Random Orbit Sander advice please

[Sideways]

I'm seeking some advice before buying a new ROS please.
First the exclusions:
Festool and Mirka are both out of my budget however much I like them.
Don't need or want cordless.
Not interested in Aldi / Lidl / Titan or (opposite of brand loyalty) Dewalt.

I'm particularly interested in the Metabo 450 SXE dual orbit as I have several Metabo tools and like them. I am wondering if any quality has been lost when they revamped this to boost the power and cut the weight.
Also curious about the Bosch GEX 125 150 AVE because it claims good vibration control and slightly more power than the Metabo, though only a fixed 4mm orbit. I wonder if it's worth the extra £100 ish street price over the Metabo ?

I want a powerful, reliable, quality workhorse for woodworking, including DIY jobs like stripping back for repaint, but I've excluded the gear driven Rotex lookalikes this time round.
Oh, and I will be using abranet disks with whatever I get. Awesome !
Thanks

 

[AJB Temple]

My experience for what it is worth. I've tried cheap ones (£70 ish) and they are not great. I've got the previous version of the Metabo and it is way better and more than good enough for most keen DIYers. As I do quite a bit of wood work I also bought a Mirka (as I don't have any other Festool stuff and I am not a brand man) and it is in a different league in terms of performance, vibration, work rate and comfort. Never tried the Festool.

 

[Trevanion]

We have 2 of the Metabo Tubotec SXE450s in work and they've had an absolute hammering for over 3 years and they still keep going, the only thing that needs replacing are the rubber pads as they do wear out and the brushes (As with any sander). If you're going to be using Abranets make sure to buy some pad protectors as they will go through pads like crazy otherwise. The included dust extraction box is pretty poor so some kind of attached hose is a must with them, they do throw dust out the back and down the pipe quite well though. It's a very good machine in my opinion.

My own personal sander is the Makita BO6030 and I think I prefer it a little more to the Metabo as there seems to be less vibration, a smoother feel and the provided dust extraction box works well without an extractor but that may be down to the fact as it's not done as much work (Not even a thousandth of the work). Time will tell.

 

[Sideways]

Thanks to you both guys. I'd buy a Mirka deros in a heartbeat if I had cash to spare but can't justify it to myself. I'll settle for a good branded 150mm machine and take a little longer over the job.
The advice about pad savers and extraction is handy, cheers. I'll be using this pretty well 100% of the time with a vac.
There seem to be plenty of positive reviews of the Metabo so it would be a safe and good value choice.
I'm still interested to hear from anyone who can compare the new and old versions of the metabo or has used the bosch gex 125 150 AVE.

 

[memzey]

+1 for the Makita BO6030. It’s the only ROS I’ve ever had so I can’t give you an honest comparison but it has worked really well for me for the past few years. Good quality abrasives make a difference in my experience as well. Have been using abranet recently and it’s the best I’ve tried so far.

 

[Alexfn]

MAKITA - BO6050J

for me better than the rotex and the only sander mentioned here bar the rotex that has fixed and random mode, so can get a great finish or remove material faster than a belt sander, really dont think anything in the 250 range can touch it. unless something new has came out i dont know about. cant even compare it to the metabo really night and day

last time i recommended it a guy linked to someone claiming he had a problem but seems like overall it has really good reviews and after using mine in the trade for around 3 years ive had no issues. just make sure to register for the 3 year warranty

 

[Mark A]

MAKITA - BO6050J

for me better than the rotex and the only sander mentioned here bar the rotex that has fixed and random mode, so can get a great finish or remove material faster than a belt sander, really dont think anything in the 250 range can touch it. unless something new has came out i dont know about. cant even compare it to the metabo really night and day

last time i recommended it a guy linked to someone claiming he had a problem but seems like overall it has really good reviews and after using mine in the trade for around 3 years ive had no issues. just make sure to register for the 3 year warranty

That guy was me. Maybe I was unlucky, but the B06050J I bought lasted for about 30 minutes of moderate use before it suddenly stopped working. I took it apart to investigate whether it was easily repairable myself, but half the teeth had been stripped from the gear which powered the forced rotation mode. It was a shame it broke, because there's only two other manufacturers that I know of with similar sanders; Bosch and Festool, both of which are much more expensive.

There's several reviews on Amazon.com which appear to highlight the same issues as me, so I think the fault is a result of poor design.

 

[sunnybob]

on a machine with a 3 year warranty, why did you take it apart? Did you return it? what was makita service like?

I'm considering one of these myself.

