Ron, here's my impressions of the MP.
The floor was a limestone 16" squares with small tiles every 3-4". Don't know what the small tiles were made of but they were manmade. Floor was fairly shinny but had scratches from minute to fairly deep as well as a couple of deep etches.
We started with the 400 grit mp's then went through the set which were 5 other grits starting at 800 - 11,000.
Alot of the smaller scratches were taken out but some were still visible (seen while color sealing). The deeper etching was taken out with a hand machine (makita) using 200 and 400 grit diamonds. Mike used the op with the training wheels with the mps. I thought if we had some weight to it there may have been an improvement.
Ron, I saw your rotary that you used when you posted your pics. It had weights. Not too mention, it looks like that is a stone machine so initial weight is more then a standard one, is that right?. Maybe that one would have produced better results. Even the conqueror may have been better due to it being heavier. The 200 grit mp would have also taken out a bit more of the scratches and etching but Mike didn't have any.
Pros:
Seem pretty much in line as advertised.
Even a monkey can do it.
Set up, clean up and break down is easy. This is in part due to that they do not bite into the stone much therefore producing little calcium slurry.
Reduces window pane. This appears to be because the pads never bring the stone to a dull state.
Little chance of over polishing producing an orange peel effect.
Cons:
Again as advertised.
They will not take out deep scratches and etching (at least in our particular situation).
Compared to traditional methods it's slow. 3 diamond grits (100, 400 and 800) followed by powder polishing would have taken out all etching and scratches in less time and produced better results (more experience required though). Again they were made for maintenance.
Options:
If using just the mp's make sure to tell the customer what the final results may look like (deep scratches and etching may still be there) Test with lowest grit first.
Mp's and a hand grinder with a set of diamond pads. After doing the lowest grit of mp's look at the floor and go over the deeper areas with your grinder (pita).
Keep the monkey pads and get a weighted driver along with a set of diamonds (100, 400 and 800). With some good diamonds a 100 grit will surely take out almost any scratch without having to second guess. After the 800 diamonds you can start with the mp's or just powder polish. There are some polish powders which are non - acidic and are pretty easy to use. With this most situations would be covered with the exception of delipping.
PS: Most marbles, limestones, travertines are different so results will vary.
Albert