Griots Random vs 7424xp

[RTexasF]

Sounds like a potential comparison article for Mr. Phillips to take on, eh?

[mchess1]

That's kind of why I started the thread in his forum. His new write ups have been fantastic (check them out if you haven't perused them) and I thought he would do a H2H fairly.

Plus he has used the Megs Random in one of the write-ups so I know he doesn't use just one brand.

I have read many posts and everyone raves about the Flex, but again it is more then double the price of both of the others. I am not going to do it professionally, just my BMW and wife's Odyssey.

I am not opposed to any of them (I would buy the Flex based on recommendations, but I have a hard time shelling out for the cheaper ones once you add on pads, pad cleaner, etc) but can't just let the PC stand on it's reputation as the best for the beginner.

Thanks to everyone for the two cents so far, it seems like I am not the only one having this internal debate.

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by BigAl3

I think I like it !! - Car Care Forums: Meguiar's Online

Just to note, the time stamp for Joe's review is over 3.5 years ago

Feb 3rd, 2006, 06:53 PM


And I'm pretty sure the tool Griot's is selling now is different than the one they were selling when Joe reviewed it.

[MisterShark]

I plan on picking a machine up eventually and am solidly in Porter-Cable's camp, having had nothing but great experiences with all of my PC power tools (and I do have quite a few) except for a minor issue with my circular saw which PC's customer service addressed efficiently and satisfactorily.

Being as I'm new to auto detailing and will not be making a career/side-career out of it, I'll be happy to go with the random orbit of the PC since it's safer for beginners and also since I have no need to be a speed demon with only 2 cars to ever attend to at any given time.

This said though, I'd still like to see someone give a true and fair comparison analysis on all 3 of the popular random orbit machines: Meguiar's, Porter-Cable's and Griot's.

And I'll throw one little suggestion into consideration for the person who decides to conduct the side-by-side comparison review (if a person does indeed step to the plate): if possible, don't forget reliability/dependability. One of Porter-Cable's product strengths is their enduring reliability. With products such as their drills, polisher's etc,.. their 100% ball bearing construction provides for a long, durable product life.

[Buckskincolt]

Originally Posted by MisterShark

I plan on picking a machine up eventually and am solidly in Porter-Cable's camp, having had nothing but great experiences with all of my PC power tools (and I do have quite a few) except for a minor issue with my circular saw which PC's customer service addressed efficiently and satisfactorily.

Being as I'm new to auto detailing and will not be making a career/side-career out of it, I'll be happy to go with the random orbit of the PC since it's safer for beginners and also since I have no need to be a speed demon with only 2 cars to ever attend to at any given time.

This said though, I'd still like to see someone give a true and fair comparison analysis on all 3 of the popular random orbit machines: Meguiar's, Porter-Cable's and Griot's.

And I'll throw one little suggestion into consideration for the person who decides to conduct the side-by-side comparison review (if a person does indeed step to the plate): if possible, don't forget reliability/dependability. One of Porter-Cable's product strengths is their enduring reliability. With products such as their drills, polisher's etc,.. their 100% ball bearing construction provides for a long, durable product life.

I guess you can base your opinion on a Ford VS. Chevy thing or you can look at the facts, specs, and performance. I think the Griot's Warranty speaks loudly of their quality commitment. The name means nothing to me, it's more about what's in the package IMHO. While I'm sure the XP/PC is an awesome machine, I stand by my statement that the Griot's is way under rated. IMO you will get a great product in either one....

[BigAl3]

Originally Posted by Mike.Phillips@Autogeek

Just to note, the time stamp for Joe's review is over 3.5 years ago

Feb 3rd, 2006, 06:53 PM


And I'm pretty sure the tool Flex is selling now is different than the one they were selling when Joe reviewed it.

he was reviewing the (at the time was competitive to the PC7424) Griots D/A, not the Flex (we all know this is a different animal and in a league of it's own)...

[Mike.Phillips@Autogeek]

Originally Posted by BigAl3

he was reviewing the (at the time was competitive to the PC7424) Griots D/A, not the Flex (we all know this is a different animal and in a league of it's own)...

I was thinking Griot's and typed Flex, my mistake. I corrected my post above and in the future maybe send me PM for a little tiny mistake like that and I'll make the correction. Usually I have multiple probrams open and I'm typing about a lot of other topics at the time.

Thanks,

[2003 GMC Denali]

Originally Posted by MisterShark

One of Porter-Cable's product strengths is their enduring reliability. With products such as their drills, polisher's etc,.. their 100% ball bearing construction provides for a long, durable product life.

