Professional Pole Sander

As someone who bought a fixer-upper 12 years ago, and has now remodeled my house head to toe, I can weigh in heavily on this product. After reading almost all the reviews on here, I can say most people's complaints are not valid. Most people on here have never done any drywall sanding before and are complaining about drywall sanding in general, not this product. People thought this was going to make sanding easier than normal. It's not! This is actually makes it harder than normal. The point of this product is your extra effort in using this it, is justified by having less dust to deal with - which is does. The product works as advertised.Here's the deal: If you have never done drywall sanding before, don't use this. You have to already have good technique with a flat handheld sander. This cannot be your first time. Good technique means you CANNOT sand (by moving any drywall sander) left to right, or rather against the long-side of the sander. The paper with crease, instantly. You only sand up and down, or rather on the short side. Actually it should be on an angle, like the sander is pointing like an arrow. Watch some videos if you don't what I mean. IF YOU ALREADY CAN DO THAT, then buy this. Here's what this product does:Because of the suction, this will grab the wall and not roll smoothly over your mud. It takes more hand and arm effort than the easy gliding regular sander. If you have a large room to do, you will get tired and sore. Because of your loud vacuum, you also lose some audible clue of how hard you are pressing into your mud, so over sanding can be an issue. However, it is still worth it because on a wall, 99% of dust is gone. On a ceiling... not so much, maybe 50%. Also on a ceiling you have to go past your mud and pull towards yourself, rather than try to sand back and forth. Well, at least if you're using the extension wand/stick like I was.Now, you will probably be returning this, as I am, because it breaks after a few hours. The sander itself is heavy duty, with almost all metal parts. Impressive really. However, the hose and extension wand/stick are the cheapest plastics I've ever used. Any pulling, like moving your vacuum with them, or any twisting, like switch walls or angles, or getting up to the top of a wall, and they break, snap, or rip open. The wand wants to snap at the connection points and the hose wants to rip open where there's is the lightest torsion. You can duct tape pieces together to get finished, but don't plan on keeping this. It's sad really, because the idea is perfect, the sander is perfect, the sand screens are made by a well-known brand, but the company just had to save money on the plastic parts. Hoses can be built strong. My shop vac has been pulled by the hose over bricks, wood, and other junk. One time I pulled so hard that it broke the wheels off... but never the hose! This thing, uh it's just sad they couldn't spend a few more dollars, because it's otherwise perfect product. I guess if you want something to keep, get the electric type that uses circular sand pads and a vacuum.

I'm not a professional production taper, but I am a professional carpenter that does some patch/tape/paint as a part of my work in my 15 year career.Don't listen to the naysayers and homeowners. This sander works and it was designed for professionals. It isn't a production tool. In a production setting there is either very little dust control and no need for vacuums while sanding--OR--the tapers will use electric sanders with vacuums. A vacuum pole sander is just too slow for that kind of work. What it is good for is sanding small to large patches and small projects. A hand vacuum sander of any kind is going to make you sweat. Its harder to sand than a non-vacuum sander. And the degree of dust control is primarily going to be determined by what tier shop vac you use. For me, I'm running a Hilti VC-150-6X which runs at around $1,000. But if you're running a $100 Ridgid, expect more dust. Another thing is to use a good hepa filter and a hepa bag. It makes a big difference. I can't pack around a big electric sander, but this will fit in my rig and take up almost no space.Back to the tool. This is exactly what I'd expect from Hyde. Its quality. The pole and the sander look like they're designed to last. The hose is just plastic and feels kinda cheap. There is one hose adapter for it. --but I didn't buy it for the hose. The sanding pads that it came with are quality Mirka sanding pads. I've heard that you can't use your run-of-the-mill sanding pads on these, a minor inconvenience. I'm fine buying the Mirka pads.I tried it out on a 4x10" project. I'd say it ate about 80-90% of the dust. I ran a air purifier that automatically kicks on if the dust gets bad, and it didn't kick on. Sanding with this is going to take some getting used to, and you cannot sand sideways with it or it will scratch the surface.If Hyde wants to improve on this, they should make a circular version of it with circular pads.

I read that this sander removed up to 90% of the dust, which to me was definitely good. However I still put up plastic covers on doorways and over counters etc in the room I was sanding, this was a bit of overkill. I personally feel that it removed more like 98% of the dust and was a gem to work with. I have done a lot of drywall sanding, much of it due to applying too much mud in the first place, and wish I had found this tool long ago. I had a lot of sanding only because I did a level five coating and had to sand all surface areas.My only complaint was that the hose sometimes slipped off of the sanding unit itself because I wasn’t able to push it on all the way due to the snug fit. The other was that I was getting pinched a lot at the beginning when changing angles, I got used to it and was aware as I changed angles and no longer pinched my fingers. Both of these were very small inconveniences and I only mention them because I can’t just be all positive with no constructive feedback.I would recommend this to anyone who is in the trade or home handyman. Well worth the money and one of the best purchases I have made in a long time.