First of all- just to correct another's review- The UNIT DOES have an on/off switch. It's on the side of the unit, not in the cord. Now- To the REAL problems- I had two small tumblers from other manufacturers, but I have a lot of .45Colt brass which I must reload on a regular basis and the smaller tumblers and separate media separating step were taking too long. I bought this item to increase my brass tumbling capacity and eliminate the need to use a media separator, thus facilitating and speeding the task. The ad says that the Promag can tumble 1000 rnds of .38, so I figured that it should handle at least 400-425 pieces of .45, as my smaller tumblers can handle almost about 190 each. Well, I was sorely disappointed. The most I was able to place in the unit, and still get tumbling action, was 270 pieces. Additionally, just to do this, I had to add a little more media. Otherwise, at 250 pieces, the tumbling action would cease, and all that would happen was the whole load SLOWLY (and noisily!) going round and round in a horizontal plane only. No tumbling action! The motor just didn't have enough power to do more, and even at that, the overall tumbling action was MUCH slower than that of the 190 rounds tumbling in each of my smaller units, so the unit had to run almost a third to a half longer in order to condition each load of the brass to the same degree as the smaller capacity units. See? Holds only about 1/3 more brass per load, but takes a 1/3 - 1/2 more time per load...Saving me what exactly? My final hope lay in the media separator feature. So I pulled the plug out of the bottom of the unit and placed the pan there to catch the media...Well, it drains, sort of, if it is kept running, and then, as it empties, even with the 270 pieces of .45 on board, it starts to walk, so one has to chase it around with the catch pan or the media will go everywhere. I placed some heavy items at the base to hold it steady, but was then dismayed to find out that the pan provided with the unit is too small to hold all of the media that the unit holds; that's even if I HADN'T had to add extra (Which genius made THAT decision?). Of course, as all of this is going on, the noise level, of 270 pieces of .45, becomes deafening. OK. I'm prepared. I've got ear muffs. I can handle it. Carry on. Now, after a while, let's stop the unit and check inside....Hmmm. Seems the brass ceases to tumble at a certain point, They just stand straight up next to each other and go 'round and 'round in a circle, so there are a bunch of cases in there sitting upright and FULL Of MEDIA. I had to reach in, and tumble them by hand to get them to empty partially. This is NOT what I signed on for! Bottom line- I had to get a bigger drain pan, the polishing process of the brass took just as long as with my smaller units, AND I STILL had to detach the larger, and more difficult to handle, tumbler bin and dump its contents into my media/case separator for each load anyway, just like with my smaller (And MUCH less expensive)units. So, basically, this item was just a huge waste of time and money. I wish that I'd spent more, and gotten the large Dillon unit instead. Oh well. Tuition paid. Lesson learned. Hope this saves you.
