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Beware!

I received this sander as a free bonus for buying the new Hitachi router. Since I didn’t really “need” it and it was basically free for me, I can’t complain about the price I paid. However, if I were to pay the price listed here I would be pretty mad. Here’s why:

Though the sander comes out of the box looking and feeling like a quality machine, I quickly noticed that the one sheet of sandpaper included was of the peel and stick variety (and it already had the dust-collection holes punched in it). I thought this was odd since this sander has the standard paper clamps so you can cut your own 1/4 sheets and attach them without sticky backing. Then it hit me. Though this sander is rated as having one of the most efficient dust collection systems on the market, dust collection only works if the holes are punched through the sandpaper, and the only way to do that effectively is with a sandpaper punch plate made for that particular sander. The kicker is that no such punch plate is included…it is listed as an accessory in the owner’s manual.

So, armed with the part number I searched high and low on Amazon and everywhere else I could think of on the web and couldn’t find the punch plate. I eventually called Hitachi who gave me an 800 number to call and order the plate. The price of the plate is over $11 and they want $8 more to ship it. For a flat piece of plastic with nibs on it!

After using the sander with the one included sheet of pre-punched sandpaper I can say that this little machine is well built and fairly agressive for a finish sander. It is comfortable in the hand, and has a quality feel to it.

In the end, I hate to bash this tool because of the punch plate issue, but how good is a sander with an excellent dust collection system that you cannot use unless you spend another $19 on a punchplate that should be included in the first place?

Update (5/19/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Hitachi SV12SG 1.7 Amp Orbital 1/4 Sheet Sander with Cloth Dust Bag Tools & Hardware, was written by Scott Pointon.

The average rating for this item is 3 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.