Very good tool, works great in my shop. Only problem i have is the dust collection bag, it continues to pop off while working with it. It makes a huge mess, as im sanding for hours, and all of my sawdust spills out.
by
3 found this review helpful
Dec 14, 2022
Broke on 3rd Use
Collet threads on spindle stripped out after 3rd use. No, i was not tightening this as hard as possible. There is no torque specification from Ridgid for tightening the collet. The manual only states to "tighten collet nut securely." It also warns "If the collet nut is not tightened securely, the bit could come out during use, resulting in possible serious personal injury."
The spindle is integral to the motor assembly, not repairable.
Wish I hadn't neglected to do my Home Depot warranty.
by
Response from RIDGIDDec 16, 2022
Hello, Oregoncustomer - Thank you for taking the time to leave your review. If you would, will you please email us at Reviews@RIDGIDmail.com? We'd like to discuss your feedback further.
1 found this review helpful
Feb 17, 2021
Great product, variable speed for different jobs, great new tool to add to my rigid tool line
Great product, variable speed for different jobs, great new tool to add to my rigid tool line
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
2 found this review helpful
Sep 21, 2020
18v Compact Router and 18v Orbital Sander
Router : Light weight, lots of power, best warranty
Orbital Sander: Light weight, good battery life, comfortable in hand, best warranty
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
Customer review from homedepot.ca
May 31, 2020
Excellent tool, I made an accessory to radius the corners on the lexan polycarbonate sheet
Excellent tool, I made an accessory to radius the corners on the lexan polycarbonate sheet
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
4 found this review helpful
Jan 7, 2020
I've been very pleased in my initial use of the Ridgid 18V sander. It operates as smoothly as my ...
I've been very pleased in my initial use of the Ridgid 18V sander. It operates as smoothly as my corded Ridgid 5" and 6" sanders and it's nice to not be tethered to a cord all the time. It does weigh more than my 5" corded Ridgid, even without the battery but it's balanced well enough that it's not a problem on flat surfaces. Using it on vertical surfaces does get tiring, but by the time the arm and hand get too tired it's time to change out the battery :-)
Battery life, using a 4ah battery, is acceptable. I haven't tried my smaller battery packs yet but even those would suffice in a pinch, I'd assume. For fewer changeover interruptions, definitely use a large capacity battery pack.
I'm sold -- have been for a long time -- on Ridgid tools; most of the tools in my shop are Ridgid. Take the time to register online and register the tool for the Lifetime Service Agreement. I've used it twice, once on a 5" sander and once on a trim router, and have absolutely no complaints. Keep the email you get after registering to make the service request at Home Depot go faster. Turnaround both times I used the LSA was acceptable -- 1 1/2 - 2 weeks -- and it saved me from having to replace two tools.
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
9 found this review helpful
Dec 20, 2019
I planted a 3/4" auger bit in a 2x4 laminated benchtop and wanted to salvage the bit. Excuse to ...
I planted a 3/4" auger bit in a 2x4 laminated benchtop and wanted to salvage the bit. Excuse to buy a new tool. This hogged out the material efficiently. Easy to control, and the dust port was solid with a 2-1/2" hose and adaptor. The bit was easily removed from the collect after use. I am pleased with the value of this tool.
by
DIY
Recommended
4 found this review helpful
Jul 16, 2019
Powerful and compact cordless router. I was using a diablo .5” rabbeting bit and it cut through p...
Powerful and compact cordless router. I was using a diablo .5” rabbeting bit and it cut through pine with ease. I didn’t get to try it with an octane battery yet but it still works great without one.
Only flaw is the micro adjusting dial slips when using the router. I had to hold the dial so that it didn’t move when I was routing. Might call ridgid to see if that is a concern or if I wasn’t using it properly.
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
13 found this review helpful
Jul 9, 2019
I have been using Ridgid tools in my shop for some time now and I know the quality and innovation...
I have been using Ridgid tools in my shop for some time now and I know the quality and innovation that they bring to the table in their product line. It is great to see improvements over time as they develop their tools. I own the previous model to this one as well as some other small routers and I am pleased with this new Octane platform. The addition of the dust port adapter and the Octane efficiency is a great step ahead of the Gen5X. I was worried that the dust port would pop out easily with a hose attached but, it locks in with the router base and stays put even with a larger 2-1/2" hose attached. If you have the previous model, the ergonomics are the exact same and you cant tell the difference in a blindfold test.
