Ollie wrote:

....
...The question is if the
extra features are worth of the extra mula.
....
Personally, I don't think so...I use the PC 333/334's (one's for H&L,
the PS, but I forget which is which just now). They last a long time
even being abused and are cheap enough to be simply discarded. There's
nothing else that has the hand comfort and balance as far as I'm
concerned. I've tried the Ryobi, Bosch, DeWalt, Milwaukee and none are
nearly as nice to use.

We've gone through two in the last year, but in that time we've rough
and finished sanding every square inch of a 80-year old severely
weathered 38x66x14 (to the bottom eave, 38 ft to the top of the loft)
barn in preparation for priming and painting. Plus, all the finish
lumber, and the first one was several years old before we even started.
Replaced one set of bearings in each at ~$5/bearing from the local
bearing distributor and one died from a broken winding (after being
dropped off the lift I have no idea how many times by the hired hand).
W/ that kind of abuse, the plastic dust collector gets worn and vibrates
some which a little bit of an annoyance for fine sanding, but no issue
from an operational standpoint.

Replaced a pad on each and went to PS exclusively because of paper
cost. I do not like the new "brake" on the pad on them nor any of the
others. It is simply a "do-nothing" o-ring placed like a belt around
the drive shaft and a fixed(!) internal post. It's to stop the pad for
the whiners who complain about scuffing or the run on if set it down
before it stops but the first of those problems is solved by just
picking it up cleanly and the second isn't really a problem to me. What
the brake actually is is a terrible heat generator that contributes to
hot hands holding it for extended periods and bearing failure.

I personally have never felt a need for the variable speed on a ROS but
acknowledge others could find some use for that particular feature.

IMO, YMMV, $0.02, etc...