I have over 15 years experience with drywall, so I'm not new to this. I agonized over spending this much money on a sander for a couple years. Yes, it's been available that long. But, I'm getting older and the back and shoulders don't like hand sanding on ceilings and I have yet to perfect the "sponge" method.pRegardless, I purchased the P-C sander and a box of 150 grit pads. If I didn't like it, I could sell it on "auctions". After one large room, I was pleased. I will agree with some other reviewers that you can make plenty of swirl marks. That's the first thing I did. The second thing I did was to spend 5 minutes playing with it to figure out how NOT to make swirl marks. It really isn't that hard. It is much faster than hand sanding and virtually no dust. My customers love that part!! (I do alot of remodelling jobs). If you do a good job mudding, there should be minimal sanding to do anyway.pThis sander will NOT do inside corners. Based on its design, it can't get any closer than about 3/4" to the actual corner. Know up front that you will still need to touch up the inside corners. This sander is primarily for large relatively flat surfaces, and in my opinion it does a good job when used properly. pThe other thing that P-C should work on is the weight. I know we all carry around tools that weigh more than 8 pounds. Try holding it over your head for any length of time though. While it is balanced nicely, 8 lbs. is still 8 lbs.pYou also don't need to spend "money" on the vacuum either. (Sorry P-C) My QSP shop vac with a Cleanstream/Gore-tex filter($22) works just fine.pThe 13' hose means you can put the vacuum in the center of a room and not have to move the vacuum, just walk around and sand.pSo, don't look for mine on "auctions". It's staying in my toolbox.

I am 60 years old and building our third and last home. We have just finished tapeing and bedding a kitchen and two baths and have found the sanding to be almost effortless with the PC 7800. We liked the hoop and hook 150 and 220 discs because they are so easy to change without tools. Get plenty of the 220 discs - they do not affect the paper as you are feathering in the taped joints and nail or screw bedding. We connected it to our 20 gallon shop vac and the suction almost holds the tool to the walls and ceiling. A smooth orbital motion takes care of any sanding, and then a touchup with a sanding block in the corners (1/2 inch out) finishes a room very quickly. What a pleasure to buy a tool and have it work as advertised. Thanks Porter Cable - and the other reviewers that convinced us to make the purchase!

I read a lot of reviews before buying the PC drywall sander. Needless to say, this is the best drywall tool purchase I've ever made, and the bursitis in my arms and shoulders think so, too. Being a remodeler and also doing repairs for several property managers, this makes for quick,easy, and clean work. I just attach it to my 8-gal. shop-vac equipped with a drywall dust bag, and a cleanstream filter as a secondary backup, there's almost no dust at all. It took some getting used to, but once I got the hang of it, it leaves very little swirl marks. Like some of the other reviewers said, don't push it and let the machine do the work. Since I haven't hung more than 40 4x12's in any one job, I've been using No-Coat to tape the inside corners and while it costs a bit more, it saves time because I can stay away from the corners, for the most part. What little hand sanding I do after the final coat, I use a hand or pole sander that attaches to a vac; found them at the local Grabber dealer. All in all, this is one tool that is worth every penny.

This is a great tool. I have been using it in conjunction with the Porter Cable Power Tool actuated Wet/Dry vacuum and after over an hour of sanding it left my job virtually dust free. The variable speed on the head is a plus and changing the sandpaper is a breeze. The vacuum is a little noisy, as one would expect from any powerful shop vacuum, and the sander does get heavy after a while. Overall, this definately beats hand sanding!

As opposed to the gentleman with 15 years of experience drywalling, I'm pretty much a novice, but when you have a big project ahead of you with 20 or 40 sheets of 4-by-ten, you move up in experience pretty quickly.
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br /Here's what I've learned; Sanding sheet rock is one of the worst jobs in construction. It's WAY beyond messy, it's tiring, it's monotonous, it's tedious.
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br /Now, in our kitchen, we've got about 13 sheets of 4-by-8, and we've got a vaulted ceiling that peaks at about 15 feet. The first application of mud was hand sanded, and we had about a half-inch of fine, chaulky dust EVERYWHERE, regardless of the plastic that we put up between rooms. It was like dust hell.
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br /The second application of mud was sanded with the Porter-Cable 7800, and the difference was astounding. We hooked it up to your basic shop-vac, and we were able to sand the room in about 1/3rd the time (it would have been quicker, but we were getting used to the new sander) and at least 98% of the dust was eliminated from the job. This is with a 150 grit sandpaper disk. In my eyes, there was no need for a respirator; there was that little dust.
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br /We did bring the shop vac outside to empty the tank and shake out the filter. That was no sacrifice at all.
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br /It didn't take too long to get used to this piece of equipment. We figured out what speed was good for us, and we were off. The unit wieghs eight pounds, and it was a little taxing when we had to hold it for the higher spots on the wall. Compared to the continuous elbow grease of hand-sanding, the effort spent was minimal.
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br /We were able to get it pretty darned close to the corners, too. I agree with the experienced sheet-rocker; about 3/8ths of an inch was about how close we could get to the corner. I wasn't expecting the machine to do everything; doing what was left of the corners by hand was a snap. That this machine could do all of the flat surfaces -- and do it really well, without dust -- made it far more valuable to me than the price I paid to own it.
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br /Now, my brothers-in-law can use it on their projects, and because they helped me so much on mine, I'm thrilled that they're happy with it, too!
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br /Bottom line; if you have a pretty big drywall job lined up, this is an excellent investment. If you have more jobs like that in the future, it's a must-have.

