17 days ago I showed three smoke testers for around $75 each, that I liked, after perusing Amazon & Ebay for a long time.
https://xoutpost.com/1234590-post14.html
I had tried to repair my home-built tester, but the replacement heat source (another old soldering iron, like the first) didn't last but a minute, so I decided to quit wasting time and money on my own handiwork, and buy a commercially-marketed unit.
I waited nine days before I ordered one from my short list, and five more days for it to be delivered (it went missing for a couple). It arrived with the heater element broken. I wasn't sure if it had been damaged in transit (while it was missing), though the packaging looked pristine, or if the seller had lousy quality control.
I contacted both Amazon and the seller, and another unit was sent...broken in the same fashion (heat wiring broken/missing). I was told to keep the first (by the seller) and return the second (by Amazon...I don't understand why not return both?), and I was promised a discount once I purchased another brand (as compensation for my time spent waiting for the testers to arrive, and 1.5 hours of my time invested on phone calls and chats with them).
So, I just received the AutoLine Pro Automotive Smoke Machine, which was listed for $102 on 11-23-23 (as a Black Friday special...down from $120). My promised discount/compensation will be the difference between what I paid for the non-functional unit(s) and the $102 sale price of the other brand.
P.S. the new Cyber Monday price has dropped to $95...maybe I can renegotiate?
This Autoline unit is built much better than the AKWH units, which I had bought thinking that they were just cheaper clones ($44 cheaper, at that time) of it.
I guess you get what you pay for sometimes, since the Autoline is sturdier, sealed better, packaged better, and was inspected/sealed/initialed before shipping. Though the AKWH seller was nice/generous/apologetic, he'd be better served by hiring a product inspection/quality control team.
I was trying to save a few bucks (to spend on parts) by buying an offshore product, instead of the made-in-USA Autoline unit that it was a copy of. It was the Autoline unit that I'd really wanted, but again, I was on a fool's errand trying to save money.
Still, I'm actually hesitant to test it anyway, since I'm somehow feeling jinxed at this point.
And, by the way, with everyone on all the various BMW forums always pushing for smoke testing, why have I never seen anyone ever give a product review or recommendation for a smoke tester?????