And none of them ranked the same one best overall or best value. All of them had very differing perspectives in my opinion.
My last exchange with FWW on ROS:
Mark,
I'm not sure I agree with the apples to oranges reference, it is more like BMW to Kia- same function, day and night difference in quality, ease of use, and performance. In my letter, I acknowledged the compressor issue, but still think you should have made some mention of a-p sanders, not ignore them completely. That is especially true in view of your target audience as I suspect many serious and professional WWers have at least one a-p sander. In a similar letter to Glen Huey at PWW on his failure to mention a-p sanders, I noted, while he did not mention nor review them, he indeed uses them- he is pictured using an a-p sander in his "Illustrated Guide to Building Period Furniture" as well as in the accompanying DVD!!!
Regards,
Alan
Mark Schofield wrote:
Dear Mr. Schaffter:
Thank you for your letter regarding the advantages of an air-powered
sander over an electric one. All your points are true. I have used an
a-p sander and they are indeed lighter and also stop far quicker due to
the lack of a heavy motor. However, I don't feel that we needed to
include them in the test as it would have been a case of comparing
apples to oranges. In addition, relatively few readers have a large
enough compressor to drive an air sander. While a small compressor is
all you need for a nailer, and you can spray most things with a mid-size
compressor, you need a full size compressor to get the most from a
sander and this needs to be taken into account when pricing them. I've forwarded your letter to the editor in case he decides to publish
it in the next issue.
Kind regards,
Mark Schofield,
Managing editor, FWW