I spent 2 full days working on this video, almost 8 hours both days and multiple times my video editor crashed so please show that like button some love!
@@ayleslove4710 Currently they don’t. This is Criticals first Tattoo pen machine. I’m sure when a bunch more artist pick them up there will be a bigger market for the disposable grips!
I have come to this video a little late, but absolutely top notch and informative, thank you for all your hard work and great integrity. Thank you from your UK fans
I bought this machine last year, and when I got it i remember it was so quiet and had barely any vibration. After about 5 months it sounded like an old truck. It made a chugging sound. After 8 months it completely died mid-tattoo. I sent it in and got a replacement for free. The replacement has been fine, but its starting to do the same: slowly getting louder over time. Ive been looking, scouring the internet and criticals website for ANY type of maintenance instructions or tips. I cant find anything, and im so worried of ruining this expensive machine. If you know of any tips, or have gotten any info from critical please make a video on it!
I’ve had similar issues on other machines and in almost every case it’s from rinse cup water getting down inside the machine. Membrane needles don’t alow water to back flow into your machine but if you’re used band drive needle cartridges you have to be extra extra careful. I swore I was careful but one time I took apart my sealed tattoo machine and found a shit load of crap trapped in my machine. Use membrane cartridges even though they’re expensive 💀
Jumpstart is useful for low voltages. If you do stippling or low voltage packing; some needles may not work until higher voltages first or sometimes membrane is too tight. With jump start you got no issue at all.
Hey Adam - thank you for posting this video, lots of good info, defo following your channel! I have two questions for ya . . . First, I do a lot of stippling and I'm wondering what the advantage would be to use the 4.2 vs the 5. Second, I have a question about wiping this machine down, since Madacide wipes wreck the surfaces of Critical power supplies - are these made of the same stuff, and if so, what do you use to wipe them down? Hella appreciate your insights, keep up the good work 🙏
5mm is just a little to powerful to line with 3rl but is better for stippling. Slapping the RCA port on this and hooking it up to a power supply would make it even better for stippling but isn’t needed. The machine is durable you can go crazy with Madacide wipes on it and not wreck anything. It’s possible that the power supply’s are not sealed properly so liquids might enter the inside 🤷♂️
Good vid brother i like the end explanations of your throw preferences i feel as though were in the same wavelength of preferences Im purchasing this machine coming from a critical power supply and axys Valhalla machine which ive run for in the neighborhood of 7 yrs
I got the 4.2 n i love this machine and finally they came out with the disposable grips and when you buy the kit it comes with one for free🤘😜..I see your in Wisconsin..im in milwaukee Wisconsin
Hey Adam. First year tattooer here. Thanks for posting such a sincere review. I’m lookin to upgrade my current setup because I’m having issues with adjusting the needle depth, almost taking apart the machine while making adjustments. I’m wondering how easy is it to wrap this machine and adjust needle depth while fully wrapped? Thanks!
Hey man welcome to the industry! I wrap the same way I’ve been wrapping all my pen style machines! I’m sure there’s a bunch of videos on RU-vid you can watch. I basically wrap the grip and the other half of the machine separately so you can still spin the grip freely. Hopefully that helps 😅
Dude UPS did a u turn in my driveway and left without dropping it off. I contacted the headquarters on Facebook because that’s literally almost the only way to get a answer from them and they made the driver work over time and they had to turn around to drop mine off 🤦♂️
@@inkedallegiance1227 That would be awesome. If you make the page invite me to it and share my stuff on it lol It’s always fun to talk equipment and supplies people would enjoy that!
I'm using coils at the moment have been since I started,I'm looking at buying this to replace them it's a big investment. My biggest thing is I'm used to using the bog of coils so I'm going to have to be careful with this thing (no give)..
