Scratch-X is nothing more than standard polishing compound. Use whatever you like (brand).

Your two shots are misleading, not comparable pictures by any means...

It is just a polishing compound, sort of a covers all bases, not going to fix anything too huge, type compound.

I would NOT ever polish anything that hasn't been cleaned.. Polishing a dirty panel is asking for much more trouble.

Did a little reading and ScratchX does have fillers to hide the imperfections. It makes the results much more believable. Still very impressive though.

I agree with that.

I took the best pics i could sorry...

It was "washed" before the pics were taken. The first picture was with the car washed....

Well that'* where i got that from! Glad it helped out the finish..

They are a little misleading because the second picture after the ScratchX is shot further away from the panel so it won't show the scratches as readily. But it does look like it did a nice job.

How long did you spend say on the hood alone?

I was able to get results that good or better with ScratchX on softer enamel paint, but that'* amazing for a hard clearcoat. ScratchX didn't work nearly that good on my car.

The lighting/angle of light probably shows or hides more as well.

Anything in reasonable shape looks great from about 5 feet, so all those threads where ppl show a polished car, don't mean much (save like 10 megapixel shots on a DSLR @ 100 ISO..

I disagree. Wipe the panel down with an alcohol/water mix and throw some halogens on the paint.