Rupes LK 900E Mille & LH 19E

[Ronin47]

I'd keep the 5" BP on the Mille too, but it's good to know the difference in the machines.

How about ergonomics, balance, smoothness and power compared to 3401?

And is the Mille compatible with LC, B&S or Griots pads?

Good questions and I can only answer as honestly or truthfully with the limited time I have spent with it so my evaluation thus far is based on limited experience with it. I will have the machines up against each other on hard paint in a couple of hours but for now I will comment on correction done on soft to medium paints.

From the first time you hold the Mille in your hands to the first time you power it up and do your first section pass you begin to realise alot of thought, engineering and attention to detail has gone into making this polisher. It feels lighter than the 3401, as well as more balanced. Even the speed dial has an expensive feel and click to the different speed settings. The polisher is noticeably quieter and much cooler running than the 3401. Using the 3401 and Mille side by side you can feel the difference in vibration when going back to the 3401. The Mille doesn’t wobble as such and feels very well thought out, sophisticated and much newer.

Throughout the speed settings you can see it has more rpm at every setting and doesn’t walk nearly as much as the 3401 either. However if the pads not perfectly centred I found the Mille to be a handful to control so much so that I had to switch off and figure out why that happened. I have used many types of non Rupes pads on it as I have alot of them and donot intend investing in all new pads specefic to the Mille anytime soon. Having said that I find the intended Rupes pads or thinner pads to feel more natural which is the opposite of what we are led to believe gear driven polishers prefer.

Yes its sleeker,fancier than the ageing 3401 ofcourse, yes its smoother, quieter, and runs a heck of alot cooler too but bare in mind theres a decade technology difference between them, 2007 3401 vs 2017 Mille, was never gona be a fair fight at all.

Lastly correction..., the Mille is definitely the more powerful tool and faster correcting of the two, theres no second guessing that, it is what it is. I had to drop to speed 3 on the Mille where the Flex needed speed 5 and then too the Mille still had the edge. I used the same pads and compounds to keep things fair and at one point even put the more aggressive pad on the 3401 and then too the Mille was still correcting faster.

I hope this answers your question, also I will update again soon on hard paints and then know for certain.

[brettS4]

That's a huge help! Yes, it's not fair to put a new model up against a 10 year old design. But FLEX has nobody to blame but themselves. They started to talk up their XCE two years ago but even if they released it today they'd still be in second place.

Looks like I'll be saving up for a Mille. I'll be able to afford one about the same time they're readily available. My only concern is how well it might cooperate with ThinPro or Boss pads.

[BudgetPlan1]

... Rupes Blue and Yellow compounds of which there are three different types now, long throw Zephir Blue, Keramik Yellow, Mille Blue Coarse, Yellow Fine Compound, Rotary Coarse and Fine Compounds across all polishers.

Geez, they hire Menzerna's marketing dept or something?

[kkritsilas]

.......They started to talk up their XCE two years ago but even if they released it today they'd still be in second place.......

May I ask how you come to that conclusion? Considering that the XCE has been talked about ONLY, unless you have actually been able to use the Mille and the rumored XCE, this statement is noting more than speculation.

The Makinta PO5000C was supposed to put the XC 3401 into the history books. It was supposed to be much faster at correcting paint, much smoother, and was dual mode (free rotation and geared rotation). When the machine actually arrived, the free rotation mode was found to be not very useful. It was smoother, but it corrected paint only marginally faster. In return, you had a machine that was somewhat faster, but not significantly so (it would take the XC3401 one section pass more to get the same correction), when the pads and compounds were identical, on identical panel surfaces). When it was announced, it spun in the same direction as a rotary; when the polisher actually arrived, it didn't; it spun in the same direction as the XC3401. All this is to say, that what you end up in your hands may not always be what is "said" or :rumored" to be the case, isn't. Having said all of that, please let us all know how you came to the conclusion that a polisher that as of yet, only exists as either a prototype, or in a lab in Germany, will be better or worse than any existing polisher (XC3401, PO500C, Mille, or any other geared rotation polisher)? Or is this just the "its a Rupes, so it is better than everything else" sort of statement?

[VISITOR]

May I ask how you come to that conclusion? Considering that the XCE has been talked about ONLY, unless you have actually been able to use the Mille and the rumored XCE, this statement is noting more than spectualtion.