 

[Mark A]

It was a weekend, I was in the middle of a job and the shop I bought it from was closed until the following Monday. I couldn't fix it without parts, so called the shop on Monday and arranged for the sander to be collected and refunded.

 

[Selwyn]

I graduated from a PARKSIDE one that couldn't hack it and I find the Makita B06030 a dream to use in comparison. Very smooth.

£106 online is good value in my eyes. Or wait til ebay do a discount day.

 

[pcb1962]

I have the Bosch, very happy with it. I bought it because it has the lowest vibration in its class and I was suffering some carpal tunnel problems at the time. Useful to have the 5 and 6 inch pad options but probably not worth the £100 extra over the Metabo unless you want its particular features.

 

[Alexfn]

on a machine with a 3 year warranty, why did you take it apart? Did you return it? what was makita service like?

I'm considering one of these myself.

makita service is good, not festool levels but not a million miles away, stuff ive had to send off under warranty has usually been back in under a week

 

[Alexfn]

MAKITA - BO6050J

for me better than the rotex and the only sander mentioned here bar the rotex that has fixed and random mode, so can get a great finish or remove material faster than a belt sander, really dont think anything in the 250 range can touch it. unless something new has came out i dont know about. cant even compare it to the metabo really night and day

last time i recommended it a guy linked to someone claiming he had a problem but seems like overall it has really good reviews and after using mine in the trade for around 3 years ive had no issues. just make sure to register for the 3 year warranty

That guy was me. Maybe I was unlucky, but the B06050J I bought lasted for about 30 minutes of moderate use before it suddenly stopped working. I took it apart to investigate whether it was easily repairable myself, but half the teeth had been stripped from the gear which powered the forced rotation mode. It was a shame it broke, because there's only two other manufacturers that I know of with similar sanders; Bosch and Festool, both of which are much more expensive.

There's several reviews on Amazon.com which appear to highlight the same issues as me, so I think the fault is a result of poor design.

triton and gmc (same company) do versions.
gmc one is very cheap but wouldnt expect much of it

 

[Alexfn]

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/192200922547#rwid

 

[sammy.se]

I bought a machine mart ''Clarke" brand ROS after my axi one exploded. It's not very good. You get what you pay for (£40).

I know you weren't considering a budget brand, but just fyi. Dust extraction is non existent. And the gentlest of pressure stops it turning.

It served the purpose of why i got it though (sanding plaster) but i will try and get a better one in future.

Sent from my Nexus 5X using Tapatalk

 

[Sideways]

So a quick note for feedback and thanks:
In the end I bought the Metabo SXE450 duo. 150mm and 350 watts. Switchable 2.8 and 6.2mm orbit

I figured it out like this:
Top end : Festool or Mirka. I like brushless tools. The Deros is low profile, low noise 72dB and lowish (5m/s/s) vibration. I'd love one and prefer them to the Festool, but can't get the price down low enough. Maybe on an ebay 15% off day ...

The gear driven machines - £250 and up and up - very effective but dodgy balance for ordinary flat work and I don't need one as I have that strange metabo tool, a paint planer - basically a angle grinder with a spindle moulder cutter block mounted in a base plate with TC cutters. It has an adjustable cut from 0 to 0.3mm and will "plane" off paint like lightning. Limited application but very high productivity.

The nice low vibration sanders - Bosch GEX 125-150 ACE and the Mafell - sub 2.5m/s/s vibration but still a little dear. Better suited to flat surface prep due to their size and shape. Felt that if I was going to spend that much, I'd stretch it to a Deros.

The metabo and the equivalent (but only single size orbit) Makita. The makita looks good value and I was pretty impressed reading through their model range. In the end I went for the metabo because I have other tools of theirs and experience of them is tough and reliable. The 450 duo sells for about £130 and a quick first try shows that it is much more powerful than any sander I've used before. It is fairly smooth and not over loud on half speed and still cuts pretty quickly. On turbo, it's a bit obnoxious ! Dust extraction not half bad even with a basic disc and just the dust bag. It seems well made and I'm happy with the value which includes a 3 yr warranty, but 7.5m/s/s vibration is less than ideal. I think I can live with that as I won't use it for long sessions at a time.

Mirka branded pad saver and interface pads fit (buy the 67 hole ones intended for mirka sanders, not the 50 something hole pads designed to fit abranet onto festool sanders - the holes wouldn't line up). The 6 large inner and 8 large outer holes on the metabo line up well with the corresponding holes on the mirka pads.

Thanks everyone for your advice. I have something that will get the job done and many more into the future.