Side by Side Comparison of: Makita vs Black & Decker

I have used this sander on extreme hard wood "Osage Orange" This sander is the best I have ever owned. Not only does it adjust the belt on center it also has variable speed and the dust collector works terrific. The long electric cord gives plenty of room to work. I would highly recommend this unit over all the others.
r

Very impressed overall with this sander. After reading many reviews on other sanders, I decided to go with model. Very powerful and easy handling. Dust collecting bag works well but I like the fact that my shopvac hooks right up to it...perfect! I always believe you get what you pay for, and in this case it was worth it.

We bought this after doing much reviews as we were starting a major hardwood floor restoration project. Having this sander truly and I mean truly made the difference between making the job enjoyable, or my life ending in divorce. Honest. Both my spouse and I used it successfully and we were able to finish the project and due to the extra sanding, with various grits, etc the floor looks awesome! Both my wife and I are reporting this with prior experience doing a separate room with a sander that just stunk. And I mean stunk. Made the work twice as hard, and four times longer than it should have taken. With this Makita we did a room three time larger in record time. Wow. Talk about using the right tool for the job! I am by no means a handyman or a tool guy and I know diddly about home upgrades and repairs but this thing tracks nice, kept the sandpaper true and it just worked! Truly made the project enjoyable.
I would replace this with another one if and when I have to. But so far so good. This winter we are starting another project and this will be our primary sander for that as well!

The flat top allows you to lay the sander upside down and clamp it to a surface so you have a stationary sander. The variable speed allows the belt to move at a very low speed, making it very easy to remove small amounts of material from the surface you want to sand. The low speed also makes your sanding operation much safer, easier to maintain control. Adjusting the tracking of the belt (the side to side alignment of the belt) on this sander is much better than my last two Porter Cable sanders. A small turn of the dial moves the belt a short distance to the right or left, depending on the direction you turn the dial. The previously owned sanders would let the belt continue traveling right or left unless you reversed the turn of the dial just the right amount to keep the belt centered. This sander is just quicker and easier to adjust the belt and the belt seems to stay aligned.

When you need to remove material quickly, it is easy to adjust the speed of the belt.

It is quieter than any belt sander I have ever used... it is a belt sander, though... so quiet is relative.

The tool is well-balanced and I expect to get a lot of use and satisfaction from it.

The dust bag could use a more positive attachment to the tool. Several times the bag has popped off the sander during use, since it is a friction fit. Perhaps I am just not engaging the funnel end of the bag into the dust port of the tool with sufficient authority?

I replaced an older Makita of the same size that cut itself apart due to unnoticed poor tracking (it was manual). The old one was a good unit and supplied years of use but the new unit is much more heavily built and the auto tracking works perfectly. Another feature I enjoy is the speed control. You can slow it to a crawl whereas the old unit even at the slowest setting was spinning rather fast. This gives much better material removal control.

Worked extremely well for the project I purchased it for. Great belt sander for the price. I have only used it once as of now so we'll see if it stands the test of time.

great product and easy to use -- highly recommend. I don't know what it is -- I was raised thinking black and decker was for folks who didn't really know tools. But I keep finding myself returning other tools and buying their brand -- and being so much happier.

This thing is a beast. We remodeled our kitchen, started with a rotary sander and it wasn't cutting it. Got this and the job went by 10 times faster.

I have a deck which is too uneven to finish with a floor sander. We used mainly 80 grit belts and ran the Dragster for 5 hours yesterday. We set the belt drift once at the beginning and never needed to again. I am online now to purchase a second one for further renovation so that we can have two guys sanding at once.

The dust bag filled several times and kept the dust down to a dull roar.

I feel the sander, the touch of Black&Decker sands as good as any sander I ever owned and I owned some anchors.I find that I can turn that sander in all positions for sanding all angles to complete the jobs.I compared each sander and the fact is this sander can do the same and more and because of the weight factor that you can sand longer with arms extended is something that can be differcult .Bites in and sander does the work.I just completed a large and complete front porchThe 2ND coat of paint is going on 07-31-2013,which is tomorrow.This is my 2nd Dragster sander by Black and Decker.I'll tell you my first sander that I owned for years,the Dragster by Black &Decker broke when I dropped it 4 floors.One piece broke,so I order the part and when I contacted Back & Decker they had the part and shipped it.I did recieve it in short order,but I still bought another one the same day I broke it.
I found out having two,the work gets done in half the time with two guys. Check it out yourself,best way to know tools.

Great quality easy to use but it is a tad on the heavy side

Unit has done the job so far. The vacuum to the bag is nothing to brag about but I never have found them to work well on any unit. Belts are an easy on/off which is great. Nice long cord to work around the project. It is a heavy unit which works for a belt sander.

My only complaint about this belt sander is that the dust outlet doesn't fit a standard hose; but rather is exactly the same size as the hose (I have to pipe the two together).