The Makinta PO5000C was supposed to put the XC 3401 into the history books. It was supposed to be much faster at correcting paint, much smoother, and was dual mode (free rotation and geared rotation). When the machine actually arrived, the free rotation mode was found to be not very useful. It was smoother, but it corrected paint only marginally faster. In return, you had a machine that was somewhat faster, but not significantly so (it would take the XC3401 one section pass more to get the same correction, when the pads and compounds were identical, on identical panel surfaces). When it was announced, it spun in the same direction as a rootary; when the polisher actually arrived, it didn't; it spun in the same direction as the XC340. All this is to say, that what you end up in your hands may not always be what is "said" or :rumored" to be the case, isn't. Having said all of that, please let us all know how you came to the conclusion that a polisher that as of yet, only exists as either a prototype, or in a lab in Germany, will be better or worse than any existing polisher (XC3401, PO500C, Mille, or any other geared rotation polisher)? Or is this just the "its a Rupes, so it is better than everything else" sort of statement?

the flex has been around a long time and for good reason. it's built like a tank (versatile with different backing plates as well) and it's proven itself for many years. there's going to be different opinions about any machine and it comes down to the user finding what they may or may not like about it, as you mentioned with the makita which was/is suppose to be better...

[Mike@ShineStruck]

the flex has been around a long time and for good reason. it's built like a tank (versatile with different backing plates as well) and it's proven itself for many years. there's going to be different opinions about any machine and it comes down to the user finding what they may or may not like about it, as you mentioned with the makita which was/is suppose to be better...

Makita is better than the 3401 side by side A no brainer if you dont already own a forced...just questionable upgrade worthy if you already own 3401.
Mille will be same as makita..no brainer if you dont already have a forced..questionable upgrade if you do.

The questions that has yet to be answered are which is better the po5000c or mille?
If xce debuts for a 3rd time at SEMA, how different willl the specs be now due to the release of these 2 machines. Will flex reclaim the forced crown?

Ps i tested the XCE prototype...was essentialy just a 3401 in a xfe7 15 body..
Renny Doyle said the XCE will be evolving a tad from the unit I used like 2 years ago
He also stated their may be a seperate tool launched also

[VISITOR]

Makita is better than the 3401 side by side A no brainer if you dont already own a forced...just questionable upgrade worthy if you already own 3401.
Mille will be same as makita..no brainer if you dont already have a forced..questionable upgrade if you do.

The questions that has yet to be answered are which is better the po5000c or mille?
If xce debuts for a 3rd time at SEMA, how different willl the specs be now due to the release of these 2 machines. Will flex reclaim the forced crown?

Ps i tested the XCE prototype...was essentialy just a 3401 in a xfe7 15 body..
Renny Doyle said the XCE will be evolving a tad from the unit I used like 2 years ago
He also stated their may be a seperate tool launched also

i've had the flex since it was first introduced back in 07'-08' and don't plan on giving it up anytime soon. if the mille is essentially the same as the po5000c then the question to whom ever wants to buy one is which one should i choose. the mille is probably going to be more ($150+ more/$500 msrp?) which to some isn't worth it especially since the po5000c can switch to free spinning mode if once wants that extra feature that the mille doesn't have. no right or wrong choice, just personal preference. what might be right for some may not be for others...

[Ronin47]

Geez, they hire Menzerna's marketing dept or something?

I understand that Rupes keeps punting a system approach which makes financial sense to them but I must admit I get better results venturing out of their pad/polish system. I also understand their polishes are designed and suited for their respective long throw, gear driven, rotary applications which to me again is just too niche and a marketing and corporate decision. I for one won’t buy different polishes for different machines it just doesn’t work that way in the real world. I need a polish that works on all my machines. Having said that, all the Rupes machines work really awesome with non rupes polish and pads, ofcourse the powers that be would want you thinking different and keep to the “system” approach.

[Ronin47]

i've had the flex since it was first introduced back in 07'-08' and don't plan on giving it up anytime soon. if the mille is essentially the same as the po5000c then the question to whom ever wants to buy one is which one should i choose. the mille is probably going to be more ($150+ more/$500 msrp?) which to some isn't worth it especially since the po5000c can switch to free spinning mode if once wants that extra feature that the mille doesn't have. no right or wrong choice, just personal preference. what might be right for some may not be for others...

The Makita’s free spinning mode has proven to be worthless from a correction perspective. If one wants a free float polisher and is budget conscious like yourself, there are much better options out there like the PC24XP or GG6. The 5000C is marginally more powerful than the 3401, the Mille is considerably more powerful so I fully understand the Mille’s price. You only need to hold and use the Mille once compared to its respective competitors to warrant the price difference.

[Ronin47]

The LH19E Rotary which noone has asked about is a real gem, I find it odd that the PE-14 gets less spotlight time than the 3401 and the LH19E almost ignored with everyone only eager to know about the Mille. For the rotary and non rotary users, the LH19E is going to change the way you see rotaries. I can see other rotary polishers following suit.