Should have skipped the Flex?

[Jeff Laughhunn]

I've been eyeballing the Flex 3401 since its debut. Read everyhing here and elsewhere I could lay my eyeballs on, BUT... never saw the Flex-question posed this way, and there might be enough experience now that this thread could generate some comments...
As a PC user who moved up to the Flex 3401, are any of you thinking you should have just skipped this purchase, and instead moved straight to the rotary? Thanks for any thoughts on this.

[blubird00]

I switched from the PC to the Flex and wish I would have done it sooner. I do own a rotary but never have felt very comfortable. The Flex is a HUGE time saver over the PC plus I can do in one pass on the Flex what took the PC multiple passes. So I would recommend the Flex to anybody.

[eyezack87]

Went to visit OctaneGuy (Richard) and he gave me a tip to skip the Flex and go to the rotary. He told me he preferred to have a rotary over the flex while keeping the PC at hand

Richard is a very cool guy I have to say

[DJ_JonnyV]

I just bought a Flex 3403 after having used my Flex 3401 fairly regularly since last September, and have no regrets whatsoever with my purchase of the 3401. I know a lot of folks skilled with the rotary that will use the 3401 to apply final polish. The 3401 was a huge transition step for me between the PC and a rotary. Now, I just have to get comfortable with the rotary.

[wannafbody]

I think a rotary and PC combo can do more but the Flex is the best single compromise.

[kerrinjeff]

If you already have a PC, go for the rotary. I have used my PC for maybe 20 hrs and then decided to buy a rotary. I absolutely love the rotary, it wasn't nearly as hard to learn as I was expecting and had no problems with burning paint. I got excellent results the first time out. If you are pretty good with a PC I'd recommend a rotary for sure.

I got the Vector 7" waxmaster for $60 at Costco.com. Worked fantastic and is plenty durable for the enthusiast detailer like me.

The flex seems excellent if you don't already own a PC, but if you already own a PC go rotary!

[NSXTASY]

I think a rotary and PC combo can do more but the Flex is the best single compromise.

I think thats well put. Though, for the price of a flex, you can pick up a 9227 and a PC. But thats not a single compromise.

[Jeff Laughhunn]

I agree with the compromise sentiment, but that's not my dilemma (if I didn't have the PC, the Flex purchase would indeed be a no-brainer for me). I already have the PC (and limited funds), so that compromise is off the table. Just wondering if anyone in the same pickle that joined Club Flex wishes they would have saved their money and went straight to the rotary.

[mystic04]

WEll i got all 3 now pc, flex and dewalt 849. helps to have extra machines around in case you need help sometime you got a extra polisher to use or one breaks down.But i am just learning the rotary so it will be awhile before i would use one on a customers car.

[JuneBug]

I have the PC and Makita rotary - got them before there was any talk of the Flex. The things that keep me away from buying the Flex are price and the backing plate issue some users have had. I detail on the weekends for a few family, and friends (not for free either!) and 95% of the time I can do whatever needs to be done with a PC, if you need to do correction, get 5.5" low profile pads or 4" ones. Applying glazes, sealants and wax - 5.5" red LC is the ticket. But that's me, you have to decide what YOUR "needs" are and buy accordingly.

[Atlantic Euro]

For me, it boiled down to this - if you are worried about the learning curve and risk of a rotary, but want better performance (timewise, mainly) than a PC/UDM, then a Flex is a great tool.

If the cost of the Flex is too much for you, or you are confident about mastering the tool, and you want better results/time than a PC/UDM, a rotary is the choice.

I'm a chicken with a healthy fear of burning paint/trim and a bigger-than-expected bonus. I went Flex.

[TTWAGN]

The only advantage a rotary would have over a flex is extreme cutting power.

However with a twisted wool pad on the flex using a compound like meguiars M105 there is no paint defect that cannot be removed quickly by a flex. The extra cutting power of a rotary is simply not needed unless you are working on oxidised boats.

A rotary is out gunned in my opinion. There are soft paint jobs that are too difficult to finish with a rotary and a porter cable is needed, this is why people reccomend keeping the Porter cable as they know that Rotary cant do everything. A flex wont have any problem with these soft paint jobs.

The flex can remove heavy oxidation from hard single stage paints and can finish hologram free on the softest black paints. A rotary in the hands of your average user could never do both of those.

The only problem is a cost.

I would rather have a flex than both a rotary and Porter cable.

A detailer near me has a flex 3401 and we tried the Meguiars solo pads. They fit perfect and u have four grades of pad from heavy cutting to finishing.

Im going to be selling my metabo rotary and random orbital machine for a flex after seeing it in action. My grandma's scratched up honda has extremely soft dark green paint. Even with my average skill levels the flex was 10 times easier to finish hologram free compared to a rotary. On the rotary i would usually have to do an extra ultra fine polishing step to remove the light hologramming. So any saved time is lost IMO. I also didn't have to get the lights into position as i knew the Flex would finish hologram free every time.