Sub £100 orbital car polishers…

There are loads on Amazon but can anyone recommend one they have experience of.

Don’t mind corded as we have a power outlet on the drive.

Just want something that will do a better job than hand applying polish. Not going to be detailing.

I’ve not used it but I have read that the Argos machine is decent for the money.

Cable is short at 2m though but given It’s usually <£50 you’d just need some pads and compound/polish to get started

I have a Halfords one. It works, I have nothing to compare it to, however the included pads aren’t great.

Slim's Detailing Dual Action DAS6 Machine Polisher (600w) & Pad Kit

monkeysfeet
Free Member
Slim’s Detailing Dual Action DAS6 Machine Polisher (600w) & Pad Kit

What they said 👆

Das6 for a spruce up.  Most detailers reckon you’ll want a more powerful version if doing any serious paint correction,  but for applying and buffing wax/ sealant the das6 is great. 

You thinking of giving this a bit of a spruce up?

Although it’s in a solar orbit rather than an earth orbit, and is 5.8 light minutes away at the moment…

I have a DAS 6 V2, works a treat

You used to be able to find the exact same polisher as the DAS6 V1, but sold under different brands, for around £50, not sure if that’s still an option? The Draper one looks like it’s the same polisher as the V2, but then it’s not that much cheaper and doesn’t come with the bag.

(the Vonhaus/Argos one that’s also available under various brands is more basic and, again, really not <that> much cheaper. I’d be pretty confident that there’s other good cheap options but you lose that confidence)

Thing is, the difference between a really cheap polisher and a budget one isn’t massive but what you gain largely is safety- you’re less likely to screw it up, less likely to have a pad fail badly or be badly specced, stuff like that. It doesn’t take a lot for a bargain to become a problem.

Equally, that depends a lot on the operator, if you’re careful you can get great results even with a cheap random orbit sander and an adaptor. I’ve done panels up to a high, if not quite pro standard that way but it’s harder and tbh I’m not sure I’d want to do it on a car (different rules when it’s something you painted yourself!)

I have the Argos one, currently £42.50, 600w same as the the £103 Slims DAS6, and the same 1500-6800 rpm range, Argos has a 2 year warranty, the DAS6 is 1 year. DAS6 does come with 3 pads, argos only 1 pad. I bought pads on ebay for cheap. Looks like the same plastic mouldings, obviously could be different spec.

https://www.argos.co.uk/product/8647300

I am not a detailer, just used it to roughly polish a second hand van to remove the outline of old sign writing stickers that had been removed. Worked fine for me for the money.

I bought the argos one – it will likely be used once every couple of years for a single pass light polish so I didn’t want to spend any more. It seems good to me – apart from the ridiculously short cord. Before I next use it I will see if I can fit a longer once – not sure how disassemblable it is.

The supplied pad is rubbish to budget on buying some decent ones.

Same,  argos one here.  The supplied pad was immediately changed. Iirc I I changed the backplate too as it was too large… it was a white ago though so can’t remember clearly

OP have you used an orbital polisher before?  I found that it is quite easy to lose control of them quite quickly.

I have an old DASV6 one.  They do take longer to polish your car, but they are much easier to control.

Make sure to watch some YouTube videos beforehand to understand how to get the best out of them.

Go DA.

Orbitals can do more harm than good

I should mention – the Argos one I referred to above is a dual action polisher.

Thanks all! 👍