This is a great little router for easy one handed work and even larger hardwood jobs. I can put a 1/4" round over on maple, oak, cherry, and walnut without issue.
by
Recommended
9 found this review helpful
Jul 2, 2019
Same amazing CORDLESS trim router with more octane power and dust collection! I mean at the end o...
Same amazing CORDLESS trim router with more octane power and dust collection! I mean at the end of the day, you just can't beat having a cordless router. I find that I use the cordless router all the time. I have had a lot of experience with the previous model and still love having it. It's been good to me these last couple of years, and now I am confident that this new model will be super helpful in addition to my other router for multi uses in and around my shop. Already right out of the box I can "hear" that it sounds like it has more power than my previous model. The tone is a bitter higher for sure. The dust port is nice too and worked well attaching it to my shop vac with the small hose I use for my miter saw (it is not the same diameter hose that comes with the shop vac but a smaller one I picked up at a tool show one year). I was using it with a 3ah Octane battery and with the hose attached it felt nice and balanced while using the router and even allowed my hand to sort of rest on the chute. I have smaller to medium sized hands and think it fits well; I would be interested to know if someone with large hands felt the same. Either way, its great! If I had to change anything it would be designing it to where you didn't have to remove the base plate in order to install or remove the dust chute, but I plan on leaving mine on so it doesn't matter to me. Also, knowing that the base plate sits on top of where it connects, I guess I know it is not going to pop off with the weight of the hose pulling on it. All in all, I am very pleased with it so far. I know it's a fairly new model and I haven't had a lot of time to work with it yet, but if it serves me like the previous model has, then I am confident this one is going to rock too!
by
Recommended
2 found this review helpful
Apr 16, 2019
Works great but uses a lot of battery power. Get maybe 30 min on 2 AH battery.
Works great but uses a lot of battery power. Get maybe 30 min on 2 AH battery.
by
DIY
Verified Purchase
Recommended
5 found this review helpful
Feb 24, 2019
Before you buy this, know that this is a battery eater. If you don't have at least a couple batt...
Before you buy this, know that this is a battery eater. If you don't have at least a couple batteries or at least one of the very large ones you will be limited on just how long you can use it. That being said, I have found that true for orbital sanders of all brands I have tried. If you have the spare batteries or will only be doing small projects, this is a very nice orbital sander. I like going without a cord and I like that this one has veritable speeds. The dust bag does well for small projects, but woud recommend hooking up a shop vaccum for bigger projects. Ridgid makes several real nice ones for a reasonable price. Last but not least.. LIFE TIME WARRANTY!
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Recommended
5 found this review helpful
Oct 19, 2018
Best purchase in a while! I love being cordless and not having to worry about dragging a cord aro...
Best purchase in a while! I love being cordless and not having to worry about dragging a cord around(and it coming unplugged). I often take my work outside to keep the shop clean and this is perfect! The variable speed is a great feature compared to my other sanders. Very comfortable to hold and use. Using with my 3ah octane battery, I've sanded for hours and still had lots of juice left!
by
Recommended
May 20, 2018
I've had this product for about 2 years and it has become the go to sander for my shop. I additio...
I've had this product for about 2 years and it has become the go to sander for my shop. I addition to this sander I also own a corded random orbit sander (the previous go to sander), corded belt sander, and corded quarter sheet sander.
Pros:
- Variable speed allows this sander to do both some pretty heavy lifting as well as finish sanding on delicate surfaces.
- Cordless is great for quick jobs.
- Dust collection works great when attached to a shop vac (uses an 1.25" adapter).
- Reasonably well balanced with either a compact (2.0 Ah) or standard (4.0 Ah) battery.
Cons:
- Brushless motor would improve runtime.
- Hard to change speed when sander is in use.
by
Recommended
4 found this review helpful
Nov 7, 2017
Coming from an old Black & Decker and DeWALT orbital sanders, I was sure that this would be simil...
Coming from an old Black & Decker and DeWALT orbital sanders, I was sure that this would be similar but, without the cord. All I have to say is that I was blown away with how efficient this sander is. I hooked it up to my vac for dust collection and I had almost no sanding dust on my projects. I even brought it into the house to touch up some major wall work that we had and it was perfect. No cord, no mess. The grip is a little odd to get used to but, it gets better as you use it.
by
Recommended
2 found this review helpful
Dec 23, 2016
This Gen5x Ridgid 18 volt 5 inch cordless random orbital sander power tool with air guard dust co...
