For a lot of woodworkers, large, heavy aggressive and noisy belt sanders are intimidating to use. For working on small surfaces, they're overkill, and for any kind of overhead sanding you need gorilla arms to use them. If you've cast aside the idea of owning a belt sander, or if you've regulated your monster sander to a dark space under the stairs, this new compact belt sander from Porter Cable might pique your interest.

It has a number of features that make it a good choice for the person who wants a sander that can remove stock quickly, but in an easily manageable fashion. At only 5 pounds, you could use the 371K (or 'mighty mouse' as we've come to call it in the shop) for long periods at a time without tiring. At 95.3 db it's also quieter than the 'big boys'.

Unless you have very small hands you should be able to easily hold and control the 371K with one hand. If not, there is a handle that you can mount on the front of the unit. The rubber covered contoured top is quite comfortable in use.

The start button is recessed into the front top of the housing. I found that I could easily flick it on and off with my index finger. While the sander doesn't have soft start there is hardly any jerking movement when it starts.

All sanders, and particularly belt sanders, generate a lot of fine dust. You not only must wear a good dust mask, you should also use the dust adapter included with the 371K. It has a 1 5/8" outside. diameter and a 1 3/8" inside diameter - connect it to your shop vac and it will suck away most of the dust. The dust adapter tilts upward slightly and helps to keep the shop vac hose off the work material.

The platen at the bottom of the 371K is nicely machined. It's perfectly flat, and has a cork backer under it. This help to keep the sanding belt flush against the surface you are sanding.

Tracking the belt on this sander couldn't be easier. You simply release the tension level, turn the sander on, and gently turn the tracking knob to adjust the belt. I found that once the belt tracking is set it stays set - you won't need to adjust it until you install a new belt. The unit comes with one 80 grit belt. 60, 100, 120 and 180 grit belts are also available.

It seems that most power tools come with a 6 foot power cord. While the cord on this sander is 8' long a 12' cord would be much more convenient.

Over the years I've thrown out most of the storage cases that come with power tools. I've found that it's just too much of a struggle to get the tool, cord and accessories back into the case. Not so for the case supplied with the 371K. Everything drops into it without fuss.

This is a single speed sander, running at 1,100 SFPM (surface feet per minute). A variable speed feature would be nice, but it would undoubtedly increase the price. At $149 the 371K is about half the price of a 3" x 21" sander.

This sander is a joy to use. It's very well balanced and easy to control, particularly one-handed. If you remove the front handle you can get in very close to edges; use it on the side for flush sanding. It makes an excellent intermediate sander, for those situations where a full size belt sander is overkill but a random orbital sander would take too long to do the job.