recommendations for sander

[MichelleD1977]

I am interested in both refinishing my butcher block counter tops, as well as some furniture around the house.  Any recommendations for a multi purpose sander would be great.  Budget around $50. Thanks!

[waffle]

Just go over to your local home depot and pick up just about any random orbit sander. My $30 black and decker is going strong after a year of pretty regular use. You can also get a finish sander pretty cheap.

[Greg]

5 inch random orbit sander, try to get one with a round exhaust outlet so you can attach it to your shop vac for dust control.

[velocistar237]

Don't buy the 3M sandpaper that has the grippy backing. It will melt and stick to your sander.
Change your sandpaper often.

[Mrs. PoP]

Since I'm assuming you're a girl, this is definitely a purchase you want to do some in person shopping for.  I recently got a Mikita variable speed 5" random orbit sander to sand some cabinetry I'm building and am really happy with it. 

I was all set to buy another (slightly - a couple dollars at most) cheaper one on Amazon, but checked them out at Home Depot at the last minute.  So glad I did.  Most of the brands were too big to comfortably grip in my small-ish girly hands for long periods of time.  The one I selected has multiple places you can grip - including an attachment you can take on and off to enable holding it with two  hands. 

TL/DR - unless you have hands the size of an average construction worker, definitely look at these in person before buying.