Hello Detailers,
I have been lurking around for a while doing research and watching videos until I finally decided the purchase the polisher along with the 4" backing plate and hybrid pads. I used them for the first time yesterday and all I can say is it was an interesting experience. It wasn't very difficult to control it on flat surfaces, but a bit of a challenge on hills and valleys where I could see the polisher was "running away" from me. I think it might take some time getting used to on varying contours.
I started with white pad along with Meguiar's SwirlX 2.0. Put in about 3 rounds (each with 4 passes & speed of 4), which gave me decent results. This, however, took way too long. Following this, I moved to Blue pads & Meguiar's SwirlX 2.0 with 2 rounds (each with 4 passes & speed of 4.5). This was on a different patch but was not happy with the results and decided to upgrade to orange pads & Ultimate compound (2 rounds - each with 4 passes & a speed of 5.5). This gave me much better results and more importantly in a shorter time. It took me about 5 hours approx to complete about half the hood. While I tried to follow the least aggressive procedure, I think the swirls were too deep to be eliminated simply by first 2 methods. Will continue further on the remaining hood with orange pads & UC and hopefully will take lesser time and post pictures once completed. :)