Well Robatoy, after reading the review from your link, I know what I would do. Especially if it came with a small finishing sander. I have two sanders from them, one is the 6" ROS that looks like the Bosch with the extended handle, and 5" that you hold the housing. Both variable speed. The 6" even has a variable stroke.
I bought these when they had the famous "lifetime" warranty on them, which I understand is back. I bought these because I had torn up my last PC sander, and I found the DeWalt sanders I used to be nothing but crap. Expensive, but crap. I was glad when they died out so I could throw those rattling bastards away.
So I put the guys out on a house with the 6" HD sander with 60 and 120 grit to sand fascia. I was determined to really show my commercial rep at HD how crappy his tools were, too. He did not care; he said "go for it.. what do I care?" His reasoning was yours; most tools they sell are weekend tools, some heavy weekend use, and lots of one project tools. How many actually wind up in the hands of contractors? While they were told at training that they were trying to tap the contractor market, they wanted pricing to be homeowner friendly.
To sum it up, the sanders work better than any other I have owned. I am disgusted. I wanted these to be crappy tools as I would like to buy SOMETHING that is an old school branded tool that works better than Chiawanese tools. But they built these tough. The 6" has sand MILES of fascia/siding and trim to prepare for paint. Yet it still hums right along and does good finishing on a new cabinet preparing for finish.
The 5" gets the worst of it. The guys drop it, throw it in the tool box (the carrying case long destroyed) and generally use the damn thing as a grinder. Runs like a champ. As much as I hate seeing these tools on my job (I want my clients to think I am using something they can't just walk down and buy at the lumberyard equivalent of WalMart) I have bough another one of each of these sanders and they stay in my truck in their cases for me to use as needed.
I think you and I are the same vintage and remember when you bought a tool, you used it hard on the job for a couple of years, and you took it to the job for new bearings and cord. Then a couple of years later, new bearings, cord and switch. Then repaired as needed. I have an old Rockwell saw (long retired) that I bought in 1975 that has had 3 sets of bearing put in it and it still runs like a sewing machine. I have a Milwaukee saw that I bought in 1977 that has had 5 sets of bearings, several cords and now has a heavy duty hammerdrill switch in it. It was worth rebuilding years ago, and it was cost effiecient.
Now, the saws cost what they did 30 years ago (Rockwell 315 and 346C were $125) and rebuilding costs as much or more than a new saw. My old Milwaukee that served as me so well is no longer worth rebuilding. The trigger is a little iffy (this one lasted 10 years though) and the cord is frayed at the housing and literally smoked last time I used it, and it really needs new bearings. Cost from Milwaukee repair here was the same as our little tool repair shop: new bearings $85, new trigger $42, new cord made to fit but not OEM is $22. All prices include labor since they would have the saw apart anyway for bearings.
So the "old school" brands have us where they want us. Use the tool until it breaks or it needs maintenance, and it is time to throw it away. And they secure this position by having shorter and shorter warranties on them. They are trading on their name, and that is an account long overdrawn with me.
So if a tool pops up that has any kind of "lifetime" or one/two year warranty, I would really be inclined to try it, especially if I could take it back, if it was aggressively priced, and there was a good chance that I could actually wind up with a good tool in the process. And if this sander now comes with a 1/4 sheet sand as a "gimme" for trying out the new product, I would probably go for it. (Yup, after buying the 6" and the 5", I bought the 1/4 too, and it has outlasted the Dewalts and kept up with the PC.)
PLEASE do us all a big favor and let us know what you think if you buy and use this machine. I would love a tool review on this machine if you could take a few minutes and commit your thoughts to writing.
Robert