I first bought the 'white with yellow back' ShMITT and didn't like that the pockets weren't very deep. My car had more swirls after washing then when I used just a sheepskin mit. I figured it was because the pockets weren't deep enough to keep the dirt away from the paint. If I wash really really lightly then the soap all stayed in the ShMITT. With the Ulti-Mit I personally found a meager amount of scratches after washing compared to the Shmitt..(just my subjective opinion of looking at my car after drying it.. and before claying i should mention) When I wash my car I first foam it and then use a sheepskin mit and go line by line and remove the large particles.. flushing the mit with the hose after every pass. I used to use just a sheepskin mit but found way too much stuff in my clay afterwards. After this I go over it with the Ulti-Mit and the two bucket method. I have never been able to find any individual dirt particles in either mit.. just a general dirty browness to the mits. I use the yellow Ulti-Mit in my fenders and on my tires and wheels and I can defininantly see dirt caught in the cracks of the mit when doing that... its not perfect however as I can see particles on top of the mit. I have never used the more abrasive Shmitt so i can't compare.. I should also mention that when I wash this area I first use a brush rinse and then use the yellow ulti-mit. I do this because I want to remove the bulk with the brush and because brushes don't remove everything (just my subjective opinion of looking at my car once its dry).
But with the way I wash I have found far few scratches with the Ulti-Mitt compared to the Shmitt... and I haven't found anything that cleans as well... before this I tried sheepskin, chenile, and microfiber.
Oh well.. i realize that this post it not to compare the mits I mentioned but instead to compare it to the claimes made by LC and AutoGeek.. and I agree that most of their claims are exagerated...
But I still really like my mit.. so just thought I would add my 2 cents.
I also have owned my red ulti-mit for atleast a year in a half and it still looks like new... I personally thought it would not last just by looking at it and I have had problems with the velcrow coming off my LC pads in the past. On the other hand I have gone through about 6 sheepskin mits since i bought it. I used my shmitt for wheel duty until it got to gunked up to clean(this was my fault as I got grease in it) and trashed it.. but it never fell apart either.