Having started from scratch in my parent's garage I built a body shop that became the largest shop in the Western County. I had 11 full time employees, some of the best in the industry, and spent more time polishing old world lacquer, and then finally urethane finishes (after they took the lead out of the lacquer and it wasn't the same anymore). It was a twenty year run and did high end collision work serving the local Benz and BMW dealerships. Using Lamb's wool sheepskin shearing bonnets and ultra fine compounds after fine sanding, finally finishing with swirl remover and machine glaze, and hand glaze would produce a finish so incredible that you had to tone it down in order to match the factory finishes look. This is one subject that I could write a book about. I literally spent thousands and thousands of hours behind a polisher like this Bosch. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to establish my qualifications. Now onto the review.I am comparing this Bosch GP712VS polisher/grinder to the Makita 9227C and are priced competitively. In no particular order I am going to review features. The Makita has a 3 prong outlet and the Bosch has a 2 prong outlet. I noticed right away that the Bosch did not insert into the power strip plug in very convincingly. I plugged and unplugged several times and realized that the problem of becoming unplugged on extended polishing was a certainty. After comparing it to the Makita that the third prong in addition to the secondary grounding it also established a much stronger connection to the outlet.The Makita makes quite a thing to do about having easy access brushes for more frequent inspections but having to remove a couple of screws attaching the outer housing isn't much of a hindrance so this isn't especially important. For example if you are using it with heavy use it is recommended to check every 6 months.RPM's start at 750 on the Bosch and goes up to 3,000. The Makita starts at what seems like 0 and also goes to 3,000. The Bosch starts with an instant full on safety switch, but the Makita is a soft start. That is a plus in the safety feature department because although the tool should be unplugged before changing bonnets etc, but in reality that doesn't always happen. The soft start on the Makita would give you a forewarning if you accidentally squeezed the trigger when it wasn't intended to, but the Bosch lockout in the default position absolutely the safest way for disc changes. Both have a single wrench change disc button in the head. So you can lock the head with an easy access button while using a single wrench to unlock the disc. By the way these polishers come with the snap hook pad type, but standard grinder backing pads are available in the 7" that would install on this as well. You will need the attaching nut for that style of backing pad as well. I also like the side handle configuration as seen on the Makita 9227CY which could be due in part to my growing accustomed to that handle. On the other hand I find that with the wrap around handle which both the Makita and Bosh have are fine for flat surface polishing, but when the bonnet gets snagged on something like a side door rear view mirror, door handle, or antennae base etc it tends to grab it. I find the wrap around handle to have less control in those types of situations because you are in a weaker control position due to not having any leverage. With a side handle the polisher runs less of a risk of ever flopping sideways in the crunch moment.The trigger switch is a bit tricky on the Bosch with 3 different slide forward positions. First one/default you can't squeeze it. (That is good for changing pads). You have to slide it forward and hold it there for starts. It is spring loaded to slide all the way back to the safety position so keeping it in that middle position is a bit of a challenge. This is an important factor because when you are initiating a new polishing spot, the procedure is you smear the bonnet on the surface usually about a foot square while feathering the trigger. This soft start approach by using the feathering trigger technique keeps the material on the car instead of flying away at full speed. Only when you have it "smeared" over the area do you speed it up to the 2400 speed which is the recommended speed of dedicated polishers in order to obtain the most gloss. The soft start on the Makita makes this procedure easier to do. So feathering the Bosh full on switch on and off while having to resist the spring trying to slide it back, and staying off of the third and foremost position of the switch keeping it full on is a bit of gymnastics. The Makita has the good old fashioned on/off switch with a keep on button on the side.The Bosch is a 12 amp polisher, and the Makita is a 10 amp polisher. So the Makita is a gentle giant but the Bosch is stronger workhorse with 2 more amps. Both have sufficient power for polishing and most all grinding tasks. (Commercial grade grinders spin at 6,000 RPM's and built heavier which are designed strictly for grinding purposes) The lighter weight of these polish sanders are just what the doctor ordered for a tool that you will often be using for extended periods of time. The Makita is listed at 6.6 pounds and I could not find any published weight for the Bosch but doing a side by side lift they both appeared to weigh the same.In conclusion the Makita with the ease of use of the on-off switch which is ideal for polishing wins as a polisher. The brute force and quick starts which is good for grinding, and not so for polishing wins in those regards. So if you are planning on doing mostly grinding and polishing occasionally, the Bosch wins. Both are fine tools. You can't go wrong either way.