Over the weekend, I put this finishing sander to use for the first time, and it passed with flying colors. Sanding down redwood & fir beams for a loft, I used my Makita for 4 hours straight on Saturday -- and it never heated up or slowed down. Just kept sanding away evenly like an Energizer Bunny. On Sunday, I used it for 3 more hours to sand down the stain and it worked just as well again. This is a finishing sander, so it is not as powerful as some and not the right tool for sanding very rough hard wood, but for carpentry & household use, this a simply beautiful tool. The clips to affix the sand paper are easy to use, it takes just a few seconds to change paper, and the sander never lost grip of any of the 30+ sheets I used. Power is variable with the trigger, which can be locked with the button. The saw dust collection bag works better than I expected. I have NOT received any discount or compensation for my review of this product. I am proud to own this Makita finishing sander.

I have an orbital sander. But, when working on "skinny surfaces" (e.g, 3/4" thick edges of cabinet face frames) the orbital sander is tough to keep flat on a small surface. It tends to roll over the edges and round the surface. This makes for a poor fit then joining to other pieces. The larger (and rectangular) surface of this sander makes it much easier to keep flat on these smaller edges.

Cons:
The dust collector bag doesn't seem to really catch much dust. If I hooked it up to a dust collector hose it might do better. However, the port is really a small diameter, smaller than any of my other tools, and I don't have a adapter for it. I just wear a dust mask when using it.
The clear, plastic insert that helps prevent chipout is a great idea and worked pretty well for the first couple of times. Then, it lost its ability to snap in and stay in place. I can't use it any more.

Overall I'm pleased with the quality of this sander (as I am with other Makita tools I own).

Purchased to sand floors after ripping out tile and replacing with vinyl plank flooring. Have not used the little dust bag. Sander sucks air through holes in sandpaper. A tool came with it that easily punches the holes. The hose on my 10-gal shop vac does not fit the nozzle on the sander but stays on fairly well once the vac is turned on. Using Sheetrock bags in the shop vac to keep down the dust. Very happy with the sander and the low vibration.

I've been using this thing almost non-stop after having purchased my (first!) new house. It was built in the 90's so I'm in the process exorcising all of the crappy 90's style choices in such homes (like ugly oak veneer everywhere). This model uses 3 strips per sandpaper sheet instead of 4 so be aware of that since it's a bit larger. As other reviewers had mentioned, the catch bags on these things only collect a small percentage of the dust that it kicks out. It's a neat idea in concept but in real-world use... it's a bit of a failure. I'm not going to ding the review because of that because I honestly didn't expect that "feature" to work after my research before purchase. I have other Makita tools (a drill set) and have nothing but praise for the quality of the product line. One very handy feature on this sander is the lock button so when you need to sand something for a good 5 or 10 minutes straight, it's less strain on the hand to not have to be holding a trigger the whole time. It also allows you to reposition your hands slightly for a better grip if you really want to bear down on a problematic section that needs a bit heavier grinding.

Well, actually it doesn't vibrate much at all. Nice to use. The paper holding mechanism is terrific and the dust bag really does work. Much handier than trying to attach a vacuum hose. The hole punching device works as well, but is too hard to remove as the spikes stick in the paper. This model does not have speed control. Every tool in the world has that feature, so I thought it seemed a bit cheap for the quality Makita brand.

It actually removed a poly finish on a table top faster than a random orbit Bosch, and that was very surprising.

Reasonably priced, Makita stuff is usually good, works well, seems well-made and not noisy or taxing to use. It is almost a five-star, but the speed control issue kind of turned me off a bit.