I never write online reviews, but this thing made such an impression on me, I felt like I needed to share my experience with those of you that may be thinking of spending this kind of $$$$. If you have ever done any drywall sanding you know what a pain and mess it is besides the general exhaustion. This tool is awesome!!!!! I sanded 6 rooms, including the ceiling (not corners, only joints and screw heads) in the time it takes to do one. I am totally impressed, I was even able to get inside closets. The sanding head will essentially rotate to any position w/o causing you to substantially change your position. Use your own shop vac, I did and hardly ever saw any dust.........I didnt even wear a mask, thats how little dust is generated.I believe the claim to do do higher than 9' ceilings is a little bit of a stretch. I found my 9' ceiling sanding to be more comfortable if I was on Werners 4' portable/folding scaffolding (another high recommendation.) I would recommend this sander to anyone who is going to do more than one room (only because of cost) of sanding. It is very easy to use and I feel confident with a little more use of it, you can do final sanding with a 220 grit pad. It wont wear you out doing walls, but gets a little heavy doing ceilings. I recommend splitting your work and doing part ceiling and part walls giving yourself a rest. Ive just started my drywall in my basement, but will back online soon to write a final review when Im finished.

ive sanded sheetrock for almost 15 years my pc sander is a life saver.i subbed my sanding for about three years until i lost my sander. i was forced to sand again . it took about two houses to really get used to it,but now i sand three hundred board houses in about two hours. best money i ever spent.

Real time saver for do-it-yourself drywall projects. I have done quite a few drywall projects and I always had problems with the seams, especially on the finish coat on ceilings. The Porter Cable sander works great on the ceiling seams. I used it for the first time on a major renovation on my daughter's 100 year old home and the ceiling seams are virtually invisible. My sanding time was reduced from approximately four hours to less than an hour and the results were excellent. Also, I always applied three coats of mud to accomplish perfect finish work. The Porter Cable sander reduced my mud coats from three to two coats with blemish free results. If you are a do-it-yourself'er, and if you can afford it, this product is definitely worth the investment. Also, the Porter Cable vacuum is a difinite plus.brWhen you use this product for the first time, it takes a little practice to get good results. Don't force the sander by using pressure, let the sander do the work. After two passes, the surface is usually smooth. You will still have to hand sand the corners, but the power sander turns this task into a joy. Also, there is very little dust to clean up after the sanding job is completed. Gone are the days of dust in my eyes, ears, mouth and nose ( in addition to all over the house ).brOn the negative side, the sander is a little hard on the arms when doing ceilings ( especially 9 or 10 foot ceilings ). But this is a small price to pay for the results you get.brAs stated earlier, with a little bit of practice, this sander will give you excellent results. It's fast, clean and a real time saver. The only thing that kept it from a five star rating was the arm strain when sanding ceilings.

I am a pro drywall finisher. I just bought this machine from Tool Crib, and while I have not learned to use it to it's full potential yet, (only had it two days)I can see that it will do the job. I will say this word of warning; I really DO NOT think that it will replace the final sanding. I apply three coats of setting type compound, not sanding at all till the third coat. Then I use thinned topping compound for a fourth coat, applied with the aid of a strong work light angled toward the wall. When that dries, I use a damp sponge and fine sandpaper. Probably overkill, but my customers love me! This tool is very usefull for that third coat sanding, i.e, smoothing the major flaws.

