Griot's Garage 10739STDCRD 3" Dual Action Random Orbital Polisher with 10' Cord

I was not sure if this would work reading some of the negative reviews here on Amazon. I am polishing a 38 foot motor home with chalking on the gel coat. I did most of it with a Porter Cable 6 inch RO sander with a Chemical guys backing plate and hex logic pads. There were some areas that I could not get to with the PC.and tore up a pad trying to sneak it in where it should not go. The Griots Garage 3" is quite powerful and appears to be very well made. The controls are almost the same as the PC, slide on off switch and rotary speed on the end by the cord. I used it with Maguiars Ultimate Compound for the oxidised gel coat and it did a great job.I was able to get around the awning braces and behind the ladder. and there are some small panels about the entry door that the PC would not fit into. The front facia has many contours and the 3" will be better suited than my 6". I experienced no overheating. I could not stop the roatation at higher speeds but could at lower. If you are stopping the rotation you are pressing to hard. I was doing the inside of a top hinged storage door that was paint on aluminum and appreciated the compactness of the 3" as I was holding it overhead. It was a challenge to apply the right pressure but I had made a magic marker stripe on the backing plate and could tell when I was pressing to hard or not enough. Later I polished the headlight lenses with Maguires Plastic Polish and a Griots finishing pad. I think you could use the Griot cutting pad for normal discoloring but these had been polished recently. and one came out perfect just as new but the other needs a little more work. So the plastic polish is kind of thin and I had some water on the lenses which should have been dry but I spread the polish using light pressure at speed 1-2 and then went to speed 4 which seems to be a nice balance where your doing some work but not tearing things up. My tool sounded kind of rough and the vibration was kind of harsh and then it broke in and runs pretty smooth about like my Porter Cable.This tool even sounds like my Porter Cable! Those that had over heating problems might be covering the motor vents with their hands, I found that the black rubber thing on top vibrated less than the body so I hold that and then just lightly touch the body more like cradling it in my loose fingers made a big difference in the vibration transmitted to my hands. At first I had a death-grip on the tool but that was not effective. I am doing all vertical surfaces so I have to push the tool on to what I am polishing. It is heavy compared to my 6" Bosch or Dewalt RO sanders it does have the feel of an industrial quality tool. Amazon said the tool was sold by Amazon but it was dropshipped by Griot's that took more time than if it was in Amazon's warehouses.So I am happy with this little polisher and it has lots of work to do on my other vehicles.

If you think this is underpowered you are using it wrong!!! That or the Current Gen is more powerful than older Reviews??? My Main DA Polisher is s Rupes LHR 12E Duetto Random Orbital Polisher, so I know what a high end Polisher is and works like, I was looking at the Flex PE8 and the Rupes iBrid for Detailing those Small areas, but I didn't see needing to use this smaller DA Polisher a whole lot as all my Cars are looking pretty shiny and Swirl Free thanks to my Rupes, just a few areas to touch up here and there that I thought a nice 3" polisher would help with. Granted, this thing on a 1 Setting is kind of a why bother... But get it above 3 and your getting some action. I used this on my 64 Corvette which has Single Stage Paint and it worked perfect in those tight areas and matched the Shine I had going on all the Flat Big Panels. The Smaller Size works great on this car as my Rupes couldn't hit the Tighter areas being 6" and I actually removed some paint on some of the Edge Lines which I had to touch up, so the Smaller size works for all these Curves and Indents on the Car. Next I used it with a Polishing Pad to remove the 2500 Wet Sand Marks on my 2014 Corvette that I made touching up a Road Rash Chip on the Nose, had plenty of Power to gloss my Sanding Marks away quite quickly using a Sample Bottle of Wolfgang Finishing Glaze I bought. So far I like the Griots pads that I also purchased with this, but we'll see on they're longevity, but at the Price of the Pads compared to what I have to pay for Rupes Pads, I can use them a few times and then throw them out if they start looking shot.

