Last week, we spoke a bit on why an ultrasonic cleaner is a good appliance to have in your home. We might have mentioned Doctor Who a couple of times in that article as well. I don’t really remember. This week, I want to go over a couple of options that are available. Normally I do one product review per article but I also don’t want to do three weeks’ worth of articles about sonic cleaners. There are only so many sonic screwdriver jokes my readers could take. I thought it would be fun to take a head to head-ish approach to the review of these two devices.

Before we go any further, let’s talk about something that was not covered in the original article which is: how do these things work in the first place? Every ultrasonic cleaner is nothing more than a tub which holds a liquid of some sorts and an ultrasonic transducer. An ultrasonic transducer is the technical term for a device that converts electric energy into ultrasonic waves. In the grand scheme of things, just think of it like a tiny, specialized speaker. When the transducer is activated, it bombards the liquid with a horrible noise that humans can’t hear too well. It sounds like a buzzing to us but to your pets it sounds like Justin Bieber music. Keep it away from your pets because no one deserves to be subjected to that kind of noise. This bombardment causes the liquid to undergo a process called “ultrasonic cavitation”. The vibrations from the sound cause small bubbles to form and then pop with a surprisingly incredible amount of force (20,000 lbs per square inch). These rapid and microscopic explosions essentially blast dirt and grime off of surfaces. Even though there’s an incredible amount of force being generated, it’s on such a small scale that it is completely harmless to us and won’t damage the vast majority of surfaces.

It should be noted that all my testing was done with either a 1:2 mixture of Windex and water or a 1:2 mixture of Simple Green and water. Plain water shouldn’t be used in ultrasonic cleaners as the surface tension of the water alone makes it near impossible for the microbubbles to form. Having a additive that destroys the surface tension is a necessity. You could use something as simple as dishwasher rinse aid but why not use a soapy liquid to add a bit more cleaning power?

So that’s how they work, on to the review!

Let’s Get Ready to Rumble! …err vibrate…a lot..

In this corner, weighing in at 2.5 pounds, 1 pint of liquid and wearing the white plastic casing is the Harbor Freight Ultrasonic Cleaner! In the other corner, wearing the black and red casing, weighing in at 6.6 pounds and 2 liters of cleaning solution is the Hornady Lock-N-Load Sonic Cleaner 2L!

Round 1: Features. Fight!

The Harbor Freight cleaner has two buttons: on and off. Pressing the on button starts a 3 minute cycle. It also has an LED light that illuminated the solution and makes it easier to see what’s going on.

The Hornady Cleaner has a ceramic heater that can bring the water up to 135℉ and the heater is controlled by an on/off button. It has an adjustable timer that can be set between 5 and 30 minutes. Finally, it has a function that will clear any trapped bubbles in the liquid. Large, existing bubbles can affect cleaning so it’s a good idea to pop them first before initiating microbubble nuclear holocaust mode.

Round 1 Winner: Hornady Cleaner! No surprise here, really. It’s a $30 device versus a $100 device. The Hornady is bound to have more features. I do wish the Hornady had an LED light in it as well, mind you. That would have made round one a very decisive victory.

Round 2: Pros and Cons. Fight!

I’ve mentioned it a couple of times but that 3 minute timer on the Harbor Freight cleaner is really annoying if you have to do more than 1 cycle. Lack of a heater also makes me feel like I’m missing out on some cleaning power. Its tiny size means you can put it just about anywhere and it won’t be in the way. At the same time, it doesn’t take much liquid to fill up at all so your bottle of cleaning solution will last longer. Unfortunately, that tiny size is also going to restrict you on what you can clean with it. You’re going to be restricted to jewelry and smaller individual gun parts.

The Hornady cleaner, on the hand, can handle pretty much anything you can throw at it. Want to clean some casings? This will clean about 300 .223 brass at once. Gun? Wash all your slides at the same time! Need the acrylic stripped from your Space Marine Dreadnought model because you messed up the painting? Toss that thing in! Heck, throw the airbrush in at the same time! Turn on the heater for some extra beef in the cleaning. It’s not all rainbows and lollipops, however. First off, the heater causes massive levels of condensation to collect on the lid. There is no way to lift that lid off without dripping that condensation over everything. Fortunately, the condensation is just plain water so you don’t have to worry about your countertop or workbench’s finish. Still, it makes a mess. Secondly, it’s not a tiny device. At 8x8x10 inches, it’s going to take up some real estate. Also, with a 2 Liter tub, it takes a bit of liquid to fill it up. Now, you don’t have to fill it all the way unless you need to but the minimum fill line takes the same amount of liquid as the max fill line of the Harbor Freight cleaner (1 pint). It’s a hungry cleaner and will drink your milkshake cleaning solution fast. According to Hornady, depending on what and how often you clean, you can get a few cleanings out of one tub of fluid. It’s not recommended to store the liquid in the cleaner, however.

Winner: Close but still Hornady! I know it’s hard to believe but this was a much closer match than round 1. They both have their pros and cons and it really comes down to what you’re ultimately looking to do with the cleaner.

Round 3: How Does it Clean? Fight!

