Pole Sander

Works great. Having done popcorn ceiling removal in 2 rooms with standard pole sander and sucking lots of drywall dust I knew there had to be a better way. I am very demanding that a product must work as advertized or it goes back. No disappointment here. I got the unit with hose attachment on rear of handle and glad I did. The unit is heavier than standard pole and did not want weight of hose to add to it. It takes very little practice to not flip head so sanding with head sideways works great. The unit is very well built and sucks 99.9% of dust and I can deal with that. I have sanded directly overhead with ease. No need to wear old clothes or add Dexter drapes (plastic drop cloth) to cover the walls. One tip to share on shop vac, the noise was difficult to deal with in the house so I got the pool vac hose and extended the hose from vac to handle and put the vac outside. As long as the hepa filter is clean my 6 gallion vac has plenty of suction to pull dust through 40' of hose.

It does a great job reducing the dust. But it can’t sand for crap. The position you want to take to use it causes the sanding pad not to glide across the surface. It sands in a forward but not in reverse. The head wants to flop around if you don’t keep the proper angle. I can get 10 times the amount of work done with a standard pole sander. Makes a mess, but the $15 pole sander gets the job done.

I've used a basic pole sander (http://www.amazon.com/Goldblatt-G15353-Pole-Sander-Handle/dp/B000BOB8RY/ref=sr_1_8?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1332603477&sr=1-8) , the Magna MT800 Sand & Kleen Hand Sander System (http://www.amazon.com/MT800-Sand-Kleen-Sander-System/dp/B00005A1K8) and the Hyde dust-free sander depicted above. Of the three, I rate the Hyde as the best overall when dust control is a must and the basic pole sander for areas where dust control is not a factor. Here's the breakdown: Hyde dust-free sander: Virtually dust-free sanding when used with a fine dust filter or HEPA filter vacuum. I attach the vacuum to the back of the pole instead of using the "Y" connector which keeps the hose out of the way. The suction at the sanding head is great and is adjustable to keep the sanding head from binding on the work surface due to too much vacuum force. Considering that, the sanding head will still grab the work surface and turn on edge causing it to dig into compound and leave a gouge if you are not careful. The swivel at the base of the sanding head is a little stiff which seems to exacerbate the grabbing, rolling and digging tendency. I suspect the swivel will loosen up as it wears. For those two reasons I gave it a 4 instead of a 5. The versatility of being able to use the pole or hold the sander in hand is a nice feature. Pole Sander: It's cheap, extremely light, streamlined (no hoses), easy to maneuver, and gets the job done quickly. Its fatal flaw is obviously the resulting dust cloud that is nearly impossible to contain. Magna MT800 Sand & Kleen Hand Sander System: Cheaper than the Hyde dust-free sander but more expensive than the pole. It controls the dust reasonably well. Its problems are numerous however. The hose is only about 7/8" in diameter. That narrow vacuum hose kills most of the vacuum's power and also causes an intense whistle as my shop vac strains to draw air through the tiny orifice. No adjustment works at quieting the noise without killing whatever suction remains. The small dust collector grooves in the sanding head clog with drywall dust after 30-45 minutes and the tool has low suction compared to the Hyde system. There is no pole and the sanding head is awkward to hold and use, especially on ceilings. When finished, there is a bucket of drywall slurry to dispose of. And lastly, some damp dust escapes the bucket and forms a drywall dust crust inside the vacuum hose. In conclusion, for small drywall jobs where dust control is a must, the Hyde dust-free sander is worth the money. Be sure to use it with a fine particle filter in the vacuum.

Does a great job of keeping down the dust when sanding. Easy to attach to your shop vac. I am short so it's was bit difficult for me, I think if you 5ft 9in or taller it would be perfect. I am 5ft 5. I "fixed" this issue by adding a section of my shop vac wand to the pole length...lol! It makes it a bit awkward because of the extra length making the head a little off balance...but it worked and it is way better than using a traditional poke sander and dust flying everywhere! I also have the same problem with my tranditional pole sander too, but can't add any length to it. So, for me there is a double reason to use this tool instead of a pole sander! That's to say, it's my best option for sanding ceilings and I am thrilled that I have it!

I used this on a couple of my drywall projects. It works ok but not great. I guess its good for the price.

Perhaps I didn't hold my mouth just right, but the pad on this pole sander could only be drawn toward me. Because of the way the pad is pivot-mounted on the end of the assembly I could not move the sanding pad away from me on wall or ceiling.

I had a crack in my ceiling that required reinforcing with lath backing plates. I ended up with a 20 feet of joint that needed to be filled and sanded. I used a 45 min setting compound. I discovered that working on the ceiling is way more difficult than working on a vertical wall. After much cursing and fuss, I was ready to sand, at which point I discovered how messy working on the ceiling was - dust went everywhere, and there was a LOT of dust. I taped poly sheet tarps from the ceiling to the floor which worked, but which was a pain and marginally helpful. The compound is harder than 'spackle' and requires some sweat to sand. I got this unit, some 100 grit sanding screen and attached it to our Dyson vacuum. I attached the hose to the pole through the vacuum travels to the head. I found it to be very convenient and almost totally dustless. I open the adjusting vents and used the least amount of vacuum. It works great. I had to spend extra time cleaning the Dyson (which is designed for easy disassembly and cleaning) . My shop vac was too powerful and made it hard to move the sanding head.

A little hard to maneuver until the sanding pad wore a bit. Like all pole sanders you have a learning curve. Great for small jobs, I replaced a large window with a much smaller window. Quality of the unit is good, it's stout. If you have problems with it you probably should have hired a contractor. Dust collection with a large shop vac made for a pretty dust less operation. All in all very happy with the purchase. I would recommend it.

the pivot hinge takes a little getting use to but over all its great dust reduction

This product is junk. Do not buy. It doesn't work as advertised even when you do manage to bend heaven and earth to attach it to your shop vac. The mesh is frail and didn't last 5 minutes, the pivot slipped and the side scratched my putty. Waste of money and time.

Not easy to use for ceilings. Doesn't like to stay flat. Best to use a step stool and keep the angle of rod to sanding head as little as possible. Does work and depending on your shop vac really helped keeping the dust to a minimum. I did use it to sand my ceiling after I removed the popcorn finish. Haven't used it on wall joints yet.

I purchased this item thinking that what it was offering would be exactly what I was looking for unfortunately the suction power is very light and I ended up having to do the cleanup anyways, it kept on disconnecting from the shopvac even though it said it connects to most shocking facts and the handle kept on loosening up so very disappointed with this item considering a cost over $110.

It does a really good job at keeping the dust level down. I recommend getting the bag type filter for your Shop Vac so you don't stir up a bunch of dust cleaning the vac out. I used a small 2.5 gallon Shop Vac and it seemed to have the appropriate amount of suction to get the dust and not suck the tool to the wall so hard that you can't move it. There is suction adjustment on the tool and I had it closed as much as possible for max suction most of the time. It leaves a lot of very noticeable sanding scratches if you aren't careful. You must hold it perfectly flat to the wall at all times or it is going to leave big scratches. I found that not sanding perfectly up/down or side to side is the best way to reduce scratches. Imagine a compass on a map with up/down being North/South. I mostly sanded at NW/SE or NE/SW and had pretty good results. The scratches left behind mostly blended out when I passed over the wall to dust it with a wrung out sponge. Be aware that using this thing is completely exhausting! Be sure to eat your Wheaties the day that you plan to use it. I had a very large room to do and thought I might actually die before I was done. This is a game for the physically fit, which I apparently am not.