I think the pressure washer and foam cannon are a very important part to washing without getting swirls or scratches. They help get as much dirt and crud off of the paint before you actually touch it with the wash pad. The foam from the cannon then creates plenty of suds to keep the remaining dirty from doing any harm. It is almost impossible to get that much sudsy action just using a bucket since the wash pad only holds so much and a lot of it falls off before you even get to the truck.
I agree with you. I'm meticulous about using the two-bucket method and proper washing techniques. But even still after a year of ownership, TRR events, local off-roading trips, I still had some slight swirl marks. It's nothing that the polisher didn't knock out quickly, but still, I hate paint correcting. I'm looking at some Karcher pressure washers and will probably bite the bullet this month. I need to do it while I can take advantage of the winter sale on Autogeek.net as well.