This Gen5x Ridgid 18 volt 5 inch cordless random orbital sander power tool with air guard dust collection is an excellent sander. The soft start on this sander is great and the variable speed is nice too. Just using the bag the dust collection is really great best I have ever seen. The runtime is pretty good I get about 45 minutes of runtime from a 4.0amp battery. Now I have really big hands but for me it is easy to hold it one handed in multiple spots while I am using it. I come from the automotive industry and am used to using an air powered 6" random orbital sander and I won't lie my 6" air sander has a little more power but it's a total air hog, I have a 60 gallon compressor that runs 12CFM and in a matter of minutes my air sander will cause the pump to kick on and although I can continue sanding as long as I want the pump will run the whole time unless I take a break and let it build air back up and it gets really old listening to my compressor pump running plus my air sander has no dust collection. Another thing is I am a night owl and like to work in my garage late at night and this Ridgid cordless sander is quiet enough I can use it late at night without bothering anyone. And it really is not much heavier than a regular electric sander and if you are sanding on top of things you don't even notice the weight and just remember to let the sander do the work and it will glide back and forth over the work surface effortlessly, the only complaint I have there is with a larger battery it can tend to get rear heavy and want to tip a little. One other thing is it would have been nice if they would have put a brushless motor in it to cut down on weight a little, give it a little more power and longer runtime but even still it is a great sander. All in all if your looking for an orbital sander and your already running Ridgid cordless tools then you should definitely get this sander, I highly recommend it, I paid $70 for mine and in my mind it was totally worth it plus register in 90 days to get the LSA, I registered mine and got approved in 3 days and if you have some sort of problem call Ridgid and you can usually solve the problem over the phone or by sending an email to them if they ask you too. Anyways in my mind this is a great sander and is now my go to sander that I own and I would recommend it to anyone especially if you already own Ridgid tools, it was a no brainer for my since I already owned 16 Ridgid 18volt cordless tools so this made my 17th and I have 9 batteries so I can run all day without running out of batteries lol!
by
Pro
Recommended
7 found this review helpful
Feb 26, 2016
Cut the Cord!
A random orbital sander isn't something I usually think about being cordless, but it does have some pretty big advantages for outside projects. I also use this whenever I'm feeling lazy and don't feel like fighting a power cord dragging all over my work piece and catching on the edges.
The sander uses a standard 8-hole 5" diameter hook and loop sanding pad, which is great since I already had a stockpile that I use with my corded ROS. The variable speed from 7,000 RPM to 11,000 RPM is a nice bonus feature, although I usually use it on full speed for most projects anyway. If you're working on a delicate surface or don't want to remove too much material, the lower speed is a big plus.
The sander had a very low level of vibration transferred to my hands, which helps reduce fatigue and numbness for extended sanding sessions. I measured the vibration level objectively with my phone app, and compared it to the vibrations from my corded sander, which runs at a max of 12,000 RPM. The corded sander clocked in at 4 m/s^2 peak to peak, while the Ridgid cordless sander registered a mere 1 m/s^2 peak to peak. That's 1/4 of the magnitude at nearly the same speed!
The dust collection on the sander is excellent as well. Even just using the included dust bag captures a large portion of the dust produced. Ridgid also designed the dust chute to fit a 2-1/2" or 1-1/4" shop vac hose without the need for an additional adapter. I used my 2-1/2" shop vac hose with it, and it fit snugly and held tight. Great design there!
The only downsides to this sander is that it's a bit bulky, and the battery life isn't all that great. Ridgid claims a 40 minute run time on a 4 Ah battery, but that must be for running on the lowest speed. I got 12 minutes and 30 seconds of run time from a 2 Ah battery on high, which would correspond with 25 minutes of run time for a 4 Ah battery. So unless you've got quite a few batteries, you won't be able to do any huge projects without having to wait for batteries to charge.
by
DIY
Recommended
16 found this review helpful
Sep 29, 2015
Very good sander, interchangeable with other 18V tools
Very nice sander., useable with supplied dust bag, or connected to shop vac for dust removal.
Not too noisy, and doesn't vibrate out of your hand. Nice to operate for large pieces, & different angles
Easy to exchange the 5", 8 hole, hook & loop, sanding disks.