Buy a Porter Cable product... you're buying a DeWalt Tool.

DeWalt owns Porter Cable.

[MisterShark]

Originally Posted by 2003 GMC Denali

Buy a Porter Cable product... you're buying a DeWalt Tool.

DeWalt owns Porter Cable.

...and Black and Decker owns them all, but it still doesn't mean your buying the same quality tier.

When you buy a Toyota you're getting a great car but it's still not a Lexus and still won't have some of the higher-end parts and technology that goes into that higher-tiered vehicle. Chevy/Cadillac, Nissan/Infinity, Dockers/Johnston & Murphy....we can go on and on with this but the point is that regardless of whose brand owns the brand: there exist different levels of quality represented by the differently named lines.
There's a reason why they retain some names as separately-recognizable and distinguished brands versus simply absorbing and changing the names into one big brand.

But lemme know if I can sell you a Honda Civic at an Acura price (since they're all owned by Honda anyway) and I'll be over to you later today to complete that sale.

[kaptain_zero]

Brand names are just that, brand names. Lets not forget that B&D purchased the rights to use the Dewalt name on their portable power tools previously marketed as the B&D Professional tool lineup, which promptly boosted sales. B&D Pro tools were always good, it was just that the B&D name, through all the consumer grade stuff had such a bad reputation that it smeared across the Pro line as well.

As for PC vs Griots vs Flex vs Meguiars vs Hitachi vs Makita vs Dewalt etc. etc. etc, all *I* will say is that if I'm buying a power tool, I'll buy it from a maker who makes their living from making power tools and who has a good reputation. In the same vein, I also like to buy auto detailing chemicals from companies that pretty much only make Auto detailing chemicals. This does NOT mean that a company who's business is NOT making power tools cannot have a tool made by another company and branded for them. Doing so also does not mean that the product they have made for them is inferior in any way, but neither does it mean that it isn't!

The main issue I see with a Meguiars or Griots polishers (no matter how good they really might be) is the lack of local service/support/parts. Sooner or later these products will need servicing..... it's the nature of tools... brushes *will* wear out, tools get dropped and banged around... cords eventually need replacing. All these issues are promptly addressed at the *local* Dewalt, PC, B&D, Hitachi, Makita, Bosch etc. etc. service center. No need for mailing your tool away for repair or replacement, just drop it off at the service desk and the repair shop takes care of it... if it can't be fixed, they'll replace it.

As for lifetime warranties, they are only good for as long as the company is in business and is still producing the product in question. On another forum, we just had some fun with this sort of thing... the product came with a "Forever" warranty, not for the "Life of the Product" nor was it for "The life of the original owner" but (and they spelled this out quite clearly) it is warrantied forever... should the product ever fail, please return for repair or replacement." Pretty clear, this outfit really stands behind it's product, right?..... Except that on contacting the company, the reply was "We no longer produce this line of products and have no parts for them. We are sorry you are experiencing problems with our old product and will be happy to replace it with a single package of our new disposable products." [In case you were wondering, the product was a mans safety razor of a type where blades have long been difficult to find].

As for the differences in power/rpm's of different tools.... there's a lot of shenanigans going on...... Anyone buy a 5.5hp Shop Vac? Sorry... but in the real world, by the time an electric motor is capable of producing more than 1.5hp of actual work... you're pretty much looking at having to use 220 v to feed it. By the time you hit 5HP of real, usable power output, the motor itself weighs more than I can lift comfortably...... and yet my shop vac claims 5.5 hp. ( It does draw sufficient amperage to produce somewhere around that amount of HP but that is at full stall of the motor and only lasts for a second or two before the windings burn out). Then there is the issue of efficiency.... a well designed power tool may very well use less amps than a poorly designed tool..... It's the same idea as trying to measure the power output of a car engine based entirely on fuel consumption.... you have to add the efficiency coefficient before you have the real story.

The bottom line for me when I had to choose between the Megs G110 and the PC 7424 was simply the fact that I could drop the tool off on my way to my *real* job if something went wrong to have it repaired under warranty. The Megs unit would have required mailing it (at my expense) to their facility where it would be *replaced* with another one (there hasn't been any information on how to get one that is past it's warranty period repaired, something that WILL be an issue some day). Both tools work well, I just like the tried and tested local service depot.... it works for thousands of pro's in my city, and it was good enough for me.

Regards

Christian