Thread: Random Orbital sander under $200

Actually, having said it's not the blue model sold by Vek - the description and specs of the two are uncomfortably close:

AEG 150MM RANDOM SANDER
AEG POWERTOOLS Australia | Products | Sanders | EX150E

AEG 125mm Random Orbital Sander #EX125E you can get 2 of these for under $200 so when the first one dies there's a backup and there are a few here within your budget: Random Orbital Sanders

Personally I like 150mm but they obviously come with a bit of a price/weight premium and if you're not planning on doing a lot of larger pieces then 125mm should do the job.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

AEG 125mm Random Orbital Sander #EX125E - you can get 2 of these for under $200 so when the first one dies there's a backup

That's a thought too... ;-) Actually, noticed that one in the big B the other day, maybe I'll go have a second look.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Personally I like 150mm but they obviously come with a bit of a price/weight premium and if you're not planning on doing a lot of larger pieces then 125mm should do the job.

I've got a mix of both - some smaller projects coming up for christmas where the little one would do the trick, and also a couple of larger benchtop/coffee table size jobs where the increased size will probably help out... damn budgets... ;-)

Just found this on eBay: FESTOOL FESTO ECCENTRIC SANDER ES 125 EQ PLUS ELECTRIC (eBay item 250732697673 end time 03-Dec-10 15:12:56 AEDST) : Home

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

Just found this on eBay: FESTOOL FESTO ECCENTRIC SANDER ES 125 EQ PLUS ELECTRIC (eBay item 250732697673 end time 03-Dec-10 15:12:56 AEDST) : Home

Thanks! - (but watch the furious bidding from forum members now... )

Actually, I just noticed that Bunnings have the Makita for 188, and Sydney Tools has it for 180 - which should mean Bunnings will sell it to me for 162 under their 10% price promise. That does look pretty tempting, as the machine gets good reviews from mags and so on...

But I'll definitely keep an eye on that Festo!

Originally Posted by beeroll

Actually, I just noticed that Bunnings have the Makita for 188, and Sydney Tools has it for 180 - which should mean Bunnings will sell it to me for 162 under their 10% price promise. That does look pretty tempting, as the machine gets good reviews from mags and so on...

I got mine from Bunnings with their price match deal against this place in Melbourne last year, still the same price I think.
Power Tool Specialists : Victoria's #1 Makita Dealer, STIHL Dealer, shop online for widest range of powertools | Milwaukee DeWalt Hitachi Panasonic BOSCH Festool Metabo Makita STIHL

However I don't think Bunnings would do interstate price matches,
I was also tempted by the Festools, but figured I could get nearly 3 Maks for the price of 1 Festool, I'll get a Festool one day, but in the meantime the Mak's still doing it's job well.

Ended up with the Makita. Tested it at Sydney Tools, and you can hardly hear it, and hardly feel it... really impressive.

I wasn't able to take advantage of Bunnings price "guarantee" - I wrote about that elsewhere:

https://www.woodworkforums.com/f11/bu...rantee-127640/

Originally Posted by beeroll

Hi all,

I would love a new Rotex, or even the $400 Bosch GEX150 Turbo dual orbit sander.

But reality intrudes, and my budget realistically, is $200.

So I'm tossing up between three models:

The Makita BO5021, for $180, which comes with a case and 15 sanding discs.

The Bosch blue GEX 125 250W for $134, which comes without either of those extras.

They are both 125mm sanders, and basically finishing sanders.

Or the AEG EX 150 E for $199, which is a bit like the big Bosch, in that it has dual orbits, one for fine finishing, and one for more aggressive stock removal. It also comes with a case. It's the orange version of the tool, not the blue one that Vek sells.

So on straight up value, the AEG looks like a winner, but does anyone have experience of the tool which might suggest otherwise?

Thanks in advance!

i have the bosch gex and its excelent i would recomend that one, however most palm random orbit sanders are under $200 anyway