I received the DC50 undamaged with no shipping charge. The discount offer and specs made it attractive and a good value.
First the pros:
- 1.2 hp
- 2.5 micron filter which is commonly 5 in other systems.
- mobile platform provides flexibility and saves duct work cost.
- small footprint which I needed to fit in a tight space.
- auto starts when a connected table saw, miter saw or router table, etc. turns on
- some included adapters work with m tools
Now the Cons:
- Motor mounting bolts and holes misaligned. Each pair at the top of the red supports allowed one I tried using small bar clamps, and finally succeeded by installing the handle first in separate pairs holes. Doing so, along with the spreader bar clamps allowed all bolts to be installed with about a 45 minute effort;
- Installing the lower collection bag is an initial and long term nightmare.I managed to get it on single-handed but only without using one of the five plastic bags inside. Plastic insert bags make sense compared to using the partial bottom zipper of the fabric bag alone. Shaking dust into a container will produce clouds of airborne dust compared to lifting out a plastic bag. It is impossible for even two people to hold the tops of both the inner plastic and outer fabric bag in place while trying to clamp the strap. Tape does not help. The solution was to use about 1/2" balls of sticky non-marring adhesives used behind wall-hung picture corners to keep them level. We pressed about 8 of these around the mounting rim, pulled the plastic bag around them and pressed each one flat. We then brought up the outer bag with the strap installed and were able to clamp it tight I think doing that every time, or wheeling the system outside to use the zipper without plastic, is a serious design flaw.
- The flimsy filter bag support rod threads into a small insert that wobbles so much that the rod leans about 35 degrees. The insert is inaccessible from below (unless I remove the entire upper motor housing to get at it). It cannot be tightened or removed from above. As a result, the support rod leans over when the filter bag inflates. It is a weak design made worse by loose assembly of the insert itself.
- Many of the included adapters incompatible with standard 2 1/4" ID/21/2" OD tools.
Overall, it has good suction and acceptable noise at about 78-80 Dbs 10 feet away in an enclosed garage.