I've been running a Flex 3401 for about 3 years & love it! Bding gear driven there is not stall & the power is great! It'll chew oxidation from gelocat but also works for spreading wax. Great vid

What a great honest review need more people like you in the world today. As far as the polisher RAFFLE it off for charity.

Looked like plenty of rotation to me. I’d say it’s your mind playing games.

Nice, I am buffing an entire 24-year-old chalky Carver 40 foot cabin cruiser. Hoping you make the right decision with the Rupes polisher. 🙏🏻

Great video Carlos. I think the new Rupes polisher is very powerful and maybe stay on speed 3-4 max. I think running it on 6 is too high for most surfaces and it will eat up your battery life. Just my thought..... Keep up the great work !!!

The degree to which the battery depletes so does the performance of the machine. That’s just my experience with the cordless tools that I own (Milwaukee DA & rotary). Maybe that’s the nature of these types of devices. Keep us updated and thanks 🙏

I refuse to buy cordless until battery costs go down someday 😂 because you’ll need plenty of them

Great video bro!!! The end you’re exhausted that boat is holding you up 😂😂. Yeah sucks about you not liking the polisher. For the spinning and rotation still looked like plenty of power.

Thank you for your honesty. This is exactly my experience. This machine has major power and stalling problems especially as the battery levels deplete. This is contradictory to the company's claims. Compared to the corded Mark III Rupes it is a major downgrade in terms of paint correction ability and speed. Rotation speed is also less (5000 vs 5200) I have tried the "washer mod" and doing so is an improvement that you can try yourself. I think I will be returning my unit as I am still within the return period on mine. I am a professional paint correction specialist based in Dallas like yourself!

Maybe the pad is sticking to the gel coat. Try a stiffer pad or put more polish on the surface. Those white pads tend to grab more that’s why sometimes you get a better finish with a firmer pad.

I watched your video and listened to your comments on noticing power reductions as the battery depleted. I’m curious if you also noticed it when doing a vehicle versus gelcoat. RUPES emphasizes letting the machine do the work without any force pressure, however, as we all know with gelcoat, It’s a little more difficult to reduce the gelcoat haze without some pressure on the machine, which is why most of us were using wool pads… curious on your thoughts on that

In my opinion I think cordless DA’s are for 1 step or applying a glaze. I run a Milwaukee 15 and it’s a powerful machine but like you said around that 50% mark you’re better off changing that battery at that point. You can hear the pitch of the machine not being the same at the same speed you were polishing on. So you have it on speed 4 you’re really on speed 2-2.5-3 at speed 4 until you change that battery. They have their place but you can’t replace the consistent power with corded. I ended up selling my MKIII and going cordless last year and wish I had kept it to have both. I’m actually trying to go back to corded.

And this is why I prefer thee rotary. Thanks for the review!! Is that the machine belt around your waist?

Great information. I like the cord because for some jobs because I always have the same power. Im thinking of buying a cordless. What polish did you use for the gel coat?

I think your use to riding in a V8 & Now you have a Electric 😅 Great job 🔥

In life many times perception is reality. If you think the Rupes isn’t doing well…then it’s not doing well. Doubt you’ll change your mind. Time to retire it or sell it. The boat has gel coat on it!

It looks normal for a free spinning DA but all cordless will not have equivalent power at the pad compared to corded units. You should always have one battery charging while using the other and run at a lower speed to get more run time . More later

I got the Milwaukee and love it. Only thing I don’t like is I wish it had 1 more higher speed.

That thing is WAY too expensive in my opinion. Go with the cordless Dewalt DA...

I think rotary with a wool pad is best for gel coat i could be wrong.

Hey Carlos!

take off the shield guard for more free spin, the rubber piece before the backing plate! I did it to my corded 21mm recommended by a guy who has been in the industry for a very long time.

It would have been interesting to see if you had another polisher to compare the results. Definitely interested to know before an investment like that.

The battery powered stuff still has a long way to go. It doesn’t hold the full power through a charge & does not deliver like a corded counterpart. Nice for a high end wax job I guess lol

If the pad is stalling it’s not your imagination. A lot of the cordless polishers are under powered. If you have to run the machine on Speed-6 continuously, it’s not the right tool for the job. You would get better results using a rotary polisher or gear-driven DA on that boat.

