rating for " built in dust collection" by 28%. It also had the best vibration of the two. The Bosch however had the best scratch pattern and $2.00 cheaper. The main thing though is the Bosch got the best rating for stock removal. So the Bosch is the most aggressive of all the tools tested including the Festool. Personally I would buy the Bosch - hands down, and if the rating are all true there's no reason to buy any of the others. OK, the one exception is that the Makita was rated best for "easiest sander to control and did not move the work piece around but it did have a odd, whiny noise. The Bosch was easy to control but moved the work around some. The Makita was priced at $80.00. You really couldn't go wrong with either of these tools but it seems the Bosch is the best all around so why bother thinking about it. Buy the Bosch. Wish I had now but not willing to waste the $69.00 I spent on it by buying something different now.

[LarryG]

Mac has already covered most of what I would be able to add, but here's a little more:

A correction to what I wrote yesterday: it was the Craftsman that fared worst in the scratch pattern test (Poor rating). The Porter-Cable was second worst (Fair rating). The DeWalt, Festool, Ridgid, and Ryobi were all rated Good, the Makita was Very Good, and the Bosch and Klingspor were Excellent. Since the whole point of an ROS is to minimize scratches from sanding on the workpiece, this test is IMO the most important of them all.

The Makita and P-C tied for best overall dust collection, with the spendy Festool a fairly close second. The Ridgid was worst overall.

The Makita and Festool were rated Excellent for vibration. The Bosch, Klingspor, and P-C all rated Very Good, the Ridgid was Good, the DeWalt was Fair, the Craftsman and Ryobi were Poor.

I can't compare the "odd, whiny noise" of the Makita to anything else since it's the only ROS that I own, but will say that it doesn't bother me, especially when I remember to wear my Peltor muffs.

Finally, I was unable to locate another ROS test in another magazine. I could've sworn that WOOD Magazine had a similar test but I've either misplaced some of my back issues or am imagining things, because I was unable to locate it. Or perhaps I just scanned another test in a bookstore.

FWIW, had I read this test before buying my Makita, like Mac I would've chosen the Bosch. That said, given the results of the test I am not sorry I bought the Makita. Among the current crop of random-orbit sanders, these two are at the top of the heap, excepting perhaps the twice-as-expensive Festool.

[sacherjj]

I looked at HomeDepot.com, hoping they sold the Bosch online, so you could use your gift card towards a Bosch. I love mine. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they offer it at all. Mine was a Christmas gift last year, so I'm not sure of the cost. It does a wonderful job and I find that I use the variable speed more than I through I would. I was happy to see the results of the Fine Woodworking Tool Test, having received it without knowing what was best. I never attach a shop vac to mine, I just pop off the filter after each section and hold it up to the shop vac while tapping it. Cleans out pretty well.

[xli1]

Thank you all for the information. The homedepot online does not show any ROS from Bosch. I will check the local store, hopefully they offer it in store. Thanks again!

[os1kne]

I have the DeWalt and I've been happy with it. When I bought it, I wanted to get the Makita ROS, but was unable to find one in the store and I needed one right away. The DeWalt will hook up directly to a common small shop vac nozzle (don't remember if it's 1.25" or 1.5"), so that is a nice feature - even without the vac, the dust bag does a pretty good job.

Good luck.

[gimpy]

One of the Bosch internet stores has some ROS' (reconditioned, also). If you are looking for a Bosch, you might check out www.cpotools.com.

Frank

[JackAZ]

Which ROS to choose?

I can second the CPO Bosch recommendation, they offer very good prices and their recon line is generally excellent. Good people.

Also for the record, I use the Bosch ROS and have never had any sort of complaint.

[gimpy]

I agree with Jack completely. I've bought from them just once here while back when I bought a recon jig saw. That one experience was very good. I actually used the phone instead of the internet.

Right now, I have the 5 inch Ridgid ROS. I have used it some (haven't really done much lately, but hopefully will pick up here in a month or two), but not a whole lot. I really like mine.

Frank

[onedash]

I have two PC's and I like them. Never tried any others though. The first one was starting to vibrate to much after so many nose dives on to concrete. I don't know who it was trying to impress with those "tricks".
It looks like it was just redesigned for their anniversary...Looks like it has a new top and dual dust collection???
Wonder if that improved the built in collection? I have a PC Cable hose and its great with that. Fits the Biscuit jointer too. I have to get a DC Handle for my router one of these days....

[leehljp]

I would go for the VS if it is available in the model line or brand that you want. The VS gives another dimension to the ROS. I needed to rough up the hard enamel wall in our kitchen last year to do some tiling. I didn't have several grades of sanding pads when I was ready to do that, so I just slowed it down and it made a good scratch pattern that worked well for that.

I really appreciated the VS at that time.