The interchangeability with the rest of my Ridgid 18V tools was the clincher.
Bought it online at a decent price, & used it for this cherry & cedar hallway table.
Love it!
by
Verified Purchase
Recommended
8 found this review helpful
Jul 7, 2015
awesome tool!
This sander is very nice and easy to use. It is very light (I used it with a 2A-hour battery) and is light enough to hold in one hand and I could even hold the work piece in the other hand.
The sanding disk are very easy to apply and are held on very tightly.
The sawdust is sucked up and blown into a small bag. The sawdust bag contains a metal spiral spring that holds the bag open for the material to enter. The bag bayonets on/off very easily and firmly. It also allows a shop vac to be connected if you don't want to bother with the bag.
Using a shop vac does provide for better suction of the dust. The box says it can take 2-1/4 and 2-1/2 inch vac hoses. I suspect that is an error. I think they mean 1-1/2" and 2-1/4". A 1-1/2 hose fits nicely. My Ridgid shopvac has a 1-3/4" hose with did not fit all that well and I was able to simply hold it in place when it was critical to have as little dust as possible. I will probably make a small hose adapter with an empty yogurt tub.
I found I could vacuum out the dust bag very nicely.
My first job was to clean up an old teak serving platter and it did a fine job!
Having this tool untethered to power (or air hose) make it very nice to work with, making it ideal for small jobs. I would also opt to use it with multiple batteries for bigger jobs too.
3 year limited warranty.
Never having used an Orbit Sander there was a moment of surprise. The face plate seems to vibrate in minute movements. It sands the wood in what appears to be a little faster with the help of the variable speed dial and a dust bag that actually collects the dust. It does weigh approximately 5 ½ lbs. with the battery that was installed. The palm/handle was somewhat big for my hand, that's because I'm a small guy.
Making a wooden rack for my utility cart the fit was really tight to the point that you had to sand the ends to actually make it fit. Using the Orbit sander did the job in no time and now have a great fitting rack for the cart.
If you look real hard at the picture of the piece of wood you can see the difference from the sanded part and the unfinished section. If you're looking to replace your palm sander with something different consider the Ridgid Random Orbit Sander. You too could be pleasantly surprised.
Backed by the Ridgid brand, this Gen 5X 18V 5 inch random orbit sander is pretty handy. My husband was thrilled to receive this product and put it to use immediately. For a small woodworking project, he was able to sand the wood perfectly in a matter of minutes. The variable speed control on the tool moves from 1-6 speeds easily. The dust bag collects the wood dust nicely. The tool comes with two sheets of 80 grit sandpaper. Although the battery and charger are not included, our other 18V Ridgid battery fit perfectly and ran the tool just as expected.
This small tool has a 40 minute run time, which is perfect for small jobs in our home workshop. The Ridgid brand stands behind their products. They offer a lifetime service agreement with free batteries, free parts, and free service for life with product tool registration.
All in all, this is a great small size sander for just the right project at home. I highly recommend this one for every home workshop.
I’ve had a rigid sheet sander for over a year and decided to add the orbital sander for some furniture projects I’m working on and have ZERO regrets. The dust bag is great for small projects, I prefer to just attach the vac for easy cleanup. The 6 choices of power setting make using it extremely versatile. If you’re considering this or sheet sander, I’d go with the orbital. Or just buy both and fill that toolbox on up!
by
Recommended
Apr 10, 2024
Works well used Ridgid vacuum to collect dust,
by
Verified Purchase
Mar 20, 2024
This was a gift for my grandson. He was very placed with the product.
by
Verified Purchase
Mar 15, 2024
Terrible orbital sander
After reading the reviews I was so surprised that this sander is almost useless. I don't know if I got a lemon or whether they all act like mine. The thing is almost uncontrollable when in use. It just wants to run away. Almost like something is way out of balance or the orbit is too large. I have several orbital sanders and none of them act like this one. I have always been satisfied with all my Rigid tools but this was really a disappointment .
by
Response from RIDGIDMar 15, 2024
Hello, Pappy - We're sorry to hear that you're having a difficult time with your sander! And we'd appreciate an opportunity to discuss this further and see if we can make this experience better. If you would, please reach out to us at Reviews@RIDGIDmail.com.
Mar 13, 2024
Works great, easy to use, well built like all Ridgid products