Sure I agree with you, I think most car guys would agree more power is better, just look all dimensions of the car hobby culture, it's all about power!
I've met a lot of car guys and even car gals that want to take care of their car's finish but they don't go to the extremes like many of us do in the forum world. They don't care to get out each and every scratch and they don't even care if they get out all of the swirls. If they get a polisher and do a simple paint polishing process to their PT Cruiser or their Mazda Miata and when their done the paint looks clear and glossy, and the result they're seeing look way better than any results the achieved by hand, then they're happy.
On paper the Griot's Garage ROP has more power and out in the garage the Griot's Garage has more power from what I can tell and based upon my experience.
So if you want the polisher with the most power this would be your choice but all 3 of the 2nd generation polishers have enough power to keep pads rotating and that's what's important when removing swirls.
The Griot's Garage polisher is still the new kid on the block and time will tell if the reliability is there with the power. The warranty is great but from
behind the scenes, I've seen how
people act when a tool stops functioning and that's why I wrote as gingerly as I could that if you're the type of person that gets
upset when a tool malfunctions then maybe go with a tool that has a time-proven history of reliability.
I met Richard Griot at SEMA this year and he's the real deal as far as being a car guy goes and just as nice in person as you see him on TV or expect after reading any thing he's written on his website or in his catalog. I'm confident they've done their homework when it comes to launching a new tool and and if any problems do arise then they'll address them. Meguiar's ran into a few glitches when they first introduced their polisher and they tackled them head-on and refined their tool to be one of the top 3 tools in this category. You would expect on less from Meguiar's and you should expect no less from either Griot's Garage or Porter Cable. That's the nature of doing professional level business.
So everyone reading this needs to study and evaluate their different options when it comes to any electric polisher and then evaluate themselves and then make their decision.
Whichever tool a person buys one thing for sure, the staff here at Autogeek and myself will be here to support you with your detailing projects and see you through to success in your garage.