This Makita sander is a real work horse , tracks fine, belt changing a cinch, with only one negative comment. Makita you folks really need to relocate the dust bag ! At first I liked the location, and it felt pretty comfortable . But when I use the sander its like an extension of my hand, in other words I'm all over the place and the dust bag keeps falling off! Better yet instead of relocating the bag find a better way to secure it that's all thanksMakita 9903 8.8 Amp 3-Inch-by-21-Inch Variable Speed Belt Sander with Cloth Dust Bag

This is my first belt sander and I bought it because I needed to refinish some walnut paneling. It makes stripping old finishes a breeze! I've even used it to edge plane some rough cut cherry face frame stock with good success (using a Klingspor planer belt). Changing belts is easy, and the auto-tracking mechanism works well. I also find the speed control to be really useful. Like others I find the dust port to be on the wrong side of the tool, and it has been difficult trying to find an adapter to my vaccum that works well.

Works as described, belt changes are easy. I'd give it 5 stars but the thing gets HOT and doesn't like to be overworked on hot days.

Unique design in that the front roller can cover difficult areas including using the top portion. I like the smaller, lighter design and adjustable handle making the sander much easier to handle.

Great weight and balance. Nose of sander makes it possible to get in tight places. Only pro models perform better, but for those not in the Trades, it is agile and performs to expectations. The average home user would not be disappointed at this price point and ability to complete it's task. As for durability, it has yet to fail me as it is only used occasionally.

Pretty good quality and a good price for it. The size isn't too bad, it's pretty easy to hold and change the belt, but I wouldn't say it's a great high quality item. The dust bag can be a pain to get on/off sometimes and the zipper on it to empty seems almost unnecessary because it opens just as far as the hole to fill the bag. But for a cheap little sander this works well.

Did a nice job sanding my deck in preparation to re-staining and sealing. The dust bag would be better if it were a little larger.

I had high hopes since I believe porter cable quality has gone down over the years and was happy to purchase another Makita product (VERY happy with their 18v cordless tools and a jackhammer I've used for years).

The PRO'S:
it is indeed a relatively quiet machine
good dust collection
despite other reviewers, I liked the clip on the dustbag, made it very easy to empty

The CON'S:
POWER: I can't believe they use the same motor on their bigger 4x24 sander. This thing bogs down as much as my $49 black and decker when it hits wood. I found myself constantly trying to turn up the speed, only to realize it's already on max.
FLUSH SANDING: Just, no... It states 'Innovative design for sanding flush to wall with nose,' which I found completely false. Sander contacts wood mainly just at plate area, a good 3 inches from the nose. I can't imagine how much more this would bog down if the full sandpaper contacted wood.
COST: $70 more than the porter cable, $175 more than my black and decker, which I'm surprised I'm even using as a comparative review.
TRACKING: "Auto-tracking belt system tracks belt without adjustment," I think I missed something...this has a knob up front and it needed to be turned like any other belt sander I've used. If belt gets too close to the inside, it catches something and tears, which seems like a very poor design flaw.
MISC: Fax number to register product didn't work, initial purchase from amazon warehouse deals came without dust bag, second purchase was left on doorstep in it's $250 Makita 9903 Sander box (no brown box???)...total prime thing to steal off a porch if you ask me..

UPDATE:
After using this sander for a few months, I am indeed happy with the purchase, while I stand by my previous review, I find the machine very ergonomic and a pleasure to use compared to other sanders. That being said, I do hope they update it, my new Makita cordless (brushless) tools are leaps and bounds ahead of their previous models. If they could make the same improvements to this machine it would indeed be a force to reckon with.

Burns my wood...it may be that I don't know how to use it...but I have a rotary sander that out performs this one.

Makita continues it's slow decline on tool quality with this sander. Sander does track well, has a long cord, but lacks power when using coarse grit belts. The dust bag is a joke. I even hooked the belt sander up to my hepa vacuum and still had dust blowing out of belt. Variable speed works well but is so slow that setting tool lower than the max setting renders the tool useless.

This sander is woefully underpowered and it was hard to keep the belt tracking correctly. Might be ok for very light work. Had bearing trouble within the first few times I tried to use 80 grit paper. Would not recommend this sander for any kind of heavy use.

Awkward to use took a few minutes to get the hang of. Belt slips and tears if not on securely on or if you move in any direction other than straight.
Sanded a table that folds into a bench. Haven't used it since. Will probably purchase a palm/orbital sander.

not so good. It works, but it will begin to make a groaning sound like it is going to come apart. It will work again and then sound like it is going to come apart again. So far has not stopped but from the way it sounds it could stop at any time.

For $50 this works fine. I bought it because of the folding front handle and low profile to get underneath my porch banister. the bag catches maybe 2% of the dust. I have used it for maybe a total of 2 hours now. No issues with the belt tracking as other's have mentioned.

