I've used both and the Flex 3401 is easier to work with as it's
purposefully designed to be a "paint polisher".
The Makita BO6040 is a wood sander. The difference is when sanding with it the tool doesn't require a lot of muscle to control. When polishing paint with it, you will use a lot more muscle energy to control it as compared to the Flex 3401.
Why?
Because of the
design shape.
If you look at the two tools, the Flex 3401 is longer with a forward bale handle and the rear grip at the back of the tool.
The length of the tool body is not an accident, the length of the tool puts your hands far enough apart at both extreme ends to give you leverage over the tool, this makes it easier to hold and control for HOURS as you work through the,
- Correct step
- Polishing step
- Machine waxing step
Some people might even do a second polishing step.
Point being, buffing out an entire car with a
neglected finish from start to finish is going to take you anywhere from 4 to 8 hours behind the polisher.
The design engineers at Flex purposefully designed the Flex 3401 to be an ergonomically correct,
powerful paint polishing tool that will remove defects without at the same time instilling holograms or burning high points. (Assuming you use the tool correctly and with quality pads and good abrasive technology).
The design engineers at Makita purposefully designed the Makita BO6040 to be an ergonomically correct,
powerful wood sander. Can it be used to polish paint? Yes. And it does do a good job in the way that the Flex 3401 does a good job by offering a forced, dual action orbiting pattern for the buffing pad.
If I had to pick one and go buff out an entire car I would easily grab the Flex 3401 over the Makita BO6040.
Plus, down the road you can get different backing plates for the Flex and I'm a big fan of the 4" backing plate with 5" Hybrid pads.
Hope that helps...
Shared this same above information with a guy on the phone yesterday asking pretty much the same questions and all he wants a polisher for is his own vehicles. He wants to buy one polisher that he can trust to get the job done and now have buyers remorse a few months down the road.