First, I have to apologize for the lack of before and after pictures here. The memory card in my camera got corrupted and all the photos I took during testing were lost. I’ll do my best to describe the outcomes.

• Airbrush Test – Took about 7 cycles in the Harbor Freight cleaner to get my airbrush sparkling. That’s opposed to one single cycle in the Hornady. Now, to be fair, both came out to about 30 minutes of soaking in both devices but, with the Hornady, I didn’t have to get up every three minutes to hit the on button again. (Point: Hornady)
• Figurine Test – The Harbor Freight cleaner was never able to get much of the paint off the figurine where the Hornady cleaner got it completely clean in 2 30 minute cycles. I firmly believe the heat of the Hornady played a big part here as the acrylic paints I use becomes very soft in high temperatures. (Point: Hornady)
• Paint Stirring – You read that right. The paint I use for my Warhammer figurines will separate if it’s not shaken on a regular basis. If it’s a particularly long time between uses, the paint solidifies at the bottom of the bottle is very difficult to mix together. Dropping the paint bottle into the sonic cleaner breaks up the solidified pigment and mixes it together with the thinning medium. With both cleaners, it was about 10-15 minutes to make my paint good as new. (Point: Tie)
• Gun Barrel – My use of dirty, nasty ammunition is well documented on this site. The Harbor Freight cleaner loosened stuff up but I still needed to do some final wipe-downs. The Hornady cleaner powered through the carbon and grime like was was just dry-erase marker. (Point: Hornady)
• Casings – Yeah, the Harbor Freight cleaner didn’t do much. The Hornady cleaner, on the other hand, did a good job. I mean, I should hope so because brass cleaning is what they market it with. It should be noted that it still wasn’t as shiny as the brass that comes out of my steel media tumbler. It’s clean enough for most people but I like my brass to look like C-3PO. Still, good enough with less work than my tumbling so if I was in a hurry I’d totally use this method.

Ultimate Winner: Hornady!

It’s not really a surprise that the Hornady won. As I said in round, this isn’t really an apples to apples comparison. Yes, they’re both ultrasonic cleaners but it really comes down to what they were intended to clean. If you want to get a cheap cleaner to test how it would work for you, then the Harbor Freight is a great choice. Admittedly, it’s why I bought mine in the first place. Now, Harbor Freight does make a 2 liter cleaner but, at its price, it isn’t much more money to get the Hornady cleaner instead. Keep in mind, just because the Hornady won this fight doesn’t mean the Harbor Freight cleaners are bad. There are very strong opinions about the longevity of Harbor Freight tools. I haven’t personally had any problems with any of their stuff but your mileage may vary. Either way, there are ultrasonic cleaners available for every budget and their usefulness makes them well worth the money. You won’t regret it!

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From the cars we drive, the television we watch to the internet that you’re using to read this article, some of the greatest inventions of our time have come from some person saying “forget the status quo, let’s rethink this.” At the same time, some of the worst and dangerous inventions have also come from that same line of thinking. When it comes to reviews, I try to be as diplomatic as humanly possible. I honestly don’t like publishing bad reviews. At the same time, when I find something that I feel is fundamentally dangerous, I feel the need to warn people.

Today, I’m talking about the Versacarry “holster”.

On the surface, it seems like a neat idea. Take advantage of the features present in every gun to rethink the holster as we know it. What you get is a holster that goes into the gun rather than around it. They’re inexpensive and work based off the caliber and size of the gun instead of the shape itself.

I originally picked one up at Academy Sports thinking “well, it’s inexpensive and different. Could make for a neat review at GN…”. While I’ve come to learn that there have been quite a few, I hadn’t read any reviews of it at the time and until well after I tested it so as not to sway my thoughts on the matter.

If you’re not familiar with the device, it’s a small strip of plastic that curves around the top to clip to a belt then, at the bottom, it has a spike that you insert into the barrel of your gun and that’s what really holds it in place. There’s also a plastic shield that is attached on the side to protect the trigger.

While I mentioned a couple of good things about it earlier, I feel I should mention the rest of the positives about it. Setup is easy. You just decide which side on which you want to carry it then attach the trigger shield accordingly. Once everything is in place, it is comfortable enough which is notable as I’ve only ever found a couple of holsters that I could truly call “comfortable”. It can also be used in just about any position including appendix carry.

As far as the bad, well, it outweighs the good in my opinion. For starters, the very design of the gun means you are creating an obstruction in the barrel. If you’re wondering why that’s bad, do a Google search for “gun barrel obstruction”. It’s not pretty. If there is a negligent discharge… which if you follow all the safety commandments there won’t be but if there is, instead of the bullet going through some fatty tissue in a path travelling away from you, you will instead have shrapnel flying away perpendicular to the gun and into your soft, squishy interior.

