Customer Reviews

Giottos AA1910 Medium Rocket Air Blaster (6.6)

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Fuzzy Wuzzy's Summary:

***** Highly recommended with warm fuzzies!

Several years ago, I purchased two of these medium-sized Rocket Airs and two of the large-sized Giottos AA1900 Rocket Air Blaster Large (Black). There is also the more compact Giottos AA1920 Rocket Air Blaster Small (Black), but I find the larger and more forceful volume of air that is blown by the Medium-sized and Large-sized Rocket Airs to be more useful, requiring fewer blasts of air to get the job done. These are the best air blowers on the market! My Rocket Airs are still going strong after several years of near-daily usage, so I recommend this highly for both effectiveness and durability. Don't just settle for the tiny blowers that come in the camera cleaning kits; those tiny blowers are far more compact and easy to carry, but they cannot do much to dislodge stubborn electrostatically-charged dust.

After I decide upon what I am packing, traveling with, or what camera bag or backpack I am carrying, I then decide whether to take my medium or large Rocket Air for the outing. And one of my large Rocket Airs always stays at home for a variety of non-camera uses too. I usually travel with the medium-sized Rocket Air because it is more compact. For cleaning camera sensors on my three Canon dSLRs, I use the large-sized Rocket Air because I want a good blast of air without inserting the Blaster's nozzle into the camera body. I do not want to get the Rocket Air's nozzle too close to my camera's sensor for fear of bumping the plastic nozzle tip onto the sensor.

These are indispensable not just for cleaning off camera lenses and sensors, but I also use them to blow out dust and debris that may collect on computer keyboards and laptops, every time I open up a desktop computer case to change the computer's internal configuration, and various other uses where I need to blow dust off of electronic components.

For cleaning keyboards and laptops at home, where I have access to a vacuum cleaner with crevice tool available, the vacuum crevice tool is more effective than this air blower. But while I am at the office or on the road, I use the Rocket Air on keyboards and laptops.

Another awesome use for my Rocket Air is for blowing dust off of computer and electronic components. In particular, it is important to periodically blow dust off of the heat sinks of electronics such as CPU heat sinks and heat sinks inside stereo amplifiers/receivers. Heat sinks that have heavy amounts of accumulated dust can lead to ineffective heat dissipation, resulting in the overheating of your CPU and electronics, possibly leading to premature component failure. Even if I have not upgraded my desktop computers within a year, I like to open up the cases of all of my desktop computers once a year and blow out the dust that accumulates on the CPU heat sink, the motherboard, all internal computer fans, and I point the Rocket Air's nozzle into the slots of my computer's power supply to blow dust out of it too. As with cleaning digital camera sensors, you should not get the Rocket Air's nozzle too close to the motherboard to avoid risking the nozzle getting bumped into sensitive components. If you have a desktop computer and you have not opened up the computer case in years, you may be surprised at just how much dust, pet fur, and debris has accumulated on its motherboard, CPU, components, power supply, fan blades, etc. It only takes a few minutes to open up the computer case, take the Rocket Air, and blow all that dust out of the motherboard, power supply, and fans. You may also want to have a vacuum cleaner nearby to suck up the cloud of dust that comes floating out.

For years now, I no longer buy any of the cannister "air duster" products anymore. And despite being referred to as "canned air", these "air" cannisters all consist of fluorocarbons that are compressed into liquid form, and fluorocarbons are toxic, noxious, and flammable. And if you do not hold and use the "air duster" cans correctly, they can spray liquid fluorocarbons onto your camera's sensor or electronic components. A common fluorocarbon used in "canned air" is difluoroethane. Prolonged exposure to difluoroethane has been linked in humans to the development of coronary heart-disease and angina; the chemical can also cause lower abdominal cramps. Nasty stuff... both for you and the environment.

The large Rocket Air also comes in a red color if you prefer that color. As an added bonus, I love the Rocket Air design, looking like a Buck Rogers spacecraft, with its four rocket fins cleverly keeping the blower free-standing upright on a table. Visitors to your house might initially think that this Rocket Air device is some kind of proctologist tool or kinky sex toy, but that adds to its charm! If you have a dog, keep your Rocket Air away from them, as some dogs find this to be a pretty nice chew toy! :-)

I wasn't sure if I should buy the small, medium, or large size. I went with medium. It seems to be about the perfect size for effective air distrubution and being able to stash it in a camera gear bag. I purchased this because for the first time since I have owned this camera(Canon DSLR) I had an annoying speck showing up on my camera sensor(shows up in pictures but not through camera viewer) I locked the mirror up in the camera settings, carefully blew it out, then checked again, the speck had moved.. Did it again and it took care of it. Seems to be a well manufactured item and promises to not redistribute more specks by filtering it's own air. A very good investment for what I paid. I don't doubt this will last a very long time and be used on many more occasions.

This thing saved my rear when I was shooting in the dusty Serengeti. I got dust on my sensor and would have gone absolutely insane if I couldn't take decent photos. The rocket blaster cleaned the sensor and allowed me to start breathing again! The medium size is more portable than the large, but the large blaster is probably more effective. If you've got room go for the large. If not, the medium will suffice.

But in a good way...

Nice little gadget that puts out a good blast of air. A one-way valve in the back keeps it from sucking in any particulates from the snout. It's a bit bigger than I expected so it won't find a permanent home in the camera bag unless I expect to need it in the field.

Effective, and great fun (drove my wife crazy as I couldn't stop squeezing it during our TV viewing last night!). Well constructed, but the dog is fascinated by it, so make sure you keep it out of reach or it won't last two minutes!

This air blaster was perfect size for medium camera bag and does the job well for my 450d. Get this if you find the large air blaster to big for your camera bag.

Put down that can of compressed air -- you know you're going to accidentally kill your sensor one day. It doesn't look like much, but this guy works equally as well, and there's no chance of ruining your camera. The filtered valves that prevent dust from being sucked back in and redistributed are a great touch. The medium seems to be a good size -- much smaller and I don't think it would produce enough air volume/force for my taste.

I should have bought one of these gems years ago. It works very well, concentrating a jet of CLEAN air exactly where you want it. I say clean because there is a filter in the "intake" end of the rocket. This is important especially when cleaning an SLR sensor. Great product and fast delivery.

My new Giottos medium rocket air blaster is a blower I'll be using a lot of for blowing dust off my lens + filters. Compared to my Hurricane bulb blower, it is slightly more powerful but what sets it apart is the "rebound" speed - let me explain. The Giottos rubber allows you to have a fast action squeeze & release where you almost have continuous air flow. There is a slight rebound delay for my Hurricane blower because the rubber isn't as soft and springy. This is my first Giottos purchase and I'm glad I went with the medium size as seems to be a good balance between portability and effectiveness. I also like that it can stand upright on a desk at your studio or be worn on a lanyard if you're out in the field.

This is a wonderful idea! One warning though, the "medium" one is still about as large as my camera body. Now that I have it, I don't know how we ever got dust out of the camera before.

I had another air blaster but it just wasn't doing the job. I'd borrowed a Giottos from a friend and was very impressed at how powerful it was. It was able to dislodge dust that my old air blaster could not. So I retired the old one and bought a Giottos. It does a really good job, well worth the money.