Optimum GPS Review - Finally

[SeaJay's]

I apologize for the late review of this product. With the holidays, a death in the family, and the flu I've been busy. So I finally got around to testing out the product.

I attempted to shoot videos with my IPhone 4 but they came out awful and I can't edit them cause I don't want to spend $30 for Quicktime Pro. So I'm left with my pics again. Oh and my swirl finder light decided to stop working....so I made do with what I could get.

This Equinox is my girlfriends car which I have been lacking on the maintenance. I did a full correction on it last year with a few remaining RIDS. The paint isn't very bad, but some light swirls.

I taped off her hood in 6 sections. The top section being used for the Flex PE14-2 rotary and the bottom for my PCXP.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8197.jpg

I tested out the GPS against Poly-seal and Pinnacle SMT 360. All of which are all-in-ones.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8202.jpg

I did the first section with the PC and GPS...sorry for the bad pics.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8209.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8219.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8225.jpg

Then I did the top section with the Flex and GPS

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8252.jpg

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8225.jpg

Next section I did with Poly seal and the DA.

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8226.jpg

And Finally XMT 360

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e147/JPerrydore/GPS%20Review/IMG_8227.jpg


Overall opinion is that the GPS is very similar to Poly-seal. Both are a joy to work with in regards to working time, ease of use, and buff off. The GPS is definitely much easier to remove from your pads. Which leads me to believe that the durability may not be as good as poly-seal.

The glaze aspect of it (sorry the pics didn't come out) is not as good as a dedicated glaze (which I expected). It does fill and darken a little bit but not at a lot. This is when I used it as a glaze. Per the instructions I sprayed on the section and took a pinnacle foam applicator and spread it out evenly. Allowed it to haze and then buffed off. I personally do not use glazes very often (closer to never) so this was merely for testing. I would stick to a dedicated glaze if I were to use one.

The glaze does not seem to fill in anything when you use it as a polish with either a DA or a rotary. After polishing out my 2 sections I did an IPA wipe down. Both remained the same with no change.

The spray bottle that the GPS came in I do not like. This is the first time I had used a spray bottle for my polish. The trigger tends to get stuck and I have to wait for it to pop back out. Even after loosening the cap some to let it breath it still did this. The spray pattern was all over the place and not very uniform. If I was too far away I got spray every where, if I was too close it didn't spread on the pad. I finally found a good distance which worked OK. The polish still came out in a small stream at 1st. Which when it hit my pad would splatter. I will be transferring it to a squeeze bottle the next time I use it.


Pros:
Ease of buff off
Good cut for an all in one
Fairly easy to remove from pads
Slight darkening/fill effect when used as a glaze

Cons:
Spray bottle
Lack of durability (?)
The lack of darkening/filling when used as a glaze

Honestly, I didn't see a real noticeable difference in the GPS over the poly-seal. The main differences I noticed were the color and scent. Other than that you probably could have given me either and I couldn't have told you which was which.

And to compare to the XMT 360 - Poly-seal and GPS both have more cut than the XMT 360.

Thanks for reading!

[Bunky]

Thanks for the review. I think side by sides (same time, same paint) helps create more accurate impressions.

[BobbyG]

Hey Jason,

Thanks for the review!

It's nice to see a side by side comparison of similar products to see how they stack up against one another. We're all curious and now we have a benchmark to go by...:props:

Thanks for posting your findings along with some great photos! :dblthumb2:

[silverfox]

I doubt anybody can come up with a good spray device for polishes. Optimum has tried for years and I agree it's frustrating to get it to the point of not wasting it or getting it all over the place or to get it to cover the pad evenly. The best way to prime a pad properly without waste still is with your finger by spreading the product out efficiently. Keep in mind that the idea of a spray is to make it easier... But at what cost.. .. Waste and messiness is what I've seen with these products. I think if the marketing behind buying GPS over PoliSeal is because it's a spray I think most would be better off staying with PS. I don't see a spray version being a selling point all things considered. I like several things about GPS but being a spray is not one of them.

[Chris Thomas]

I doubt anybody can come up with a good spray device for polishes. Optimum has tried for years and I agree it's frustrating to get it to the point of not wasting it or getting it all over the place or to get it to cover the pad evenly. The best way to prime a pad properly without waste still is with your finger by spreading the product out efficiently. Keep in mind that the idea of a spray is to make it easier... But at what cost.. .. Waste and messiness is what I've seen with these products. I think if the marketing behind buying GPS over PoliSeal is because it's a spray I think most would be better off staying with PS. I don't see a spray version being a selling point all things considered. I like several things about GPS but being a spray is not one of them.

I haven't had any problems with the sprayers and prefer them on most jobs. But I am not trying to use them like a thin liquid. My trigger pull is very forceful and deliberate. Be sure to pull the trigger like you mean it. GPS, Hyper Compound, and Hyper Polish are thick so they need a forceful trigger press to come out in finer particles...they need more momentum than a thin liquid like OCW. I was able to demo this at SEMA and trigger pull was usually the problem.

If you have problems realize it is much thicker than OCW or APCs and will NEVER atomize that well, but you can try a few things: remove the sprayer and spray what's in it back into the bottle, reattach the sprayer, shake well and try another spray. Sometimes you pull up the thicker stuff off the bottom and it sprays in a stream. Another tip with GPS is to use the spray turned to the setting witl 5 dotted lines instead of 2.