There’s also the issue of the retention rod breaking off. Now, Versacarry claims that this is a non-issue as their rods are sized “0.015 under the barrel”. As tight as the fit is in the unit I tested, I can’t honestly say I buy that. After a lot of use it might wear down but as much as I test it, that fit was still VERY tight in my gun to the point I typically had to force it in. Drawing was difficult as a result and, even though I’m using a high quality gun belt, the holster came off with the gun more often than I’m comfortable with. While retention is important in a holster, this was a bit too much retention. If the fit wasn’t so tight, I’m not sure how there would be much in the way of retention at all which gives it a whole different set of problems. If that retention rod sticks into the barrel, boom. No thank you.

I did say the holster was “comfortable enough” but that really depends on the gun you’re using. With my Glock 19, it was fine. When I tried it with my FNS-9, the stippling on the gun and texture of the handle rubbed me raw. This is because the entirety of the gun sits against you. The aggressive texture on the FNS-9 was enough to actually cause an issue through the underwear I had on. I’ve never run into that issue with traditional holsters. At the most a bit of the handle bothers me with those.

Finally, the trigger shield doesn’t exactly give me much comfort. It really seems to be there to protect the trigger when you’re putting it on. Oh, side note: you’re not able to re-holster a gun with the Versacarry. They expect you to remove the holster, attach it to your gun then put it back into your waistband. Anyway, as you jostle around, things can happen. The trigger is completely exposed. There’s another danger point for me.

In the end, the Versacarry is a neat solution in search of a problem. It gives absolutely no advantages over a traditional holster and adds several significant and potentially deadly disadvantages. I file these in the same category that I put the Uncle Mike’s holsters: save your money and get something better. There are lots of much better options out there. They are more expensive, mind you, but you definitely get what you pay for.

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There is just something so science fiction-y about lasers. At the same time, there’s something flat out miraculous about them. To think that light can be concentrated in such a way that it can be bounced of planets at mind bogglingly long distances or cut through even the most strong materials. Heck, when we finally achieve nuclear fusion, chances are it will be lasers that help accomplish it.

If you think back, it was the movie Goldfinger in 1965 where a “real” laser first made its cinematic appearance (“real” in that its design and functionality were like real lasers. It was still a special effect, in the end). Before that point, most people outside of research labs had never seen a real one at work and sci-fi’s portrayal of them up until this point were…lacking in reality. It made headlines at the time. Amazing how far we’ve come, isn’t it? Lasers are so commonplace now that we have them all over our houses, cars, workplaces and we even use them to play with our cats. Continue reading →

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It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of dry fire practice. It’s a great way to build that tasty muscle memory that leads to those delicious pistol shots. In the past, I’ve raved about the LaserLyte Laser Training System. It’s like adding sweet, butter cream frosting to your dry fire practice and the ability to analyse how you did is like putting sprinkles on that frosting. Continue reading →

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A good IWB holster makes all the difference in the world. It needs to be concealable, of course but it also needs to be able to retain the gun so it doesn’t fall out. Comfort, however, usually isn’t high up on the list of features. They tend to poke in weird locations or push against vital organs or rub the skin up against the gun raw. They also tend to weigh the pants down in one particular spot making things extra uncomfortable.

There are, however, certain kinds of IWB holsters that seem to have all these problems licked. They have a kydex part that holds the gun and it’s mounted to a large leather piece with two clips attached. The leather keeps the gun from rubbing against you and also protects it from salt and sweat. The clips are far enough apart that it spreads the weight of the gun better as well. Continue reading →

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If there was a secret to pocket carry, and I’m not saying there is one but if there was it would be a good pocket holster. Now, some will say “isn’t my pocket a good enough holster?”. Not by any stretch of the imagination. So the obvious question is “why?”.

Well, if you just drop the gun in your pocket, it will be jostling around and will never be in the same place if you have to reach for it. This would lead to unnecessary fumbling in case you have to draw. Also, the trigger won’t be protected which could lead to something snagging the trigger and causing the gun to go off. Considering it’s location, that’s a very bad thing. Then you have the added bonus of a very obvious gun shape in your pocket. Finally, and this is something they don’t tell you very often, the front of a pistol can very VERY quickly wear a hole in your pocket. It can take as little as 2 or 3 days depending on the make of the gun and its shape.

A good pocket holster fixes all these problems. Quite a few companies make pocket holsters of all shapes and sizes and, let me tell you, I’ve tried out a great deal of them. Like many, I started with that one brand that you can get at just about any sporting goods store and/or Walmart. It’s not a bad holster by any stretch but it wasn’t a great one either. Continue reading →

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One thing I wind up saying a lot is “I’d much rather have a .22LR pistol than a pointy stick”. The gist of which being that, even though .22LR isn’t my go to choice, it’s better than nothing at all. In many ways, a gun safe is much like that as well. A cheap, locking gun cabinet is better than just leaving the gun in your nightstand or sitting on a shelf. Granted, a top of the line, super thick, high tech gun safe with all the bells and whistles is the best choice but most of us don’t have $5,000 or more to drop on one…and if we did most of us would rather spend it on a new gun.

At the same time, most gun safes are there to protect your entire collection. There is, however, a line of purpose built safes that are for very specific storage methods. One of the most popular makers of such safes is GunVault. They have safes that are made to be mounted under desks and in desk drawers. One particular safe, however, caught my attention a while back: The SpeedVault. Continue reading →

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