WEN Drywall Sander, Variable Speed with 15 ft. Hose (6369)

If you are doing drywall mudding- just get this tool! I did half our home (most walls coated in 70's swirl plaster, and others had delaminating paper/tape that needed repair) with a 6" orbital sander (woodworking), and it was a huge PITA- very easy to gouge the new joint compound. This tool was a game changer: No gouging- it kind of floats and has a nicely pivoting head that prevents it (it does gouge a little if you're really being careless, but you almost have to try to mess up). It's super-fast to sand flat large walls (seriously, huge walls completely skimmed with new joint compound). My only complaint is that the design of vacuum is not great (I used a large shopvac and regularly emptied/cleared the filter)- I do wish that was a bit better- it was still pretty dusty, but again- I was hogging through large area's so for smaller jobs it might not be as much of a problem.

Great sander with very good dust collection. Sanded half my main living area with a pole sander and decided I needed to get something with dust collection. This thing powers through high spots without slinging dust all over me and the workspace. Put a cyclone dust separator between the sander and the vacuum to prevent the filter from getting clogged. Was able to sand a vaulted ceiling and large living room in no time. The sander is a bit heavy but the ergonomics are pretty comfortable and make it easy to use. Definitely worth it at this price point.

Great sander! Difficult to empty the bag- but definitely does the job quickly and efficiently. Handles large areas in a quarter of the time manually sanding does.

Dust collector actually works!!Static charge continually zaps me. Too bad US did away with mandatory three prong plugs on all appliances.There instructions are very important. See photo.Overall, I’m pleased with it. One pass is sufficient and it does not tear drywall or paper. Sandpaper last long time. Did large room with one and half papers.

30 years general construction experience. Landlord. This machine is a game changer. Much lighter than those ol Porter Cables we used to have to use. If you honestly believe this eliminates dust, you've never done drywall. It reduces the dust, very well. If you think it's an excuse to be bad at finishing drywall, you've never done drywall. It will smooth good drywall work. If you're a professional and have realistic expectations, this is the one. I even found the triangle head useful. Sanded a new construction one bedroom apartment in 1 1/2 hours. Didn't break a sweat, 10' ceilings. Feet rarely left the floor, and very little pointing up by hand left. DON'T FORGET TO BUY SANDPAPER WITH IT. They send you 2 variety packs. Just grab a pile of 180 or 120.

I took on the challenge of renovating my home myself, and one of the biggest headaches was taping and sanding drywall. Hand sanding was a complete nightmare—dust everywhere, uneven spots, and my arms were ready to fall off. I finally caved and got this sander, and it made a world of difference. It saved me so much time and effort, especially on ceilings, which now look smooth and even.That being said, it’s not perfect. The build quality feels decent but not super durable, and I wouldn’t rely on it for professional use. The hose is long enough to give good reach, but it does get in the way sometimes. The dust collection helps, but it’s not 100%—there’s still some cleanup involved. Still, for personal projects, it does the job well, and I don’t regret getting it. It saved me from hiring a pro, which meant more money in my pocket.

1/21/18 First unit received Jumps like crazy and is unusable, waiting on replacement= holding up project. I've never owned a Wen product before, it was cheap and as the saying goes...First impressions are ok on ergonomics, could have used less rubber to lighten handle, dust vacuum hose seems durable though a little heavy as well, mechanics of motor mount seem ok. Plastics not so great on sanding pad mount very thin and plastic is abs with no fiber reinforcement. The dust cover is a very poor design for movement and in my case would not recess enough for brushes on edge to get out of the way to allow sanding disc to contact surface evenly, causing extreme jumping. I removed dust shroud and the balance from motor to sanding disc is very poor, not a smooth running machine, jumps and wobbles without shroud as well. It seems like they spent more on design of handle and hose material than the part that really matters most, weak point is motor assembly and disc balance. I'm the type to buy a tool and DIY rather than pay another person to do the job. I should have just rented a pro porter cable setup for $40 a day. But I thought this would come in handy and save a few bux. Will update after replacement.1/25/18 Second unit received, I really can't understand how this product has so many high reviews, it seems rather odd after receiving two brand new units and having the same quality issues, either these people have never used a sander like this before and think this is how they operate or they are in collusion in buffing up reviews for this product.This is complete garbage, using wen sanding paper, the brush on the rim is a poor design, gets in the way of sanding pad, will make contact and melt from pad hitting it causing it to get hard and crusty and scratch, removing it makes the unit spew more dust out. The sanding pad is junk, the pad is uneven causing it to wobble and jump= calling Wen to see what a replacement pad will do from them directly- perhaps there has been an improvement from amazon stock, trying this before returning the second unit. will update.1/29/18Received replacement pad, however because it was packaged only in a soft shipping envelope the mail person crammed it in my mailbox causing it to warp, idk how it survived initial shipping with just the envelope, as it took some doing getting it out of the mailbox I assume the damage happened there. Requesting a replacement yet again. Product is still useless in the meantime.2/6/18 Company is unresponsive on a replacement for their product being damaged because of the way they shipped it, attempted to contact three times has been ignored.3/2/18 never heard from company WEN again! Submitted a couple emails nothing back.I ended up ordering a Festool 201895 Sander Backing Pad St-Stf-D215/8-LHS-E on ebay and was able to mount it to the WEN , on e b a y. It performs much better now, I just had to spend as much for the festool pad as I did for the WEN sander, but hey you get what you pay for, so there it is a working drywall sander. With the festool backer pad installed it works great as it should have from the get go!THE BACKER PAD THAT WEN SUPPLIES WITH THE SANDER IS TOTAL JUNK AND THE COMPANY NEEDS TO SERIOUSLY LOOK INTO IMPROVING THIS PART, IT IS THE WEAK LINK TO AN OTHERWISE GOOD PRODUCT.