My old early 70's Craftsman 4x24 belt sander died a while ago and I need to replace it. Where I live it's hard to even heft anything that HD or Lowes doesn't carry. The nearest woodworking stores are 4 hrs to the west in SLC and 4 hrs to the east in Denver so whatever I decide to buy will most likely be on-line.
The ones I've been considering are the Makita 9404 4x24 8.8 amp 10.3# variable speed at 232.36. I like the variable speed idea but haven't found one to heft. I did find a 3x21 with the bag in the same place and didn't care for the way it felt. The 3x21 wasn't well balanced and I wonder if that applies to the 4x24 too.
The Makita 9403 4x24 11 amp 9.8# non variable speed at 249.99. This one seems to get very good reviews. Is the 9404 really only 9.8# as amazon says?
The milwaukee 5936 4x24 10 amp 14.5# non variable speed at 299.99. I did find one of these to heft and it is perfectly balanced right over the center of the belt. If it was variable I'd probably buy this since I like Milwaukee and have had great luck with them over the years. It is the heaviest of the lot.
The Bosch 1276DVS 4x24 10.5 amp 13.8# variable speed at 223.08.
The Bosch 1274 DVS which is a 3x21 6.6 amp 7.8# varriable speed at 164.40. I really like the way this feels; if Bosch made a 4x24 in this configuration I'd buy it.
The best reviews are of the Makita 9403. The little Bosch feels great; should I try a 3x21? The PC and Dewalt don't feel good to me so I'm not considering them. I'm leaning towards the Bosch 1276 because of variable speed and Makita 9403 for the lightest wt and good reviews.
So what say you all?