It has dust extraction, a shield and is well balanced. These are good points if you are trying to minimise the mess - but I got more power and much better heavy duty sanding results with my power drill and a a flap wheel. I was attempting to removing gloss pain from a stair tread - so this would definitely test the limits of this tool. It wasn't able to remove the paint. The power drill sanded it off no problem - but made a real mess. In summary for me - not powerful enough.
Like this sander, very good for awkward job's and curves, anything that makes sanding my boat easier is a bonus. The sandpaper sleeves are ridiculously expensive, however I've found Silverline sander sleeves fit perfectly and I buy them online for about .40p each instead of £5 each.