This does a pretty good job for what I need it for. I paint bicycles in my spare time, and this works really well to help polish them up after i sand the clear coat. They're right about it not turning if you apply pressure while in low speeds, but you just ease up or turn the rpms up. This is heavy duty and i'm sure it'll last a long time. Worth the money.

Some reviewers have complained of the lack of power of this machine and its inability to correct paint. And while indeed it is rated at 2 amps as opposed to the 7 Amps of the 6" Griots, it is still powerful enough for paint correction if used properly. Of course having less power it may take longer to correct paint, but it can do the job with the right technique. Some of the fundamental mistakes that users make when using any polisher is too much pressure and too much polish-(I know this because this was my mistake until I learned better). Either will greatly diminish the cutting/correcting ability of any polisher. The 3" Griots being less powerful and having a smaller diameter is more susceptible and less forgiving of these types of errors. In truth, its strength is in correcting small and odd shape surfaces such as that found on a motorcycle or in oddly shape areas of a car that would challenge the contact surface of the 6". So if the appropiate amount of pressure and polish is used with this machine it will corrects well, but I would not recommend it for large flat areas which are better served by the 6" machine-as the British saying goes "Horses for courses." Another benefit to this polisher is using the yellow scrub pad with a 1:1 alcohol/water mix to remove excess wax/polish from black trim etc. I have found this technique to be very effective.

I have the 6" and have been using it for a few years, sounds smooth, works great and hasn't skipped a beat. Purchased the 3" and it sounds like it has loose bearings or a loose nut in body. I called Griot's and they said they do make some noise when they're new. It also seemed weak, so I returned it and purchased the G8.

Love this little thing, I use it as a companion to my Griot's 6" DA polisher. It's built well, heavy and has good torque. Great for tight spaces like wings/spoilers, A pillar/C pillar and any other hard to reach areas that a 6" polisher is simply too big to reach. On setting 5 or 6 this polisher WILL correct paint, there is no doubt about that, it works. Takes more time and have to apply more pressure to correct like a 6" polisher would, but that is to be expected. I love it and definitely recommend it. I've been detailing cars for 25 years and it works well for me.

This was the first small polisher I ever owned, and it was ok for light jobs. It doesn't have much power if you need to do paint correction, and I found that any pressure would stop the rotation. It never broke or wore out on me, but I found I only used it for light, small jobs like motorcycles and then only if I was applying wax. It just doesn't have enough power to handle heavier work and it bogs down or stops spinning. I'm not talking about applying significant pressure either. I could stop it with a couple fingers applying light pressure to the top. For the price, it is still a player because it does serve a purpose for small detail jobs, and if you are just covering a small area. I have added the Rupes Big Foot Mini to my polisher arsenal and it is a much more capable machine. Admittedly, it also costs 2.5 times as much so I can hardly compare them. The Griot's machine is your entry level hobbiest machine, and the Rupes is the professional detailing weapon.

First off some background: I have been detailing cars since the 1970's when we used Blue Coral and Simoniz wax and black shoe polish and silicone spray on tires.My first rotary polisher was from Sears and could burn the paint in seconds.I now own a Cyclo dual head and a Porter Cable 7424 DA.That being said I think I know a well built polisher when I see one and boy have I seen one with this Griot's 3" Orbital. Out of the box it has a solid quality feel,made well .Now the real test.I used a 4" Cyclo pad on the Griot's and started polishing on speed 5,I don't know why anyone would give this orbital negative reviews.Maybe I received a different/updated unit? Not sure but the polisher I received was another quality Griot's product ! Someone mentioned in one review it was hard to hold and heavy .Maybe if your a six year ! Some also said the pad would not spin.I used some Griot's polsh and I pressed down on this thing ,on speed 5 ,an could not stop it ! I'm 6'3" and 285lbs !! You might be using too much product or you have a defective unit. PROS: Quality built,solid feel Strong motor Great for tight spaces Use it on furniture also CONS: None that I can see !