With Hyper Polish and Hyper Compound you can disassemble the sprayer when it clogs: unscrew the nozzle, pull out the atomizer (be carefull not to drop the spring that's behind it), then remove the pickup tube from the bottom, clean everything (usually just run under hot water, and reassemble. This whole process only takes a couple of minutes.

We have also had feedback that if you remove the sprayer and empty them into the bottle after use, and shake well the next time you use it, what's in the pickup tube will be fresh and thin instead of settled and thick.

These are new products and sometimes we have to learn new techniques to use them. Should you have problems that you cannot rectify with the steps above, feel free to contact me directly for a replacement sprayer.

[Hoytman]

Chirs,
Here's why I think your tips make good sense.

Not too long ago on this forum there were people complaining about spray bottles leaking when not in use. Probably from pressure build up inside the spray bottles due to temperature fluctuations. All of these complaints that I noticed in these posts were of various brand of APC, glass cleaners, and just about any other product that can be sprayed.

Being a newbie I took note of these complaints and issues from posts about leaking sprayers. I had noticed mine were also beginning to drip while on the shelf. Thank God the posts and complaints came at a good time for me and I only dealt with the issue for about a week.

I took action and started the habit of doing just as you've described above. I started removing the sprayers after each use at the end of a detail and I simply sprayed the remaining product back into the bottle. It's kept my storage boxed dry, the shelving and bottles clean, and it's not that hard to do or to remember to do. The habit is ingrained now.

Even though I don't have any of your Optimum spray products I can certainly see where a forceful trigger squeeze would be needed for the thicker product solutions. I can also see where cleaning the sprayers in preparation for the next use, by simply spraying the remaining solution inside the pick-up tube back into the bottle and shaking solution before next use, would aid in much better spray patterns. Knowing viscosity is going to be different with these products versus thinner products should change people's expectations, i.e., be common sense.

EDIT:

Please note that my comments were in know way intened to be a knock on this review.

[SonOfOC]

I like the review. As I kind of suspected, GPS is a like a spray version of Poliseal.

[Chris Thomas]

Chirs,
Here's why I think your tips make good sense.

Not too long ago on this forum there were people complaining about spray bottles leaking when not in use. Probably from pressure build up inside the spray bottles due to temperature fluctuations. All of these complaints that I noticed in these posts were of various brand of APC, glass cleaners, and just about any other product that can be sprayed.

Being a newbie I took note of these complaints and issues from posts about leaking sprayers. I had noticed mine were also beginning to drip while on the shelf. Thank God the posts and complaints came at a good time for me and I only dealt with the issue for about a week.

I took action and started the habit of doing just as you've described above. I started removing the sprayers after each use at the end of a detail and I simply sprayed the remaining product back into the bottle. It's kept my storage boxed dry, the shelving and bottles clean, and it's not that hard to do or to remember to do. The habit is ingrained now.

Even though I don't have any of your Optimum spray products I can certainly see where a forceful trigger squeeze would be needed for the thicker product solutions. I can also see where cleaning the sprayers in preparation for the next use, by simply spraying the remaining solution inside the pick-up tube back into the bottle and shaking solution before next use, would aid in much better spray patterns. Knowing viscosity is going to be different with these products versus thinner products should change people's expectations, i.e., be common sense.

EDIT:

Please note that my comments were in know way intened to be a knock on this review.

Thank you for your input! While we certainly don't mind standing behind our products and shipping new sprayers when necessary, teaching proper care and technique along with some troubleshooting will go a long way...and that's what I try to do.


I like the review. As I kind of suspected, GPS is a like a spray version of Poliseal.

You got it right: GPS is very similar to Poli Seal. It improves on PS with the spray application, easier to wipe off residue, and doesn't clog up pads when overapplied like PS can.

[toycar18]

Sprayers fail all the time. I am in the carpet cleaning business and we use spray bottles on every job multiple times. Over the years, I have tried a bunch of different sprayers. Some last long, some don't even work out the box. They are mass produced and they don't get tested for quality control. I wouldn't be surprised if you have a bad sprayer. And even if Optimum tested it with water and it performed well it still could break, or not preform up to par after 1 use. This things are cheap and fail often.

[Chris Thomas]

My most trouble free sprayers have always been the Tolco #320. For those of you who transfer your product to another container, this is a great option and will spray anything from APC to Hyper Compound. They also have a chemical resistant version for acid and such. Anytime they may fail (very infrequent), I can just disassemble them and clean them and they work fine again.

[mg6045]

Chris, we spoke via PM and I never received the new sprayer for my Hyper polish that failed.

[Chris Thomas]

I'm sorry for the oversight, PM me your shipping info again please.

[ESSO]

Thank you for review.

[armoredsaint]

opinions on topping GPS with Z-2 or Z-5? Good or bad?

[Chris Thomas]

opinions on topping GPS with Z-2 or Z-5? Good or bad?

GPS is fairly new, so there aren't that many users to poll for such a question. Opti Seal and OCW are great, quick toppers for GPS, but since LSP appearances are so subjective, try them out and post back what you think.