I can't really fathom how you're coming up with all this.
Staying with this line of thought, rotary's are absolutely in the basement in terms of correction, seeing as they are 100% forced rotation, and random orbits are at the top of the food chain. In reality it's exactly the opposite.
A machine leaving behind defects is a product of:
- User error.
- Dirty pads.
- Very aggressive pads/compounds. Which should be corrected with a polishing step anyway.
You talk as if you think the Flex is a rotary...the Flex 3401 is a DA with ADDED forced rotation. The difference is that the flex doesn't have the same power output as my Griot's. It doesn't oscillate or spin the pad as fast as my Griot's is capable of doing.
Get this straight, this is coming from someone who has worked next to another skilled detailer on pretty much a daily basis for about 6 months, he's using a Flex, I'm using a Griot's. I'm not talking out of my rear here. I'm giving you hard evidence in the form of strict observations.
Due to the CONTROL the flex has over oscillation and speed of rotation in relation to the forced rotation mechanism, I'm attributing that to it's ability to leave a cleaner INITIAL surface, but leaving more defects behind (pre-existing defects, not marring or hazing left from the machine) than my Griot's leaves. My Griot's, on the other hand, is violent in that it offers no real control when it comes to a constant oscillation or rotation speed depending on the surface you're working on, whether it's flat, or rounded, the speeds and oscillations can vary greatly where, with the Flex, they do not. That being said, it's BECAUSE of the power it has that it's able to CLEAN the paint of pre-existing defects faster, but it also leaves it's own marring behind that the Flex doesn't, on most occasions, but that depends on the quality/hardness of the vehicle's paint you're working on.
When it's all said and done, neither one is "faster" than the other because you need to go over defects a bit more with the flex to get them out, but you need to go over what you've corrected with the Griot's to remove hazing/marring/ghosting you've left behind. Sometimes, the story is the same for both of our machines. I WILL be getting a Flex ONE-DAY, but I don't NEED a Flex. I just want it so we can have the same machines and because I really admire the technology behind it, not because it does a better job, because it doesn't.
Like I've said in previous posts, if money isn't a factor...GO WITH THE FLEX, but if money IS a factor...then GO WITH THE GRIOT'S. All of the other machines on the market don't even come close to either one of these machines in terms of correction ability or value for the money (Lifetime warranty on the Griot's).
Ultimately, it's your choice on which machine you want to go with. I chose the Griot's because of the power and my ability to "tune" that power to the correction I need based around pad/product combination I choose and the ability of my machine to correct defects in paint while saving myself a LOT of money.
As for the price of the Flex? I'll most likely be selling my Cyclo and it's pads to cover a lot of the cost of the upgrade. Hopefully I can find someone who owns a 747 though, as according to Richard Griot, that's the only thing Cyclo's are good for. Yes, he did actually say that.:bash:
