i have an orbital buffer from sears. it does a pretty good job but it doesnt spin fast enough to help get rid of defects and swirls. this DA polisher does a much better job.
That would also partly depend on how aggressive your polish or compound is (along with the pad/bonnet material). The one that I used is an old single speed Black&Decker that my dad had and I ordered some foam bonnets for it. The Meguiar's Ultimate Polish took the swirls from several trips though the automatic car wash right out.
i also used the same stuff, i love that ultimate compound but im telling you compared to this polisher, that orbital buffer i have is nothing! lol
Could be. I'm new at using a random orbital myself and only have last weekend's experience with the B&D. It must be a dinosaur because I like to have never found 8" bonnets to fit it. That Meguiar's has the velcro pads, doesn't it?
A DA just spins a disk around a shaft like the tires on your truck. A random orbital spins the disk like the tires on your truck while you're running over non-stop potholes. It is a lot easier to jack up your paint with a DA than it is a random orbital.
If you're not a bodyshop guy or a professional detailer... stick with the random orbital. The DA cuts a lot faster and you can ruin your paint in less than 5 seconds if you don't know what you're doing.
A random orbital with the right compounds will take care of anything short of what an experienced detailer or body man needs to be working on anyway. Matter of fact, there's a whole lot of detailers and body men that I wouldn't trust with a DA. A random orbital is pretty much idiot proof because every motion is, well.. random. A DA follows a set rotation at high speed and will burn your paint, swirl the heck out of it, buff through to the primer or bare metal, etc., etc. They are definitely not for the inexperienced. Anybody can use a random orbital.