I’ve been using a crappy random orbit sander from Walmart for the past 5 years. It works well enough, but as I’ve gotten a bit older, had a few more non-woodworking related injuries, etc, the excessive vibration is really starting to get to me. I know Festool is the gold standard in terms of dust control and likely vibration, but are there any other good options that aren’t $500-600?
I’m sitting here after sanding for an hour and a half or so and my hand is still tingling after 20 minutes. Clearly, I need to get a better sander, but I can’t justify spending $575 on a Festool sander right now. $50-150 would be more palatable, as long as it is a clear upgrade from my current setup.
Edit:Ended up getting this Makita sander . Huge upgrade, thanks for the suggestions!
I like the Makita random orbit sander that I have. The corded version is in that price range. It does a pretty decent job of catching the dust in that tiny bag but I still wear a mask.
I like Makita, I have one of their plunge routers and used their compound sliding miter saws and loved both of them. Sounds like people here have good things to say about DeWalt, Makita, and Bosch in this price range. I’ll probably go with Makita. I have no issues with DeWalt (have a job site table saw and a nice sliding miter saw from them) or Bosch, but I do like me some blue tools that aren’t Kobalt