Giottos Rocket Blaster Air Blower Review
If you've ever cleaned a gun with compressed air, you know it beats the hell out of plain old brushes and patches. It's intensely satisfying to watch the wet brown grit fly out into space and leave a crisp, clean surface, right down into the deepest cracks of a modern semiautomatic handgun.
That said, many people don't have access to an air compressor. Even fewer people have access to an air compressor at the bench where they clean their guns. You can get a similar effect with the canned air used for cleaning computer parts, but those don't last very long and they're actually pretty damn expensive when you start buying them regularly. My workshop's circuits are good for lighting and charging batteries and little else; they're too low-amp to run a power-hungry device like an air compressor. Gas-powered compressors are expensive, incur all the maintenance associated with an internal combustion engine (oil changes, spark plugs, etc.), and I'm not even sure I could run one safely in the enclosed space of my workshop, so I've gone through a lot of cans of canned air cleaning guns. One day, while browsing the web for a cheap place to bulk-buy my next batch of canned air, I came across a weird little gadget called the Rocket Blaster Air Blower, made by an Italian-based company Giottos.
That said, many people don't have access to an air compressor. Even fewer people have access to an air compressor at the bench where they clean their guns. You can get a similar effect with the canned air used for cleaning computer parts, but those don't last very long and they're actually pretty damn expensive when you start buying them regularly. My workshop's circuits are good for lighting and charging batteries and little else; they're too low-amp to run a power-hungry device like an air compressor. Gas-powered compressors are expensive, incur all the maintenance associated with an internal combustion engine (oil changes, spark plugs, etc.), and I'm not even sure I could run one safely in the enclosed space of my workshop, so I've gone through a lot of cans of canned air cleaning guns. One day, while browsing the web for a cheap place to bulk-buy my next batch of canned air, I came across a weird little gadget called the Rocket Blaster Air Blower, made by an Italian-based company Giottos.
The Rocket Blaster is a tool aimed at photographers, allowing them to clean their lenses and other delicate camera equipment without exposing that equipment to the various additives and VOCs found in the canned air you and I buy at hardware stores. It's basically a big rubber bladder with a nozzle at one end, and it shoots out a jet of air if you give it a good squeeze. The price was in the same ballpark as a big can of compressed air, so I decided to give it a try. I bought the "large" size and with shipping to my door included, it set me back about $12.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The Rocket Blaster is a very well thought-out design. It stands on its own thanks to its rocketship-esque fins, or you can hang it from a hook via holes in said fins, and it has a separate air intake at the back. So, when you use the Rocket Blaster to blow some grit off into space, the rear air intake won't suck in that same debris when it when it re-inflates and re-distribute it with the next air blast. The Rocket Blaster seems tough, too, a thick and sturdy piece of rubber that feels like it will last years in a photographer's equipment bag (or gun enthusiast's workbench). Icing on the cake is the nozzle featuring a triangular hole, not a round one, which the website claims eliminates whistling. Who even thinks of that? Giottos does, apparently. Good for them.
I was pleasantly surprised.
The Rocket Blaster is a very well thought-out design. It stands on its own thanks to its rocketship-esque fins, or you can hang it from a hook via holes in said fins, and it has a separate air intake at the back. So, when you use the Rocket Blaster to blow some grit off into space, the rear air intake won't suck in that same debris when it when it re-inflates and re-distribute it with the next air blast. The Rocket Blaster seems tough, too, a thick and sturdy piece of rubber that feels like it will last years in a photographer's equipment bag (or gun enthusiast's workbench). Icing on the cake is the nozzle featuring a triangular hole, not a round one, which the website claims eliminates whistling. Who even thinks of that? Giottos does, apparently. Good for them.
So the Rocket Blaster is well-designed, but can this photographer's tool clean guns? It sure can. The air jet is pretty potent if you give it your most heroic squeeze, enough to send dirt flying. Give it a two-handed squeeze and you can flip coins over. It's a short burst, rather than the air compressor or canned air's constant stream, but that's not a huge drawback in practical use. Once I've applied a few squirts of gun cleaner and scrubbed away the most offensive grime, I grab the Rocket Blaster and give it a few two-handed thumps to really send the remaining grit flying. Plainly put, it's a compressed air stream, and that is a godsend for small gritty spaces in gun parts whether it comes from the Rocket Blaster or an air compressor.
It's not a true replacement for an air compressor because the stream flat-out isn't as powerful and constant, but it's much cheaper. It also has some unique advantages, namely that it's small enough to bring with you to range and won't take up a whole corner of your workshop like an air compressor. It never needs electricity or any kind of fuel, and it never needs to be recharged or replaced like canned air. You can even keep it in your carry-on when you fly for a hunting trip and use it to clean your keyboard. It's so handy that I think I'd keep it on my workbench even if I had an air compressor, since for small tasks it's easier to just grab the Rocket Blaster than turn on the compressor and wrestle the air hose to the bench.
In short, this is a pretty handy gun cleaning gadget, especially if you don't have an air compressor. It's also a pretty handy "life" gadget, never mind cleaning guns. For $12, there's little reason not to pick one up.
Happy shooting.
It's not a true replacement for an air compressor because the stream flat-out isn't as powerful and constant, but it's much cheaper. It also has some unique advantages, namely that it's small enough to bring with you to range and won't take up a whole corner of your workshop like an air compressor. It never needs electricity or any kind of fuel, and it never needs to be recharged or replaced like canned air. You can even keep it in your carry-on when you fly for a hunting trip and use it to clean your keyboard. It's so handy that I think I'd keep it on my workbench even if I had an air compressor, since for small tasks it's easier to just grab the Rocket Blaster than turn on the compressor and wrestle the air hose to the bench.
In short, this is a pretty handy gun cleaning gadget, especially if you don't have an air compressor. It's also a pretty handy "life" gadget, never mind cleaning guns. For $12, there's little reason not to pick one up.
Happy shooting.
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