I recently dealt with this type of texture (knock-down) on every wall and ceiling in our new house so here's what I learned. Our texture was made using regular joint compound (not lightweight) so it was VERY difficult to sand down to smooth drywall. I opted to skimcoat all the walls and ceilings to smooth it out, but in retrospect, I should have just put 1/4" drywall over the old ceiling. It would have been much easier and way quicker than skimcoating. I say all this to point out that some of your texture may have been made using lightweight joint compound and some may have been made with regular joint compound, hence the sander having a harder time in the main room. Hope that helps. More on reddit.com

The LEDs are great The finish is great. It is eccentric instead of gear driven The dust control is the best there is. If you work in peoples houses alot then this is massive The only downside is that it is slightly slower to sand. I would argue this is countered by doing less hand sanding due to the LEDs More on reddit.com

And priced like it’s made of unobtainium More on reddit.com

I have the planex 2 and love it. The light helps a ton when it comes to sanding. It may be over the top for what your doing but it kills it if you do patching or a dry wall/level 5 finishing. Your dust extractor is fine for it just make sure you kick it out as the planex is supposed to go with a auto clean vac. Especially when doing a lot of dry wall. More on reddit.com