I bought a Makita a few years ago, it was a little pricey but seemed to be well worth it compared to the HF stuff.
HF stuff is good enough to use infrequently. I'll use this thing maybe twice a year and the rest of the time it will spend its life in a shed. Even if it does die, I can buy 4 of them before I get to the price of a makita.
If you do go cheap ,make sure the polisher is balanced so as not to dig and wobble. I bought a Blue point/Snap-on polisher off of E-bay after killing a few cheaper (even Black &Decker) ones. I like the 3M wool pads( Haven't tried the ones Karl mentioned though) and the 3M restorer and polish. It's such a miserable job I feel spending a little more on quality tools to make it expedient and top quality at the same time is worth it. One thing people seem to fail to realize is paint goes bad just like gel-coat. The high end paints seem to advertise 5-7 years before a re-coat.
"I said, now, I said ,pay attention boy!"
The cure for anything is salt water - sweat, tears, or the sea Isak Dinesen If a man is to be obsessed by something.... I suppose a boat is as good as anything... perhaps a bit better than most. E. B. White
