I received this sander as a gift (it is replacing an older BD random orbital sander). After putting it through the paces for over a week now I can say without a doubt that this falls into my "good tool" category. The best features include:
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br /1. Power - though this sander undoubtedly doesn't have as much power as a top of the line Bosch or Porter-Cable model, I have been very pleased with the performance of this tool. I suspect that for a home woodworker like me, the difference in power is negligible since I rarely run my sander for more than 10-15 minutes at a time. Also, I am only finish sanding with this tool, not hogging off large amounts of wood with it.
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br /Dust Control - I always thought my old sander did well in this department but I have to say that so far I have been utterly pleased with the lack of dust coming from this sander while in use. I would have to say the efficiency must be over 95%...
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br /Comfort - I wasn't sure if I would like the jug grip or not, but as it turns out I love it. There are a lot of instances where I am sanding a large panel and with this grip I can now (safely) guide the sander one handed if need be. Believe me once you have tried it you will agree.
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br /As for downsides, I really wish BD had designed this sander so I could remove the dust canister and connect directly to my vacuum without having to buy an adapter piece...
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br /Overall, this is a great sander at a great price. I highly recommend it!

I've owned (and own) several sanders, and most of them have been (are) BD, but this is the best they have ever produced. Comfortable fit, nice design, the sanding time really reduces, and is very easy to have a professional finish with one of this...
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br /Give yourself a try with this, you won't be deissaponited! Great tool!

Another good decision to buy this on my part. The self contained dust bag actually does work unlike other ones I have tried. It would be nice if the shop-vac attachment was included with it and a mold allocated in the carrying case for it, but nothing is perfect. Even though I own a shop-vac, I will not buy the attachment since the bag works so well and I don't use it all that much anyway. I just pull the bag off the unit and suck up the dust with the shop-vac. This is, after all the main reason to buy this unit and not one designed to be hooked up to a shop-vac.

I purchased this sander to do some household work. The price of the orbit sander was great. I'm sanding down some paint that was on the cabinets in my kitchen, and this sander works wonders. I would definetly recommend this product to anyone that needs to do sanding work on large to medium woodwork. Now I just need to find something else to sand.
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br /Excellent, you'll know when you try it. I love the jug style handle on it. I can hold it with one hand or two. The sand paper changing is real easy to do, since I really never do much sanding anyway!!!
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br /Buy It, and you'll love it too

My husband and I recently bought a house and we decided to sand down the kitchen cabinets before painting them. I went to my local home improvement store and found the Firestorm sander by Black and Decker. It was a good price and I liked the jug handle. The amps seemed comparable to other models there and so I bought it.
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br /Two weeks later into our cabinet sanding - we just burnt out our 2nd backup pad. We're averaging 1 backup pad with regular use averaging about 4 hrs off and on each day.
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br /I naturally went back to where I bought it thinking I could easily just by another back up pad. They didn't carry them though - ! I searched the internet - nothing - except for the Dewalt Service Center (part of Black and Decker).
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br /Our conclusion - only buy if you need this for tiny projects and you only plan on sanding 15-30 mins tops. We're going to return it tomorrow - and get a different brand because going through a backup pad per week to us seems ridiculous.

Perfect for small jobs. Has 3 gripping choices which makes it easier to use at any angle. The carrying case doesn't have a place to put your sanding disks, but that's a minor inconvience.

Multiple grip surfaces, powerful and fast motor, excellent material collection, and durable construction.
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br /All tools should be made this way.

black and decker sander almost cause physical damage as the bottom plastic plate self destruct!!!