This thing works as advertized. Sanded a new ceiling in 1/4 the time it takes me to do by hand. The unit sucks up an amazing amount of dust as long as you keep the sanding disk flush against the drywall. Cleanup was quick and easy. I used 100 and 150 grit sandpaper on a ceiling. As other reviewers stated, this thing can get a little heavy when holding it over your head for any amount of time. Even with the frequent breaks I had to take, I still finished sanding in record time. The 100 grit sandpaper did leave some light sanding marks in the plaster, however this wasn't an issue for me since the ceiling will be texturized. I rented this unit at HomeDepot for 25 bucks for 4 hours and it was the best $25 I have spent in quite a while.

This machine is a GOD Send!...This machine is AWSOME! - worth $[money] in my book if dust/time is an issue. I blew thru a 14 x 10 foot high wall in "minutes" !pI simply can't believe that I didn't have this when I did my first wall - the house is now covered with white dust - would cost at LEAST $[money] for the cleanup alone !(delicate electronics, and electronic test equipment). p All I can say is, "just do it"! - don't WORRY about the money!

Had this tool for sometime now, best sander I have ever used. You have to get use to this sander. I suggest you start off at around speed number 3 then once you have went over your dry walled area, re-sand on speed number one. This will take any swirl marks out and give you a nice finished wall with no effort at all.
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br /Like any tool... you have to get use to it, once you do, very good sander.
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br /Mark.

I purchased this tool because I had a drywall contractor repair and plaster my 1940's style home. The contractor did a horrable job, thus I purchased this tool because of the large volume of sanding. After a few lessions on pressure and speed I got the hang of it. TAKE YOUR TIME - GO SLOW when using this product and the results are great. The dust collection is good. Overall, I like this tool very much.

I'm not a drywall guy, but this does work. As an ex-autobody man, my walls were perfect. But, Holy Cow!!, 3 days to do one room. I finally got tired and bought this 7800 sander. Now, it's heavy, so you need arm muscles, but it works like a charm. There is a learning curve, but if you've more than a few rooms to do, buy it, use it, then sell it on ebay. I can do a room in 4 hours, and I'm a perfectionist and very slow. A drywall friend of mine has gone bonkers as I've no seams or high spots, but then I'm a body man. When I showed him how easy the 7800 was he offered to buy it on the spot.
br /I use the 100 grit pads. A little rough, but they cut fast and I have a light touch. I also go over the joints by hand after the 7800, but I'm a nut. I'm going to try the 120 grit pads next. I've heard the Velcro pads don't stay on, I've got some so they're next to try. What fun! Don't buy the vacuum, get a five horse at Lowe's and the drywall filters. It's half the price and who cares if the vac needs you to turn it on and off.

...before I bought this machine was this: Will it work with my inexpensive Ridgid shop vac? The answer is yes -- I bought a HEPA filter at Home Depot for the shop vac, hooked it up to the Porter-Cable sander, and voila! Dustless drywall sanding! (Or nearly so -- I still wear a particulate filter to catch those tiny bits that you can't see.) The sander works well and the vacuum hook-up means that what has traditionally been a very dusty job can be done with relative ease and comfort. We're quite pleased with the sander and once we're done with our big project we will sell it, either via Amazon or eBay. It sure beats renting a tool like this!

Everyone HATES sanding drywall, but this tool makes sanding drywall so much much easier. Even with this tool you have to hand sand inside corners but that is all it won't dobrIf this tool was stolen I would for sure buy a new one

I'm a homeowner with reasonable renovation skills. But drywalling is an art, and without this sander, my two-room rennovation would have been a lot harder. And I suspect the results wouldn't have been as good, especially on the ceiling. I used a fairly fine grit disk becuase the reviews I read suggested the tool could gouge. You have to proceed slowly and keep the unit moving. But it really works well, especially when hooked into the companion vacuum.

As a remodeling contractor, I usually sub out drywall finishing, but sometimes a small job or timing make subbing impractical and I'm stuck with the task. Recently I raised a 25'x 30' ceiling from flat to half-cathedral and I did the drywall finish--smooth/no texture. I've always been curious about this sander, but the reviews left me reluctant to buy one for as little as I'd use it. Then I saw that my local rental center had one and this was my chance to try it. I found it to be a life-saver.
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br /Yes, it gets heavy and tiring while sanding a ceiling, but anyone who's ever used a pole sander or hand sander on a ceiling can tell you that it's extremely tiring and messy no matter the tool. At least this power sander eliminates most of the messy part with its effective dust collection, and I was able to sand the entire ceiling in under 30 minutes. Furthermore, I found that it could do aggressive sanding with little more work than light sanding depending on the sandpaper grit and speed I moved the machine, as well as RPM setting. Frankly, I'm mediocre at mudding/taping, but with this sander I found that I could really cake the mud on and still end up with a nice finish.
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br /If I finished drywall full-time, I'd probably get so good at it that this machine might not be worth the hassle, but for a guy like me, it's well worth it. Rent one and try it...you'll either love it or hate it by the end of the day. It's on my wish list.

