This little sander is a wonderful tool. You can get glass smooth finishes relatively quckly with the right discs. I won't go back to plain orbital sanders. they're too slow and leave too many swirl marks on your work. Incidently , I find myself reaching for my Porter Cable R.O. sander more often , because it has less vibration, and causes less numbness in my hands. They are very comparable in features and price.

I own several Dewalt tools, and am overall happy with the quality - however, this sander has two notable defects: the on/off switch (as others have noted) seems to be of bad quality, mine seems to get caught in between on and off -- the switch seems to be designed to be operated with one hand, but the defect makes this difficult. Also, when attaching my Fein shop vac (*highly* recommended) to the little dust port, it quickly wiggles loose -- and the vac does stay attached to other Dewalt tools properly. On the bright side, this sander *does* sand well, leaving a nice finish in a very short amount of time. pPS: (I make it a little practice to note where each Dewalt tool I buy is manufactured, anything that can be tracted back to Elu, or made in Italy is of high quality, hint, look where the owner's manual was printed)-

I went through two before switching to Makita. It is susceptible to power surges, and the variable speed mechanism will burn out easily. You also have to replace $20 gasket about every 6-12 months for proper operation. It now comes with one extra gasket.

I found this to be a great little sander. Though some have hadobjections to the switch design, I found this to be no problem atall. I have used mine to finish raw wood projects and for refinishing as well. I even went so far as to use it to refinish a hardwood floor in a small room! No swirl marks by the walls as you get with the super sanders, but it did take some time (as expected). END

I have owned ny DeWalt for about eight months. Sometimes the on/off switch gets caught but really no trouble. I have probably put close to 500 hours of heavy duty work with this. C D side plywood, raw wood as well as refinishing. I just had to replace the pad today as it losts its grip on the sandpaper. But again a very minor problem. My sole major problem is how hot the handle gets after about two hours of consistent sanding. However, the finish is beautiful and I would highly recommend it to anyone.

I was very unhappy with the power switch on this product. Look closely at the Porter Cable 333VS and PC 333PK before you make this purchase.

I use the heck out of this tool, probably every week. I've had it about two years and haven't had a lick of trouble. The on/off switch on mine has worked without complaint. The speed control has also been reliable and is a nice feature on occasion to lower the speed on more delicate items (although I usually run it wide open). I don't really have much complaint about the vac attachment; mine wiggles loose sometimes, but not every minute (if anyone honestly knows of one that doesn't every come loose, feel free to buy me one for Christmas; I think it's just the nature of the beast). Dust collection (with my Fein vac) has been excellent, especially when sanding wood. I have almost no clean up after. I've also used this for some moderate drywall work (remodel stuff) and it's been up to the task. That generates a little more dust than can be controlled with such a small tool, but I was still able to capture about 85%+.pI think you'll find this to be a reliable, workaday addition to your shop/truck box. It may not be as efficient as some of the larger 6" models, but then again, it's much cheaper.

I have used this sander extensively over the past 3 years on a number woodworking and boatbuilding projects, including completely sanding the hulls of two very large catamarans. I have noted the same minor difficulty at times operating the on-off switch that others have mentioned, but I would say it is really a very minor problem and the switch has never failed. I think the problem arises out of the way the switch is sealed from dust. The dust collection bag has worked well for me. brThe tool is light and easy to use. It removes material as well or better than other sanders I've used, and the sanding discs are relatively inexpensive and readily available.

I've had the sander for just over a year and it has performed very well, until now. The dust collector assembly keeps coming off, every 30 seconds! The design of how the dust colletor port is attached is very weak, in my opinion. My work-around is to wedge a small piece of anti-skid matting in the port. A small sheet metal screw driven through the dust collector assembly and the port may also improve this poor design.

I figured that if this thing survived the job I purchased it for, it would be doing good. It has that and quite a few more that were just rough. So far (knock on wood) I haven't experienced the switch problem or dust attachment problem that other reviewers have had. We almost always use it attached to a vacuum. And that's one of the reasons why it probably gets more use than some of our other sanders. The vacuum attachment works better with it than on our other sanders. So far, despite a lightweight appearance that would make you suspicious of its durability, it's still sanding through some rough territory for us.

This sander is an absolute pleasure to use. It has very little vibration and really floats over the work piece. I haven't used it for any serious material removal (i.e. paint, stain, heavily marred surfaces, ect.) so I can only comment on its use in finishing cut boards and sanding in between coats of stain/sealer.pThe paper for this sander is readily available and relatively inexpensive so get a wide assortment and happy sanding!

This is not a bad tool, but it does not seem to be as durable as I had hoped. The variable speed feature ceased to function within a few days and the on/off switch is a bit difficult. It does a good job of sanding without swirl marks, just don't expect to have a variable speed sander for very long.

