UPDATE: 11/15/19 - Ok, so I'm updating this review 5 months after the original post. The question is how well did the Badger Velocity hold up over 5 months of continuous, almost daily, use. Frankly, flawlessly. Everything I've thrown at it, it handled it without any issue. I've been doing a lot of modeling and do some side jobs building/painting models for others on the side. As the photos I've attached to this review will attest, this thing is a tank. After a few quick attempts at stripping the airbrush down to the base components to clean it I got really good at field-stripping it for cleaning. Really there are only five pieces that need regular cleaning, those being the airbrush body (the cup mainly), the needle, the nozzle, the nozzle housing, and the needle-guide. Those are really the only places that any paint tends to get back into. More than once I've accidentally left paint in this overnight and thinking it would be a nightmare to clean. Not so. A quick soak with some airbrush cleaner or 90% isopropyl alcohol breaks up acrylic paints (which is all I use) really quick and easy. No corrosion or issues with lubricity on the parts. Occasionally I've had to put some airbrush cleaner that has a more slippery consistency in there to make sure everything moves freely after a few painting sessions before a full breakdown and clean, but overall, that's it. For the money, I have to say this airbrush is not only worth your money, it's downright a steal for the durability, ease of use, and at an easily affordable price. 5/5 stars. Period. ORIGINAL POST BELOW Ok, I know the title drew you in. "How can you possibly say a product is better than Iwata? How dare you, sir!" Hold up. Let me explain. There are some key features here and some things we need to go over. First off... DISCLAIMER: I am in no way telling you to stop using your Iwata product if you already enjoy it. If you're an Iwata fan, great! No hate here. I'm by no means casting any negative dispersion at the Iwata community or end-user base. Now, the meat of the review... So, I'm still pretty new to the airbrush game, but I've been doing it for about a year and a half. I got my start with a Badger 180-2 compressor and a 350 siphon feed airbrush. However, now that I'm getting into more detailed builds, I needed an airbrush that could do detail and do it well without breaking my bank. As such, I started scouring the internet for reviews, stats, and info. Initially, everyone advised me to go with the Iwata Eclipse gravity feed. After doing my research, it's a decent brush for the money, but it's not quite built for extreme detail like I was trying to get into. The next step up in the Iwata brand line was way more though. The Hi-Line series starts at about $259 and the Micron series (for extreme detail) starts at $530! Honestly, I was dumbstruck by this. The key note is the fluid needle diameter. The Eclipse and Hi-Line series both use Iwata's .30 mm needle and the Micron series uses a .23mm needle. No way I could afford to go up to $500+ on a single airbrush, especially when all of my airbrush equipment of late was still under $100 in total (brush, compressor, hoses, etc). So it was back to the drawing board. That's when the Badger Renegade series caught my eye. The Renegade Velocity starts at $109, has a fluid needle diameter of .21mm, is completely metal construction for durability, and is rated to do spray patters from medium (1") to hairline thin sprays. All that, for only $109, too good be true by the sound of it. Still, on a budget and seeing a great many positive reviews, I took the chance. Straight out of the box with my Badger 180-2 compressor this was doing incredibly thin lines and easy spray patterns and handled anything I threw at it without any issue. I did a full tear-down and cleaning afterward. The disassembly and cleaning were a snap. Halleluja! I'm now a believer in Badger. Now for the nitpicking...Which, I could only find one single tiny nit to pick and it wasn't with the airbrush itself. I did some pressure testing and even on a restrictor my compressor was putting out 20-25 PSI. Now the 180-2 is a single piston diaphragm compressor with no air tank attached. So it's a straight shot compressor. That does give me some minor issue with performance, but again, that's the compressor's issue and not the fault of the airbrush. If you do get this, you would greatly benefit from a compressor with a tank and an adjustable regulator. Optimally for detail work you want to work between 10-15 PSI and 15-20 PSI for medium spray applications. That's where this thing really shines.