I Have been in dry wall all my life and the p-c sanding machine will not make you a sander but if you know how to sand sheet rock this machine is great here are some tips on using this great sander never start on mud always start on paper,next start by going up the corner on right hand side from bottom to top then go all the way across the top then come down wall to floor then go wright back up then back across the top then back down wall come back up to top nails then go up and down over top nails all the way across to wall then come down the top of flat all the way back to the wall then run down the middle then come back down the bottom of the flat back to wall then go up and down over the nails back to wall now you are done with your first wall set the machine down and get a piece of 120 grit sand paper and cut in corners and any corner beed or windows make sure you cut your painters edege in top of wall by folding a piece of paper and running it long ways down the top of wall now prime the wall touch up and paint .

It does do a great job on floors. I know it isn't a floor sander, but I was helping my brother in law work on an addition at their house, and needed to level out some tongue and groove pine flooring. I had the drywall sander with me; it was Sunday, and the rental places were closed, so I decided to give it a try. The drywall sander with it's gimballed floating head let me do it in short order. Actually it took a few hours to work my way through the grits from 80 to 220, but when I was done, we just vacuumed and sealed the floor.
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br /Basically if you have a wide flat surface you need to smooth up the PC 7800 will do a good job. (I have also used it to sand several layers of paint off old doors.) Be sure to get drywall filter bags for your shop vacuume, they catch almost all of the dust.

This is an outstanding product that exceeds the manufacturers claims. Dust is limited to almost nothing. I used it for sanding after scraping popcorn off the ceiling. If you are living in the house while remodeling, this is a must-have tool. Of course everything depends on the two stage filtering of the attached vaccum cleaner. I have rented the tool with the Porter Cable vaccum in the past and it worked great. I used my own vaccum with high efficiency filter and a bag and also worked great. The sander controlled Porter Cable vaccum is a plus.

I do wallpaper and painting for a living, which often involves wall repairs. I had no trouble learning how to use the sander, the swirl marks others talked about are easy to avoid, but even if you did leave the swirl marks, they would be undetectable through wallpaper or flat paint. Virtually dust free, I could not notice any dust at all. This thing is going to save me a lot of labor in sanding and dust control. So far, I've only used it on two jobs, so my only concern is that it doesn't break on me.

while this product looks like the cats meow it is more like the cats litter box. After 30 minutes of use the motor stopped working completely. Controlling the product even with the 150 grit porter cable sanding disks is not at all easy. The dust collection control ring brush is way too long. you have to press fairly hard to get the sanding disk to even engage the wall. then with this much preasure it is hard to contol. You have to be very carefull at this point not to exert even the sligthtest amount of excess preassure or else you can hear the motor start to load down. Trying to send mine back now after the 30 minute motor waranty ran out.

I still don't know what to think about this sander. I tried it several times and here are my thoughts. If you are doing the job from start to finish this sander will get heavy after about 10 minutes. It weighs too much, especially if you are doing a ceiling. I like the idea but it's an expensive piece of equipment. I felt as though I had to push down on the unit to get it to sand. This is where it starts to get heavy. I think I'm going to try the Fiba-Tape dustless pole sander next. As for my Porter Cable 7800, well eBay it is.
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br /Update: I tried the Wilco Dustless pole sander and I think it's a better alternative.
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This product does exactly what it says it will, and does it extremely well. This is a powerful sander which produces very little dust.
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br /However, after two days of experimentation, I could not control the device to the point that I wasn't dinging, gouging, and scraping too much mud (or the paper) off the drywall. This thing cost me way more time than it saved me. If I were a professional I might consider investing in this, as then I might be able to figure out how to use it effectively. As a do-it-yourselfer I have been having far better results and just as little dust with hand tools. The Hyde Dust Dog Pole Sander Kit for Dustless Drywall Sanding and the Marshalltown DuraSoft® Dustless Drywall Vacuum Sander cost far, far less and give more predictable results. Yes, it takes a little more elbow grease, but it gives far better results and ends up taking a heck of a lot less time than going back and fixing the scrapes again and again.

For the money that was paided for this item, It should have come with an operation demo video. The instruction manual needs more help.