This machine is very powerful no bog. There’s a new machine I’m testing right now that comes out next week called the Prime Pen and you might like that better. It’s compatible with the battery on the torque also. My review video on that machine comes out next week
Hi Adam ! Thank you for your videos ! Do you know if it’s the same motor between the torque and the power wand packer ? I don’t know which one to chose, and I don’t really care about the big screen on the battery.. If you had to compare the two machines (not the batteries but just the machine), which one worth it ? And last question ahah the torque seems to be really powerful, it’s more like the power wand shader or the packer ? Thanks again and have a good day !
When I talked to Critical they told me that it’s a different motor and drive bar system with a higher max torque than the Bishop machines. It’s more comparable to the Bishop Packer. I personally can’t stand the Bishop grip or the company so I prefer the Critical Torque over any of the Wands. But the Bishop Packer is a better all around machine to do all styles…. The Torque is a little too powerful for black & gray work in my opinion.
Great video, really usefull! Im thinking between this one and the bishop wand liner. I’m using a 3.5 regular pen that can make all the works but is really slow for lining specially, I normally work between 3rl and 11rs, what do you recommend me? I want something more powerful
I’d get the 4.0 stroke unless you plan on doing some black & gray wash shading with it. The 3.5 is pretty good still though for lines. The Torque is a very well built, quality machine you definitely won’t regret it.
My wife is almost done with her apprenticeship and I wanted to buy her a tattoo machine as a present for a year and half of hard work getting to this point in her career. Would you recommend this as a good present for finishing up her apprenticeship?
Yes! The wand grip only works with a few brands, bishop needles, kwadran, and a few others. They force you to buy their disposable grips that accept more cartridge brands. That’s why bishop pisses me off and if you ask them they will pretend like they’re not doing it
@@adamdarklord yes . Idk where you are from but out here in Cali we have a vendor that comes every week . Bought wand packer and told them the issue.they told me oh it happens a lot . I told them I want to exchange it or soemthing I wouldn’t have bought if I knew that .. I wonder if the bigger grips they sale have any difference as far as that situation. Thanks for your time
@@bigtm6216 the bigger grips haven’t been in stock in over 2 years since they were first released. There’s whole internet threads where people are offering $300+ for the bigger aluminum grip. When I talked to bishop they said it’s because Aluminum prices are to high lol Aluminum is not that expensive rn they just want everyone to be forced into getting the disposables.
I used the Torque 3.5 stroke around 8.5 volts sometimes lower. It’s hard to remember I test new machine’s every week but I do remember the Torque lining pretty fast. Probably slow it down more for smaller needle groupings
So I have all three bishops shaded, packer and liner. My packer needs to sent into for service and told 4-6 weeks. Can’t be down that time. So looking into the critical torque. Would you say the critical torque 4.2 would be more comparable to the bishop packer? All videos I watch don’t have that comparison but seems like more are running the 3.5 torque over the 4.2. Please help
Ok thanks bro!!! Really apreaciate it… from all the videos I watched seems like most people are leaning towards the 3.5 torque. Since I have the bishop trinity I was puzzled because it’s hard to believe the 3.5 would be like the 4.2 bishop packer but who knows. Every brand is different. I don’t think I could use the bishop shader as an all around machine !! But I do think I could use the shader for all around machine. So that’s what got me wondering. Maybe critical torques are some what in between the bishops specs Somewhere in between bishops
@@richardalvarez3655 The critical machines have very high torque to them. I’ve actually changed my mind since making the video the 3.5 is just a little to strong for b&g for me and a little to strong for fine lines. I know a lot of amazing artists that use the Bishop Packer machine for everything. The two best machines on the market right now to me, hands down is the new Neuma 5 flex and the Acus M1…. Both machines can do it all very very good
I prefer the Critical Torque because it has the screen. The SOL Nova 2, 3.5stroke comes out in June. It doesn’t have the battery built in so you would have to buy a battery separate but it might be worth waiting to see the reviews on that 🤷♂️
I’m personally in my career trying to get back to using 1 tattoo machine for everything. I’m sick of setting up multiple machines and overthinking the process. So currently I’m sticking with the critical 3.5 machine over anything else.
I dont know if im gonna like it. I put a cartridge in it and ran it and cant back the grip off as much as I usually like to where the needle exposure from the tip is less, backing it off to much makes the machine louder due to the cartridge stem and the cams bar stem.
