# Makita BO6040 or Flex XC3401VRG



## lee ls1 (Oct 20, 2008)

Hi All

Well am going to buy myself a Xmas present soon, as i feel i have been a good boy this year, and was wonder which polisher to get? Makita BO6040 or Flex XC3401VRG ?
Reason I am looking at these two, as I don’t want a rotary polisher as I am a first time machine polisher, and over here in Oz we are a little limited for the different products which we can get our hands on (and i can get hold of these two in 240V), and don’t really want to go down the 110V route so that takes the Porter cable 7424 out.
So what are your thoughts on the Makita BO6040 or Flex XC3401VRG, which one to buy, pro's and con's

Thanks for your help

Cheers

Lee


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

I investigated both about 18 months ago and bought the Flex.

Unlike the BO6040 used only by a handful of people the Flex is now a very popular machine as evidenced by all the reviews of it, especially in the USA.

Alan W


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## lee ls1 (Oct 20, 2008)

Alan W said:


> I investigated both about 18 months ago and bought the Flex.
> 
> Unlike the BO6040 used only by a handful of people the Flex is now a very popular machine as evidenced by all the reviews of it, especially in the USA.
> 
> Alan W


Thanks for that Alan, does the flex still give you the option to polish slower i.e. at the same rate as the porter cable and Makita? as this was the only thing that was putting me off the flex?

cheers

Lee


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

Yes, the Flex is variable speed! :thumb:

Alan W


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## Guest (Nov 16, 2008)

flex allday long :thumb:


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## lee ls1 (Oct 20, 2008)

so can the flex polish at slower speeds like the porter cable? i have been reading through some old threads and some people where saying when polishing with the flex if you where polishing on say level 4 with a porter cable use one speed lower on the flex e.g. level 3, does this sound right?

Thanks again for your help

Lee


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## brendans225 (Jun 24, 2007)

Hey Mate

I'm from oz too, and am using the flex  . In fact i was looking at the makita and festool rotex at one stage, but decided to go with the flex  ...........it just seemed a better machine overall and i have never looked back.

you can polish on slower speeds, although to break down most polishes you will need to crank it upto 5-6. I would say speed 3-4 on the flex would be good for working in paint cleaners or non abrasive final finishing polishes. For any correction work atleast speed 5 is needed, but 6 is ideal imo. The machine also gets smoother as u crank up through the speeds 


Something overlooked in many cases of machines is the position of controls - the flex have them all in the right place imo- i had a makita rotary before and the controls weren't in a convenient location for me.


we also have an aussie detail forum if your not aware already - detailparadise.com.au

Cheers,
Brendan


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## lee ls1 (Oct 20, 2008)

Hi Brendan

Cheers for that mate, yeah think al go get myself a flex, sounds like a good bit of kit, and will def chech the ozi forum didnt now that we had one.

Thanks for the info, very helpfull

cheers

Lee



brendans225 said:


> Hey Mate
> 
> I'm from oz too, and am using the flex  . In fact i was looking at the makita and festool rotex at one stage, but decided to go with the flex  ...........it just seemed a better machine overall and i have never looked back.
> 
> ...


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## spurgen (Aug 13, 2008)

Lee I also have the Flex, its a solid machine and beats the hell out of using a RO. There's also a possible Flex discount group buy on at detailparadise at the moment. Check out the zas sponsor forum.


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## Alan W (May 11, 2006)

spurgen said:


> Lee I also have the Flex, its a solid machine and beats the hell out of using a RO.


But the Flex is a RO (or DA) machine.  Are you perhaps referring to it being Forced Rotation?

Alan W


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## Robbieben (Feb 19, 2006)

I have a Flex and an older PC, I rate the Flex as being much better than the PC.


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## Nickos (Apr 27, 2006)

I love my flex and feel it was a great choice over a PC!

still learning to use it though, but soon as i master it i'll be happy!


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## naxtek (Oct 9, 2007)

Any of you guys brits? How much you paying for the Flex machine? I might be able to get hold of them cheaper...


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## spurgen (Aug 13, 2008)

Alan W said:


> But the Flex is a RO (or DA) machine.  Are you perhaps referring to it being Forced Rotation?
> 
> Alan W


Yeah terminology may be a bit different here. We generally refer to RO's as the machines that only jiggle randomly ie random orbital sanders and the 3401, G220 etc as DA's.


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## 1Valet PRO (Nov 2, 2005)

Flex.


absoluty great bit of kit. Cuts like a rotary but is gentle like a DA. Feels good in your hands too. 

Iam just testing out flex polish and paint sealant to see how good they are.


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## Nickos (Apr 27, 2006)

naxtek said:


> Any of you guys brits? How much you paying for the Flex machine? I might be able to get hold of them cheaper...


i got mine from CG UK for a pretty good price. 110v, but as i had a transformeranyway it made no difference to me


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## Guest (Mar 3, 2009)

A lot of the people that have the flex will recommend it obviously because thats where they put there money!!

I am from the UK and have had this choice last week, I tried loads of machines and ended up settling on the BO6040 (Makita Orbital) and a CB9227 (Makita Rotary).

Over here the price for the 240v Flex is around £340 upwards, where as I bought both makitas for less than that !! BO6040 for the day to day stuff & CB9227 for the harder correctional work.

Before anyone says, I tried both machines before buying, I will admit the flex is more comfortable to use but the correction ability of both is the same in my opinion. Also there was a test done on Meguiars south african site and the BO6040 came out on top of them all (Flex, Dewalt, Makita, G220, Metabo etc).

Depends how much you can buy them for over there but I think the Makitas are a great buy :thumb:

I have a Kestrel DAS-6 which is a nice little machine for polishing as well ......


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