I chose this sander based upon a review in Consumer Reports which ranked it #2 (behind a Craftsman sander). The dust bag is not worth using. I could never keep it attached. The vibration from the sander would constantly cause it to fall off. I bought an adapter for my shop vac which mostly fixed the dust extraction issues. Another problem is that the sander bogs down significantly when performing heavy sanding duties. DeWalt's quality seems to be constantly falling. I wish I had bought the Craftsman sander instead.

Other reviewers are correct, this is a terrific little sander with one problem, the switch is tricky to operate. The switch is too small and the rubber dust cover over it makes the action of the switch awkward at best. Getting it to turn on or off can be a two or three attempt task, this should be a no-brainer for DeWalt to fix in future production. Other than that the quality of the finish it produces is excellent, noise level acceptable and the dust collection is a major improvement over the old 1/4 sheet sanders. I typically use this sander immediately after my 1/2 sheet Porter Cable (with no dust collection) and the DeWalt sucks up all the dust left behind by the PC. Highly recommended.

I bought the DeWalt DW423 about a year ago and it has become one of the most used tools in my shop. It has reduced the strain on my hands from hand sanding, and leaves a great smooth surface. The variable speed is great for adjusting the speed to the type wood or amount of sanding I am doing. I really like the option of being able to use the dust bag, or hook up to my shop vac or dust collector.

On/Off switch clumsy to use. After two years and very light work (maybe 5 hours of on-time), the electronic speed control broke--zero power to the unit. Replacement cost is about $45 from parts place. Otherwise, sanding is swirl-less.

I bought this sander after doing much research. It worked great on one and a half projects, a front door and part of my kitchen table. Part way through the kitchen table it flat out quit. I took it to a Dewalt S/C and they tell me that the Variable Speed switch is an obsolete part. They didn't even bother to put it together. I think I'll go back to Porter Cable.

I purchased the Dewalt because their tools are historically of good quality. This sander does not seem to take too much off even if you use 80 grit paper (my little mouse sander does better job) and as for other features, I agree with the others that the dust port keeps falling off and the switch is suspect. But my variable speed option still works though. After using it on a project for about 20 hours, the bearings went and I had to get it fixed. Once this sander quits on me, I think I'll opt for the Porter Cable.

This is the fifth sander that I own and it is simply great. The only complaint that I have, as do others, is that the dust collector falls off of the body of the sander - all the time during use! Shame on Dewalt for not fixing this. I "fixed" mine by installing a small sheet metal screw that joins the dust collector to the body of the sander. I def'n recommend buying one of these units (and fixing the dust port before you go to use it).

I'm a contractor and I had to strip four 20" round 20 foot tall fiberglass columns. They told me they couldn't be stripped with a water base stripper, that the three coats of paint had to be sanded off. I sent one of my workers to the hardware store and they came back with the DEWALT DW423K 5-Inch Heavy Duty Random Orbit Sander. I was shocked to find out that this little sander not only held up to five days of non stop work it only went through 20 pads of 50 grit sand pads. Dewalt is a name you can trust and this little sander will be in my truck for the next job.

I PURCHASED THIS SANDER 1/3/03 AS AN ADDITION TO MY MAKITA'S. THOUGHT THE VARIABLE SPEED AND THE PAD BRAKE WOULD BE A BONUS OVER MY OLD MAKITA'S. WHILE USING IT THIS PAST WEEKEND,I STARTED TO SMELL THAT BURNT MOTOR SMELL, THE DUST BAG WOULD FALL OFF AFTER JUST A FEW SECONDS-FINALLY ENDED UP JUST LAYING ON THE FLOOR-THEN THE PAD FLEW OFF ACROSS THE SHOP AND HIT THE WALL. DUG MY OLD MAKITA OUT AND FINISHED THE JOB. ALL THIS HAPPENED IN ABOUT A 3 MONTH TIME SPAN AND ONLY 2 1/2 PROJECTS. WHAT A PIECE OF JUNK!!!NO, IT WAS NEVER DROPPED AND I AM VERY EASY ON MY TOOLS. ALL I CAN SAY IS THAT I'M GOING BACK TO MAKITA AND WILL STAY WITH THEM.

This tool's switch went out too soon for an $80 sander. Other dewalt tools have broke prematurely for my satisfaction.brI was persuaded into switching all new purchases to dewalt after much high pressure sales garb...I will be going back to tried and true PC and Makita.

I have no opinion as I ordered this as a Christmas gift for my grandson. I have not spoken to him since presenting it to him, so have no idea if he has used it yet. However, he requested this particular sander because it was the same type his Dad had, so I assume it is serving the purpose for which he wanted it.

This sander is well below Dewalt's typical standards. The design is fairly good, but durability is severly lacking. It has already bit the dust (no pun intended) with very little use over a few months. Very, very disappointing. I'm going back to Porter Cable.

The $%^ collector keeps shooting off while working. I'm taking it back.

I can purchase this sander cheaper at LOWE'S