Makita XOB01Z 18V LXT® Lithium-Ion Cordless 5" Random Orbit Sander, Tool Only

There's rarely anything complicated or difficult to manufacture about a cordless sander. They're regularly one of the cheapest power tools you need to buy for your arsenal and this one is too. I am a Contractor/Laborer and I have to do a good amount of sanding from Bondo to prepping for wood stains to rounding off corners etc. so I need a somewhat light sander with decent battery life and thankfully, this Makita does the job easily. I recently had to sand the logoing off a bunch of pressure treated lumber for a pergola to display at a home show and this made short work of it all. Granted, that's not necessarily a proper pressure test to put it through it's paces but the point is that it did the job without issue and it has been ever since I bought it a few months ago. No complaints, feels good in the hand, battery lasts a good long while, it's good.

I used this to sand around twenty 10' redwood 2x6s that had been out in the weather for a several years and had been covered with honeydew from an aphid infestation in my oak trees plus the dust and dirt that got caked on. It took a lot of sanding from 36 grit down to 80 grit to get these boards back to usable shape for a deck I was building. Many hours of sanding and the wood looks great and stained up nicely. Not having to deal with a cord was very convenient as I was working out in the yard away from the house. I have two 5.0 amp-hour batteries that I was able to swap as needed. The battery being used easily provided plenty of run time to allow the other battery to fully charge. I have used the sander on many other woodworking projects and it has always performed well.

I already have a big investment in Makita LXT tools and batteries, so this was a no-brained. I had been using a corded random orbit sander, but it unfortunately died on me. I switched to this one and it is great. Just as much power as the corded ones, and it has a really long runtime with a 5AH battery. It runs longer than it takes to recharge the battery, so you can run it forever with just two batteries.My only complaint is how tall it is. To fix this would require a significant redesign due to the need for the battery to fit SOMEwhere.Oh also, the dust output is a weird small port that doesn’t fit my standard size hose like the old corded Porter Cable that I was using before, so that was a bit frustrating.Still, I love this thing and expect to get a lot of use out of it going forward. I don’t see any need to go back to a corded option. And while I normally always do have a vacuum connected to my sander, meaning it might seem pointless to have the sander be cordless, it is much nicer to only worry about ONE thing attached than two.One final note—since I couldn’t get a good deal on the smaller dust extractor port with my existing vacuum adapter, I can’t speak to the quality of dust collection. With the poor fit, it did not capture dust very well at all, but it is likely that will change greatly once I find an appropriate vacuum hose adapter.

This works better and longer than the other two brands of sanders I have

Makita make great products and this is one of them. I use for automotive paint preparation, and I found the performance excellent. It is easy to handle but for some the weight might be an issue if prolonged use is required.

[ See Update ] This does what it claims but appears not to have a brushless motor because it draws a lot of current and as a result, drains batteries pretty quickly. For continuous use, I suggest starting with 3 charged batteries. This way, by the time the 3rd battery is dead, you have another fully charged and another in the charger. For my needs, I wish I had gotten a $40 electric sander instead.Update July 03, 2025: I bought this for fixing oxidized headlights. Since then I have learned much more about using the correct sand paper for the initial cleaning of the lens. 400 grit instead of starting with 800. When used correctly this does a lot of work in a single 4ah battery. I can now quickly correct two headlights with little effort on just one bar on the battery. I had several vehicles to do and this has easily paid for itself. This is 3 speed but I only need low speed.I have a number of 18 volt Makita tools, so a few years ago I built a 12v to 19 volt inverter system that uses the shell from a dead battery to connect it to my Makita tools. That way, I can run tools like this and Sawzalls for a very long time off a regular 12v car battery. Considering how easy they are to make, I'm surprised that none of the cordless tool makers are selling them.

if you are a professional woodworker and you worked with the best sanding machines in the world like Mirka and Festool you know what is great 2.5 stroke sanding finish then this Makita is pretty much very close with the result. this is 5 inch sanding pad sander not 6.Particulary this Makita is very simple and excelent sander with perfect balance and slow motion vibration There are just 3 speed option but all of them work really good. vacuum exit hose could be better designed for vacuum extractors. that is the only problemhighly sugest this sander