[Buellwinkle]

The Porter Cable kit you described is exactly what you get from Lowes for $99 (sometimes cheaper on sale). The pad and sanding paper are no good, throw aways, dissintegrates while you use it. $149 is a great price for the G100a because you get the $99.99 buffer plus about $25 for the Megs backing plate and pad so for the $25 difference you get great support from Meguiars and a lifetime warranty (vs. 1 yr with PC). I would do that. The reason I went the other route is at the time Meguiars wanted over $200.