Badger Sotar 2020 3in1 Airbrush set

I just received my sotar 20/20 3 in 1 kit and tried it out for the first time. Everything works perfectly. Easy to use, change out needle sets, and clean up after use. Its a awesome airbrush and worth the price. The only reason Im giving it a 3 rating is that it came in a cardboard box and not a hard case as pictured which is best for storing it. I have two other badgers and they both came in the plastic case. Other than that like I said it works smoothly.

So here we go. The good, the shipping was fast and it is smooth and works great, I love it. The bad, the needle was stuck when I first took it out of the box and it took two hours to get it fixed. The ugly, I had to take pry off the nozzle from the needle and had to take pliers to get the nozzle covers apart so o could change the needle/nozzle size. Not a good first impression.

I’m not one to usually leave bad reviews, Would rather just forget about it and let the item sit on the shelf and forget about it completely like how I did with this sotar… Heard and seen so many good things about Badger airbrushes and picked a 20/20 up from Spraygunner last year and was pretty excited to say the least.

When opening the manufactures packaging I was surprised to see it was not secured in any way allowing it to bounce around here and there but no biggie right? I had pulsating issues out of the box with the spray pattern and assumed it was my lack of experience with airbrushing as I’m only a couple years in at this point ( Wrong pressure, Paint thickness etc ). Did some research on known issues, Took it apart, Cleaned out the alarmingly large amount of thick grease which less is usually more, inspected the rough build compared to my Eclipse but whatever. At some point I’d figure out my settings and it would be my go to for detail work. Eventually gave up and let it sit for almost a year.

Jump to now, I contacted Badger customer service and received a quick reply stating I possibly damaged something when putting it back together and agreed thats very possible though I had the issues before taking it apart and no matter what psi or what I sprayed including pure water. Had a mishap on my part when I sent it to their product service department and when I contacted them was assured no worries we’ll take a look at it and fix whatever's wrong. I sent it to them in a quick but snug fitted foam cutout to protect it from any movement or abuse during shipment and just now opened the returned airbrush in a thin bubble wrap bag with a couple shreds of flat newspaper in a big empty box and couldn’t help but laugh. Whatever at least I can properly test it out now But nope! Doesn’t even work out of the box again so either I take it apart myself… Again to inspect and clean it in the hopes that they fixed it ( Being a motorcycle technician I’m used to fixing other peoples Fkups and no stranger to it ) or the more likely option is to let it sit on my desk never to be touched again.

Long story short customer service wise, Id give badger a solid 9/10. Quick enough response, Product service Didn’t charge a dime at least. But as this being my introduction to the badger brand, I’ll stick with the beautiful manufacturing and precision of Iwata or give H&S a peek. Save whatever you’d spend on this and put it towards something else to not waste your time or money.

One of the most versatile air brushes in my collection of 15 airbrushed. With the 3n1 you have everything at hand. You just need to make sure when using the fine needle and tip that your paint medium is very thinned out and don't use any metallic or pearl paint or you'll risk clogging up the tip. Use the medium or large size needle and tip. It's a phenomenal airbrush!!

You arent going to hear anything from me that you haven't heard before about the Sotar 20/20, no frills, but a very workman like piece of equipment that you won't regret buying, as far as Spraygunner and the shopping experience, you couldn't do better, lightning fast shipping, accurately filled and securely packaged giving me full confidence that the folks at this company care about your experience, I've never had any issues with them but I'm completely confident that if I ever did have an issue, it would be resolved satisfactorily and with a sense of urgency, I would highly recommend doing business with them, and plan to make this my first stop for a US based company for future airbrush needs