Bosch Palm Sander - Woodworking Talk

dodgeboy77 · 10-20-2009, 08:44 PM

I have been hankering for a Bosch 5" random orbit sander (ROS20VSK) for a while but was put off by the $80-$90 price. Recently I noticed that Lowe's had dropped the price to $69 so I decided to treat myself to this well rated sander.

One negative aspect of this sander has been that it's only rated at 2.2 amps. I went to my local Lowe's and saw they had two of these on the shelf. Oddly, one had 2.2 amps on the box and the other had 2.5. I looked more closely and a tag on the box of the 2.2 amp unit said 4/09. The 2.5 amp version's tag was 10/09. They must have made a production change as everything else on the boxes was the same, including the model number.

I bought the newer one and got it home and checked the sander itself. Sure enough, it is labeled 2.5 amps. I plugged it in, and once I figured out how the on/off switch worked, found it runs nice and smoothly.

Just thought I'd let you guys know about the price drop and the slight power increase in case anyone was interested.

Bill

Johnny Yuma · 10-22-2009, 04:16 PM

I have the same RO sander. Have used it for several months now (5 days a week) and have to say it kicks the snot out of my old PC.

Sands fast.
Great dust collection, although you do have to empty it a lot.
Doesn't make your hand tingle!
Great finish.

dodgeboy77 · 10-23-2009, 02:14 AM

I got a chance to use it on some finished plywood last night. Even though I was using an 80 grit disk it gave me a smooth finish (I'll have to get some 40's). I noticed that it seemed to work best with almost no hand pressure on it and the dust collection was excellent. The disk didn't clog and didn't show signs of wear after a fair amount of use.

And you're correct, no hand-tingle. I like this sander!

Bill

daxinarian · 10-23-2009, 12:47 PM

It is a slight increase in power consumption. The real question is did they increase the mechanical power output? Or did they simply replace one of the electrical components with a cheaper less efficent one?

dodgeboy77 · 10-23-2009, 03:03 PM

<<The real question is did they increase the mechanical power output? Or did they simply replace one of the electrical components with a cheaper less efficent one?>>

Tch. Such a cynic. Actually, I was wondering if they simply made an advertising decision to make the sander more competitive with other brands that are advertised as 3 amps. Someone else commented that Bosch uses continuous amperage and not peak amperage, a more honest rating.

I looked at the Bosch web site and the sander is still listed as 2.2 amps. I checked their press releases and there was nothing about a change. A mystery!

A took a closer look at the sander and there is no 'Type 1' or 'Type 2' like other manufacturers use. Aside from the serial number, they do have a secondary (longer) model number, though.

Bill