It's relatively quiet, very heavy so it's sturdy, and for the price it's a good deal. I don't own one of the more expensive ones but I can compare this one to what I know about those: 1. the splash guard is hard plastic not flexible (imagine the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket and you get the idea). It can be removed or notched out if you need to cut the girdle, whereas on the more expensive ones you can simply flex the splash guard down to get the arm to touch the disc horizontally. Although it is very nearly impossible to get to 90 degrees with small stones. 2. It has one speed, there is no "dimmer" type adjustment on it. 3. There is no stop mechanism on the manipulator arm to stop it at a certain angle, so it's up to the operator to eyeball the angle of attack by using the protractor guide on the arm. Also, the protractor on mine is off by approximately 5 degrees, not a huge deal if you make allowance for that when setting up for a facet, but it's kind of an annoyance. 4. It doesn't come with a 45 degree table adapter, so plan on sourcing one of those somewhere else.Even with those differences, the price is not anywhere close to the others that I researched before purchasing this one, and so I would say that I got what I expected and am relatively happy with the product.