Structural durability is quite good. However, driving roller and tracking rollers are ecentric. Black & Decker should have do a lathe job on their roller to balance the wheels. If you have enough facilities to make a new rollers for this beltsander, it's fine to buy it. However, if you don't, you will undergo problems.

I purchased this sander because of the great reviews. I used sander as per the directions and as soon as I turned on unit it thrashed the belt that was provided. I had to stop unit loosen the belt and put the tension back on in order to be able to adjust and for the thrashing to stop. By the time I was able to adjust the unit the right 3rd of the belt was unusable. I call tech support and they advised there must have been a defective part and that since it was within the 30 days to return to Amazon. Amazon gave me a refund. 2 stars since I didn't loose money. 1 star to quality control.

just recieved the product and while there doesnt seem to be anything wrong with the sander, dissapointed to see some saw dust indicating it has been used. guess i could return item, just dont feel like going through the hassle.

This sander works great for a couple of years but then it starts to fail. Miss track or just poor tension on the belt. I think is way over price.

Bought the belt sander after reading reviews and features. I opened the box and pulled it out, tested it and then bought some more belts to have some on hand. The initial testing was just to run the unit without actually doing any work. Put it up winter coming and didn't have anything to do. 12/27/14... made some shelves today, needed to sand them to fit between the unevenness of dry wall walls. Plugged it in and now the first time I actually wanted to use it it made a few revolutions made a sudden clunk and locked up tight. Very disappointed in Makita's quality assurance... opened it up removing both halves to see why the motor locked only to find an extra brush end cap that had been left in the housing by the cooling fins had wandered in behind the fan and jammed. Removed the part that apparently had been introduced during assembly and hour later reassembled and was able to use the sander.

Had to return it because they no longer made the sanding frame that we wanted to buy, to go with it.

Belt never stays on

Feel like a toy! Not built for hard work

Not good for heavy jobs, its too light and can't handle rough grade sandpaper. Buy the Hitachi, its more money but well worth it.

This belt sander is maybe good for 1 or 2 medium sized jobs. Before I finished the first job it has started to make a loud noise as if a bearing is going bad. I don't think this was a new product. It acts more like a refurbished piece of equipment.

Knew within one minute this sander was going back. Very underpowered, easy to bog it down. There was more dust at the bottom of the board than in the bag. The bag has a slid on closure which is very easy to come off. Zipper much better. And no way to attach a dust collection hose as the size doesnt fit any hose and there is no adapter offered. I love Makita tools but they blew it with this sander.

I just purchased this sander on Amazon one month and 5 days ago... the second time I went to use it (I have about 15 total minutes of run time on this tool), it died. I checked the brushes and they show virtually no wear of course, and checked a couple different outlets to make sure they are hot, which they are... I went to log in to my Amazon Prime account, and since I'm 5 days over the 30-day return policy I can't get a new one sent... BOOOO!!!

I hope someone at Makita or Amazon reads this and makes this right. It's a $230.00 product that should last for years, not a month!

Just opened package purchased it as a new item
However item has been obvioulsly used even the box was previously opened and dirty
will return immediately

Update -my sander frame snapped in two with no obvious cause, no bending, and no other damage, rendering it useless. It was neither dropped nor misused. The frame should be the last thing to break - not the first. The Makita frame is cast metal - either zinc or an alloy not steel and appears prone to fracture. I think my sander had a defect in casting and the poor design using cast metal was the cause. Since it is now outside the 1 year warranty period, Makita was not interested in helping me other than selling me a new frame for over $80 with shipping (new entire sander price $207), and not interested in hearing about the problem.
Makita USA has no dedicated customer service, and no contact number or email or any way to contact them for complaint or quality issue. If you have a Makita product and something goes wrong after 366 days, T-S. If your frame breaks, expect to pay over half to get it repaired.
I will never buy another Makita product, and strongly encourage others to carefully consider what you DO NOT GET buying from this company.

Spring load for the belt failed. It should have lasted longer, I was only sanding the floors of the decks

Trigger Shorted out and won't initiate motor anymore. Poor product. Not the quality I am personally used to from B&D. I've got 5 power tools from B&D and all others have held up VERY well, so having this one break on me was surprising.

Plastic on the product broke the first time we turned it on. We didn't evenget to use it !! Purchased as a Christmas gift - but didn't use right away. Now I am stuck with a broken product - past the Amazon return date - money down the drain ......

The sandpaper moves all over the place causing premature wear at the sides and rapid desintegration of the sandpaper. The motor smelled like it was going to burn out quickly. I ended up using my orbital sander instead of this to strip the floor of my gazebo because this was such a pain. Ended up returning it. Next time will buy a better one.

AWFUL NO WAY TO ADJUST BELT, KEEPS SLIDING OFF. USELESS!!! GET A RIDGID!!! THAT'S WHAT I DID.