Customer Reviews
If only.... 
2006-08-27
you could turn the thing upside down to make quick adjustments to small pieces of wood, it would be near perfect. It's a great combination of size/wieght/price/performance, but it wont sit upside down without building a jig/stand to hold it.
In most instances, this is not an issue. But when it is, it's a fairly annoying design flaw.
Solid tool but nothing to write home about 
2006-08-14
I replaced my old Craftsman belt sander after 15 years (wasn't broken, just wanted something newer and "better" before the old one broke at an inconvenient time) and thought P-C was the way to go without breaking the bank. Dust collection sounded cool, too, since my old unit spewed sawdust everywhere. The P-C is nice in that belt changes are easier, the variable speed control is handy, and the unit has a solid feel. It is a bit quieter than the old Craftsman. While the bag does catch some dust it's still a messy tool (I haven't hooked it up to my shop vacuum yet--I'm hoping for dramatic improvement and will update my review to 4 stars if that works well). I've been spoiled by other old tool upgrades where the new outperforms the old by soooo much, so I was underwhelmed in this case. Doesn't mean it's a bad tool, but just don't expect miracles.
As good as before 
2006-07-03
I had a porter cable sander before and this one is just as good so far as it was, and it was as good as you can get!
The ordering process was excellent.
352VS Belt Sander 2006-03-28
This sander is heavy but a workhouse - first class. We purchased a DeWalt first but it kept breaking belts. We replaced it with the Porter Cable and are very satisfied.
Porter-Cable 25VS Sander 2006-03-09
This Sander does an excellent job finishing large work that is too large to run thru the automatic machie. It saved much time and setup was fast and easy.
Excellent tool 2008-01-28
This is a great belt sander. It has plenty of power, it handles easily, it tracks without problems, is relitively quite (always wear hearing protection when using power tools), and having variable variable speed options is very useful
8 hours on this and Dead Already! 
2007-12-12
I always wanted Porter Cable belt sander. I had an old Ryobi and it lasted for years doing continual carpentry work...but I knew it was not a great machine. I got this 352VS from Amazon 5 years ago, put about 8 hours on it (no longer doing carpentry full-time)...and a few weeks ago did some light-duty sanding on a piece of furniture. The belt started slipping and then stopped. Opened the tool and found the drive pulley is plastic, not metal. It had sheared at the "hub". Seems foolish for Porter Cable to have replaced at 40-cent metal pulley with a 15 cent plastic pulley but that's what they did. My local tool repair guy told me they did this for a while. Now they are back to metal, supposedely, but who knows what else they changed. Now that DeWalt has bought Porter Cable, who knows what things will be like in the future.
My advice, avoid this one and look at Bosch.
to be fair, when the tool was running, it performed pretty well; had adequate power, tracked well and dust bag worked adequately. Speaking of which, Amazon shipped this WITHOUT the dust bag. It was advertised WITH bag, so I contacted them. It took some complaining but they sent me one. I've seen this before with discount vendors; they "strip" accessories out of the box. I'm not saying THEY did that, but someone did. The box was sealed, had no dust bag and they initially did not want to send me one.
Dead with only about 8 hours on it! 2007-12-12
Always wanted a Porter Cable belt sander. My old Ryobi lasted years but I know it was not a great machine. I got this perhaps 5 years ago but as I am not working regularly as a carpenter anymore, and the machine was used for one small job and then hardly at all for 5 years.
Recently doing some light-duty sanding on a small dresser and the belt started slipping. Then stopped. Opened up the machine and found that the secondary drive pulley (the one that is attached to the drive "wheel") is made of light plastic and had broken (sheared-off) at the "hub" of the pulley. This is a little 15-cent peice of plastic that is on the critical drive-train. Seems very foolish of Porter Cable to do this. My local tool repair guy told me they did this for a while but supposedly they are making it with a metal gear/pulley again.
I come to a company like Porter Cable not for bare-minimum engineering but for robust "lifetime" engineering. Having a tool fail on the job is no good; I don't care what the warantee is like (in this case...past warantee).
My advice, check out a Bosch. Porter Cable does not get high marks for this one. This would not have lasted a day on a real jobsite with that plastic gear in there!
To be fair, when it runs- it feels fine. Balance is fair. It tracks well and the dust collector works reasonably well. (By the way, Amazon had this shipped WITHOUT the bag! I had to sort-of make a big deal about it because it IS advertised as having the bag). Gotta be careful!
Another small point, no case at all available-even as an additional accessory.
Solid sander 2007-05-10
I had a super DeWalt 3x21 for a decade of weekend warrior, but decided to try Porter this time. I have a mix of both in my tool chest, so far always satisfied. I can't compare a decade of DeWalt to a few weeks of Porter-Cable, but so far I like the new tool. It seems very powerful when I dig in, well balanced so responds like I want. Unlike another reviewer, I found using it on "slow" is useful, and very quiet. I put on "fast" for a big flat slab, but "slow" for anything else. It isn't clear if DeWalt or Porter dust collection is better, and I'm not sure if I like the smaller DeWalt or larger Porter bag. I like the open front of the Porter. It seems like the belt on the Porter wanders a bit less than the DeWalt under non-flat uses (tipping back or forward, cleaning up an edge of something). Tracking is good on either.
Tool Design 101 
2006-11-18
I just purchased this today (11-17-06). Junk. It's going back tomorrow. The dust bag is the size of a football and you cannot see what you're doing. They removed the 90 degree tube for the dust bag. I am pretty sure this adds to dust everywhere. I can't even hookup my vacuum to it. It tips easily causing gouges in the wood. Very difficult to operate with one hand. This is the 4th Porter Cable I have bought. Three out of 4 have been junk.
Find something else.