Great idea, but Porter-Cable should have worked out the bugsbefore putting it on the market.pThe power cord and vacuum hosestrap together with velcro strips, which tangle in a fewminutes.pThe vacuum hose on the sanding head split repeatedly. I'monline right now to buy a replacement, since I've run out of ducttape.pThe power switch on the vacuum hangs "off" and hasto be twisted back and forth to make contact. This happened on twosanding machines I rented, and on the one I bought.pPrepare to do aLOT of hand sanding to smooth out swirl marks.pThe vacuum bags areoutrageous...pI'm very disatisfied...p John

According to the single review when I purchased this product it was rated 4 stars. I have sanded drywall in many different ways and thought according to the 4 star rating this tool would be worth a try. Well I spent more time repairing marks left by the sanding disk than I got sanded. I tried different speeds and sanding disk with no better luck. I am very perticulant about my work and in no way will this machine perform to my standards. It is my experiance that the previous 4 star rating far exceeds the performance and results I got.

Normally I just buy a product based on reviews and so far I have been seldom disappointed. I am guessing that a lot of reviewers here are male, so maybe I thought I'd add my 2cents worth for the diyer gal like me.
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br /I have done a lot of major projects around the home. Ripping out old wood/carpet, laying new wood/tile floors, installed a new kitchen, custom closets, re-did 3 bathrooms with a bit of help from my husband and from pros once in a while - so while I'm not a pro, I'm not talking through a hat either.
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br /Just before I clicked the buy button, I decided I was going to check the Porter-Cable out first. HomeDepot does not sell it, but they carry the exact model in their rent shop. So I rented one and am glad that I did.
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br /Our home was built in the 70s - and most rooms: den, four-bedrooms, upstairs landing: have acoustic/popcorn ceilings. We have been so jinxed with contractors (and the quotes were so high) that we decided to do it ourselves. Also a lot of professional feedback was - it is incredibly hard and messy. What we found out was that it sure is messy, but it is not that hard.
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br /The very first con in this product, esp. for women, is that it is quite heavy. Because of the weight, and the power, it is easy to jack-knife and damage your ceiling. Also, someone here wrote that there is absolutely no/close-to-no dust if you use porter-cable, but my experience was that is was terribly and awfully dusty.
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br /The suction power of the vaccum - we tried both our own shopvac and the one that came with porter-cable - did not help the performance either. It was so dusty that for a while we felt that nothing was being vacuumed - we thought all the mud was just coming down. Not true. We checked and found the vacuum bags were sucking up dust, just not enough. By the time we did a 3x5 area we gave up. But the deed was done, it was not that we could give up at this point.
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br /So we decided we'd try the old-fashioned way. We went to the store and bought a couple of ceiling scrapers (available on Amazon: look for Homax) - these have a little handle that holds garbage bags. They attach to a standard household extension rod. We spread painters plastic, contractor's paper and another layer of contractors plastic on the floors. We taped the edges to the wall with a duct tape and overlapped the edges generously. We then connected a garden hose to a garden sprayer and soaked up the ceilings. We waited about 3-4 minutes before we began the scrape job. My husband worked on the main area from the floor and I scraped off the edges using a putty-knife.
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br /After a while we just got tired of emptying bags into an old bucket, so we decided to remove them altogether. This resolved the little loss of accuracy, owing to the heavy dangling bags. After the weight of the bags was removed, we were stunned how fast the job went. We finished our 25x35' bedroom in under two hours - including clean-up. Because of the two layers of plastic, we did not have any water seeping through. We got jumbo garbage bags and rolled all the mess up in about three large bags.
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br /The only mess were the windows - there were mounds sitting on the paneling that we had to shopvac - next time we'll cover them up too! And get this - not a single, small damage to our ceiling during the entire process - can't beat that!
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br /The Porter-Cable might be great but it does not work for everyone. Please, do rent one before buying. Even though the renting was a mistake, it cost us approx. $50 - better than the hassle of buying and returning, in my opinion.
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br /Hints:
br /1. Wear gloves - even though none of the products say you should - your hands can get extremely dry. Avoid painful cuticles!
br /2. Wear masks. Get the more expensive ones with filters if you are doing a large project.
br /3. Keep two pairs of shoes - one that you will wear in the project area - they will pick up a lot of mud - so if you need to get out of the room, you can slip out of these and into the other.
br /4. If you can't use a garden hose, use a gallon spray (use for pesticides) - comes with a pump and is available at garden/home-improv stores.
br /5. Beware of too much water on the ceiling - that can warp the sheetrock. So if you feel you overdid the spray, use a dry paint-roll and soak up the moisture. Good luck!
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