I'll add a couple cents as well.
Wool pads generally cut the fastest. If you have a lot of material to remove, they are the most aggressive. You don't want to hand one over to a novice though, or he'll burn through edges pretty easily.
Foam pads are pretty safe - hard to mess up with one. But as mentioned, they suck up product like a sponge.
You'll also find different densities of backer pads. The stiffer ones tend to help cut faster while the looser ones work better for light polish/waxing.
I like 3M products, but they are sort of geared toward the professional user like OG. They make a huge assortment of polishes/glazes/etc and there's pretty much a product for every need, but you often have to get them from commercial supply places (look for body shop supplies in the yellow pages). It's also pretty confusing for the home user to figure out what the best product for the job is.
For general use, I tend to use (and recommend to my clients) Mequires products. Commonly available, and the 'system' is pretty easy to understand if not as complete as the 3M offerings. Geared toward the home user.
Lots of people have a favorite wax brand, but any good name-brand product should do a decent job. (Turtle wax would NOT fall into that category IMHO) Colonite, Woodies, Mequires, 3M....all of them mentioned above make a good wax. Steer clear of any of the 'magic' stuff that's supposed to just go on and off like water, last 20 years, and restore junk yard cars to like new. They're pretty much all gimmicks. Getting a good finish is a lot of work, so people are always looking for a shortcut and companies are always finding a new way to cash in on that.
Don
'01 22 Classic, 502/B1
And a bunch of other stuff
"If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough" - Mario Andretti