I use both of Parick's pads and both are great on a PC. My only previous experience had been with Megs. pads and they didn't have enough selection to get the job done.
One pad I find really useful that I don't hear much mention is the orange pad of excel, although it is supposed to be the most harsh, I find it less than the yellow pad, and it is great for getting swirls out with OP polish and PB2.5 and and does so with very slight marring or little, depending of course on the paint and color (especially with OP). Patrick, at Excel taught me this. Yellow with do more cutting surprisingly and will leave marring in my experience. I also like the 4" pads which are quite reasonable in price and are great for doing concentrated swirl removal and hard to get to areas.
So if you are on a budget, get a green (or blue) and orange pad, if not get a sampler kit from excel.
And to answer your question, the P2 is a better pad, and use it with a 6" backing pad if you have it for better torque, according to Patrick at Excel. And the P2 just plains looks cools. If you have any questions about the Excel pads, one of the best sources of course is calling Patrick.
PS
10 pads X $2 (P2) = $20 retail extra. I would say yes right off Top Notch even at that difference. But if you give Patrick a call and tell him Doug told you to give you P2 sampler special with a 6" backing plate (if you don't have it), the price difference between the two pads will be so neglible you can't pass up the deal. Patrick treats all his customers right. (Also instead of the sampler kit, you might want to skimp on the grey pads, and yellow pads, and get more of the blue, green and orange pads).
Goodluck with your pad selection Top Notch (my new favorite pad is the P2 orange)
Doug
