I don't know why more people don't use them.
I am another fan of soft pads and we use klingspor flapdisks at work, but the other day the works manager asked me to try some new flapdisks the rep was pushing. They're ceramic they aren't cheap but they last at least four times longer than the ordinary flapdisks and cut virtually the same from start to finish, I don't use anything else now. Search ceramic flap disks they're on the bay and weldequip sell them.