TGIF👍🏽👍🏽

I think that HLR15 is so smooth and quiet that it feels underpowered. Imo its quite compareable to milwaukee 15 which i sold. HLR21 does have more torque and power just like did milwaukee 21. I would say Milwaukee 15 is 9/10 for power, 6/10 fpr smoothness and 8/10 noice. While HLR15 is -9/10 for power, 10/10 smoothness and 10/10 on noise. Battery life is pretty much compareable to milwaukee 5.0, but offcourse you will get more from 6.0 etc, but they also make milwaukee weight like 3,6kg or like 8 pounds. I would say that the power is pretty much on bar with 15 mk3, but 15mk3 just feels more powerfull because its louder and not as smooth. Also while people hate stalling, its the throw that makes the major of the correction, only about 10-15% loss of correction if it stops spinning, so its not that crucial anyway.

Carlos was the blue side indicator light flashing to alert too much pressure applied? That would seem to coincide with pad rotation slowing or stalling in my opinion. Sell for $100 less than what you paid maybe. So many brand choices it’s overwhelming.

But the rupes USA rep said you don’t need to use it on speed 6 and it looks like it’s spinning to me but also the machine isn’t designed for curves but for more flat panels..

I think any cordless polisher is going to struggle with a boat that big. Unless you have more batteries. Something that big I’m thinking a corded polisher would be more optimal. Once they come out with the cord adapter for the 15 I wonder if that will make a huge difference. They did say the battery should not lose power, so I am also curious if there’s a way to tell for sure. There are a lot of factors to the whole outcome, and as I am sure you know, pads getting loaded can also make a huge difference. That’s one thing they mentioned about these new machines they are sensitive to pad condition.

I think you're too used to the Maxshine polishers shaking the hell out of you. The RUPES is extremely smooth so it gives the impression of not enough power/speed. That said, a 15mm random orbital DA is not the best choice for a gel coat surface. You should ideally be using a rotary on that thing. The RUPES reps clearly stated at SEMA that the advertised continuous runtime was for moderate usage, not speed 6 with a sticky polish on sticky gel coat. That pad is also looking very dirty and in need of a cleaning, or it should be swapped for another pad. This machine is designed to be run around speed 3 to 4, which is usually all that you should ever need except in some extreme and limited cases.

I think your just use to feeling your machine work , I get it if I feel a polisher isn't doing it's job then it's time for a different polisher.

Pretty expensive buyer remorse there. I hope it grows on you but if you don't like it you won't like it. It's hard when you just dont know. Sometimes convenience isnt always the best way.

Idk why everyone was super hyped up for the cordless rupes. They are a tiny spec compared to other cordless tool brands. The corded polishers are always going to be the best on the market by rupes but when it comes to cordless I personally went with the Milwaukee DA. The batteries are easy and cheap to source and the amount of power you get from the machine is phenomenal all the way through even with 1 bar on the battery. It almost feels like a forced rotation because it barely even stalls.

Should be using a rotary

I was thinking to purchase that one 👀 but i wills stay whit the adams cordless $200 even i have issues whit the bateria😭😭 And still thinking rupes it is over priced like kranzle adams active3.0

get yourself a shinemate

I think ur over thinking it bud it has plenty of power it's just because it's so much smoother it feels like it's not working lol

First 😂😊

It didn’t seem that powerful at speed 6 at least for me, you also mention the battery and run time is decreasing for almost a 1k dollar machine. Yeah i’d stick to corded

Check out Makita cordless. I love the fact that it is duel mode. You can go DA or forced rotation.

charge for a boat ceramic coating😜

You move the polisher way way to fast give the polisher some time to work bro

I honestly would never buy such an expensive polisher , I just don't see the purpose of spending so much just because it's a rupes when other polisher for a fraction of the cost do the same job some would say maybe even better , but if you want to give it away I will take it 😂😂😂😂😂😂. I'm actually buying the Milwaukee M18 cordless polisher for wax applying and light work , and I'm keeping my maxshine corded for heavier work. Corded polisher will always have a better kick then a battery one.

Get your money back 😂

It’s heavy and just not comfortable at all. And just weak

Rupes are overpriced and overrated junk.

peeps all hypiong this polisher for 1k .... honestly its a scamm, that polisher is shit for the price.... And i think you are one of the few saying how it lacks power for a 1k machine.