I've been polishing/waxing by hand for years and find as I get older it gets harder to get motivated to do it :P
I want to get an orital polisher, something designed for a non-professional such as myself to use.
What do you guys recommend?

-Dave

Unless you use it at a very low speed, that is the type of product that will create those wonderfull swirl marks. Go to Zainobros.com Great product. Used it on my Nissan Maxima, and it is the easiest product to apply and remove. If you love your car, you have to sacrifice things here and there.

Well, that's what I was concerned about; especially since I have no experience using a polisher. Meguiar claims that their's is safe for even an amateur to use and will not leave swirl marks.
BTW I do love my car, and I have hand waxed every car I have owned. But if I can find an alternative that will do as good or better job with less effort and time then I'm going to go for it. If that is not possible then I'll continue doing it by hand ....

-Dave

I've been using it for about 4 years without ever seeing swirl marks. On my black Jetta, my Silver A4, and my black Civic. RO's, when used to apply polish, or wax will not cause swirl marks. Attempting to remove the wax or polish using an RO can cause swirl marks. I'd recommend removal by hand, with a cotton towel.

I don't understand why people make such a big deal over the "Zaino process". It's rather easy to apply and remove, and it lasts a long time. I think the only catch is that you should start with clean paint when first applying the polish.

Getting back to the original question...as the other poster pointed out, ROB's should be used to apply the polish/glaze, not to remove it. Even when applying, you have to be careful to stop polishing, once the carrier has burned off. When the carrier is gone, friction levels increase, heat buildup increases, and the risk of swirling your paint goes up. You can use them, but they require extreme care to do it right. Tight corners and bends in the sheet metal still need to be done by hand (which is another pitfall of using the ROB). It's easy to wear through the high spots on the sheet metal if you're not careful. Porter Cable make a nice ROB that is used by several on the A4 forum.

....wax goes on so quickly, with such relatively little effort, how much time/effort is really saved using a buffer/polisher to apply it? Or is it that the results are so much better? Removing wax and buffing is the hard part, and since that's still done by hand I have a hard time seeing where there's any real savings in time or effort. Just curious.

The buffer is needed for the pre-waxing stage. It will also allow it to do a better job of cleaning/conditioning the paint. This is where a little elbow grease is usually needed. Wiping it off, is exactly that...removing what you put on. Since the product is now dry, you should not be using a buffer.

Applying wax should then be nothing more than spreading a thin coat of wax on the car, and buffing it off. You should not need to work it into the paint, so a buffer isn't needed for the waxing stage.

My concern with a glaze or polish is that I'll "overdo it" with the buffer and end up causing some damage to the paint. How much should I worry? And what feature(s) are most important for a random orbital that'll be used on a car? Variable speed? Btw, the original post on this thread mentioned applying polish/wax with the buffer, which is why I made the comment I did about waxing.

RO's are much more useful with polish, where you may need a little elbow grease. By then the surface should be very smooth, and applying/removing wax will be easy by hand.
Variable speed isn't necessary. Random orbiting is most important. Then followed by a think spongy rotating base. Something to help absorb a little pressure. Look for one that's light, easy to handle, and uses widely available applicators.

Sure you can burn the paint with a RO if you hold it too long while sitting on it. But it's really quite difficult, espcially if you use reasonable judgement. Just like that clay thing you did last week, you get a feel for it.