Magnetic tumblers, like just about every other kind of tumbler, come in a WIDE array of prices and capabilities. If you're looking for a jewellery tumbler vs a rock tumbler, for instance, the simple fact that you put the word 'jewellery' into the title will jack the price up about five times what the machine or tool is worth. It's like adding the word 'Japanese' onto hand tools, or 'rare' onto plants, or 'Apple' onto computer products (I kid, I kid... I'm writing this review on a Macbook). Certain words imply you're going to spend more than you need to. Rotary tumblers in the rock hound trade can run anywhere from fifty bucks to couple of hundred dollars. In the jewellery trade, that same machine might be eight hundred dollars to a thousand. Magnetic tumblers are no exception to this rule. I've seen them as much as several thousand dollars, sporting such functions as reversible directions or timers. This tumbler comes with all that for an insanely low price, but it's a very well built machine. Good control. Nice, built-in timer. Big basin for the materials.Like all magnetic tumblers, cleanup can be a bit of a pain. Managing to NOT wash a bunch of your expensive finishing pins down the drain in the sink can be a challenging experience. But I use a 60 mesh flour sieve for this purpose. It's still a beast getting all the pins back INTO the tumbler once I've washed them off, but hey... for the amount of work this thing saves on smoothing out imperfections on a metal surface, a little elbow grease in cleanup is a no-brainer.Unlike a rotary tumbler with a nice burnishing compound and some burnishing pins, this will NOT leave you with a shiny finish. This is really step one or two in the process. Step one is getting rid of all the scratches from your tool work. Step two is an even finish. This is great for that step. In 20 minutes, this will take a piece of silver and put a smooth, satin-matte finish upon it just ready for a final polish. You can then go directly to a rotary tumbler or you can polish by hand. Going the same route with a vibratory tumbler and infused plastic cones might take 10-12 or even 24 hours. This saves LOTS of time.