Review on Dewalt 5-Inch Brushless Sander by William Stevenson

I recently carved an old ceramic floor from the early 80's (yes, it was ugly.), What's left is what you could call a relief map of the Himalayas without snow peaks and Yeti tracks. Leftover concrete/thin coating/ceramic/epoxy (yes, someone cheated on a patch years ago) proved resilient to all but a 3-pound sledgehammer and a hardened chisel. Since I had many DeWalt tools and was mostly happy with their work, I decided to give this guy a shot. Conclusion: Good: 1. Ergonomics. The layout of the handles and controls is well thought out. I set my speed and walked 2-3 square feet to get my bearings and then headed into town.2. Sandability - Sufficient torque to work even the highest peaks of the remaining subfloor. I felt almost no recoil as I moved from the smallest peak to the largest. Neutral Position: 1. Dust Catcher - Although very effective at minimizing dust when leveling hills, the front of the Dust Catcher opens up fairly easily when it hits a corner or wall. After running a few more yards along the wall, I was able to sidestep this minor annoyance by making the tightest right-to-left pass and making sure the guards stayed in a closed position. Here it would be nice to have a little more relief or to snap the retainer into the plastic retainer. 2. Attachment thumbscrews for handle. The knurled screw socket must have either a nylock nut or a ratchet base. After a few hours of grinding, I found that the grip bolts were loose. It's ok as they have solid caps that are easy to twist and retighten.3. This is not an everyday tool so it would be nice to see a hard case or tool bag for storage. Need for improvement: 1. Speed controller for brushless motor. Maybe I'm biased here because I've done a lot of development for brushless motor controllers in the medical field, but I find the speed transitions "clunky". Having variable speeds is an A+ and the transition between speed settings doesn't affect overall performance in any way, I just wish the steps had a smoother transition. In summary, this is another DeWalt tool that is a winner. Opportunity value is high. The processing quality is high. I'm impressed with how well this thing chews through bottom cinders. Bonus points for a side handle that can be used as a grinder once the floor work is done.