First let me state that I do not use this equipment for tumbling rock. I use it for polishing silver jewelry. In my opinion this is the best investment a small studio or jewelry artist can make in polishing equipment! I was introduced to the TV-5 in a classroom environment- and after taking and now teaching classes in the same classroom for over 10 years, the same TV-5 is still in service! I purchased one for my own workshop, and I would not part with it. The vibratory action is very gentle, and does not wear away the metal like wheel polishing with tripoli and rouge. No detail is lost. You can polish even intricate designs to perfection, just allow a bit more time for highly detailed surfaces.

How we use this equipment:
5 pounds of stainless burnishing shot, mixed shapes- pins, balls, saucers, cut cylinders etc.
DO NOT buy the cheaper, plain steel shot- it will rust and make a horrible mess!
Rinse the burnishing shot to clear out any debris from manufacturing- drain and place media in tumbler bowl.
A couple drops of blue soap (plain liquid laundry detergent mixed with household ammonia) for lubrication.

That's it. Hand finish your pieces to a 1000 grit sandpaper finish or better. Depletion guild your piece and then place in the TV-5.
Turn on the unit. It is loud-ish, so plan to tumble when you aren't in the studio, or place a large bucket over the unit to cut the noise.
Allow the piece(s) to tumble for 30 minutes to 2 hours. Your pieces will look phenomenal! Depending on your design and the size of the piece you can fit from one to five pieces in the bowl at a time.

Stones: I do not recommend using this equipment with delicate stones such as pearls and opals. Vet soft turquoise and stones with visible cleavage planes or very brittle stones should be avoided as well. Generally I recommend doing all the polishing before setting the stone(s). However very tough stones such as jade, jasper, agates, labradorite, garnet, hard turquoise etc. should be fine. Always use a good magnification in order to evaluate any stone that you may consider placing in the tumbler.

When your shot shows signs of accumulated dirt (gray bubbles when you dip your fingers into the media) clean your shot by rinsing and draining in a colander or screen sieve. You don't need any special shot cleaner or burnishing media. That stuff is superfluous and IMO a waste of money.

The only negative I can think of is that the unit has no on/off switch. Plug and play only. You can remedy this by plugging it into a power strip with an on/off switch, or you can have an in-line switch installed on the power cord.

We only got 1 full load out of it, and 2 partial loads before the motor died. Since a tumbler isn't something you use everyday, by the time the motor quit working the warrantee had expired, so basically it cost over $100 for one load of tumbled rocks.

The worst part is it was a gift for my father, and I then went and bought him extra bowls and grit for this passed christmas, not knowing it was dead. He didn't know either until he recently went to put another load in, only to find that the motor is dead.

A friend gave their Tumble-vibe. I've been using it all summer. Took some getting used to and learned that you need to use very little water for rock tumbling, just enough to get them moving. The tumbler motor if fine, but the bowl and lid are absolute failures. After a couple batches the lid will not stay on the bowl. I think grit gets in between the lid and bowl and wears it down and then doesn't fit properly. It vibrates and then spin offs and rocks dry out. The bowl is worn, but my bigger complaint is the bowl lid issue. Just a very poor design. It needs an o-ring or something. For now I punched a hole in a plastic lid from an ice cream bucket and put that between the lid and bowl, but it is flat and I'm not sure how that is affecting the tumbling action.. If anyone knows of a different bowl that would fir the Tumble-vibe, please let me know. I will not buy a Raytech replacement bowl because they are awful. I would not buy this tumbler. Spend a little more and get one with a better designed bowl.

Update: Came home and found the unit wasn't running. Looks like bolts came loose stripping some plastic fins off the motor. Motor is completely loose inside housing. $25/batch to polish some rocks. DO NOT BUY!

Works as described and suites my needs exactly, thank you.

Purchased for business and works like a champ. Read the directions and look for videos on youtube on how to best use. An excellent tumbler.