Hmm 🤔 I didn’t notice any issues like that. What you’re saying is you don’t stick your needle out far so it’s making a loud sound? Maybe it’s the brand of cartridges you use I haven’t noticed a problem like that yet 🤷♂️
@@user-wc9mm3sq2m I actually tested it today also because you had me curious and I couldn’t replicate the problem! I’m happy you got it figured out I use these needles store.truetubes.com
You put a dot on machine lube in the hole every 200ish hours of use. You got to make sure you use the right lube tho so I’d check what bishop uses and use that
I actually put a dot of lube on the back of a new needle plunger and put it in and let it run, just be careful to not over lube. You can’t get the lube out if you had to
@@Gravehandstattoo I seen some of my healed black and gray come back with the torque and I felt it looked a little choppy. The torque is an amazing machine and probably the most well built. I’m just used to less torque. I’ve been using the Cheyenne SOL Nova 2 the most right now and currently waiting for the Acus M1 to show up because I already know thats going to be my main machine
I’ve heard someone else in my comments say the Flux “learns how you tattoo” but in all my research and talking to the company’s I’ve never heard them bring that up ever or seen that advertised. So I don’t know where people are hearing that from. Do you mean electronic give? If so this machine doesn’t have it unfortunately 🤔
Bro this seemed genuine and honest and the way you express yourself is dope seems like your a transparent person! New subscriber bro 😂💪🏽🔥🔥🔥 Edit : Change my mind bro I even unsubscribed !!! I was only into like 12 minute when I wrote that ^^ but after seeing minute 18:50 that’s Fake asf! Simply cuz u payed for it and your saying you’d want to see the motor as well but just cuz they say you can’t you won’t that’s bullshit bro.
Lol I genuinely don’t want to void my warranty incase my machine brakes. I don’t want to do something I currently don’t feel comfortable with that’s literally me being “genuine & honest” it’s all good man I’m going to keep grinding and one day I’ll see you back in my comments as a subscriber just give it time 🔥
unless you have a pac-man game hidden somewhere THIS MACHINE I FIND that for the price, it brings nothing new compared to a bishop or the machines from Neuma!!!
The machine seems interesting but it has a few "critical" issues in my opinion. Has the most proficient battery of all machines at the moment, it's strong and it has a few cool but not essential features. However you can't change stroke cams, it is not totally cleanable, if the batery dies on you, you're simply f*cked, it's ensanely expensive for what it brings. These machines are trying to be "smart fones" forgetting the most important features a machine must have. You can find machines in the market with the most important features, Acus M1, Blad Vad, etc...Give them a try you'll be surprised.
I’m not trying to defend Critical in any way because I agree to a point. Personally like the simplicity of Sealed batteries. If it was possible to charge them without taking the battery out of the battery shell I wouldn’t mind. I just wouldn’t take them out till they started discharging. I think the whole vape battery charger dock idea is dumb at a certain price point but it wouldn’t hurt be able to take then out to replace after a few years. As for the cams that you can unscrew and swap out. I’ve never been a fan of that. If you have one stroke length you can use for everything what would the point be. It seems like something more for a apprentice that’s still stuck between what they want and just wants to feel the difference. I’d never sit there during a tattoo and be like hold up I got to take my machine apart and switch stroke lengths lol I like the idea of it but in reality it’s just another thing I’d never use. I like adjustable stroke machine’s just not the adjustable cams you got to take off yourself and swap out. As for cleaning it I forgot to say that there is a screw next to the drive bar that looks like if you undo it you could gat at it. I’m sure it’s meant specifically for cleaning. The problem is they don’t advertise it as that and they possibly messed up by telling me not to remove it. The reason why I didn’t test it is because I didn’t what to do something and then someone see my video and void there warranty because of me. I’ll make a separate video on that in a few weeks if it’s made to come off for cleaning because I feel that’s very important. I’m happy there’s other machines out there that hit all them marks it’s important so we can see what works and what doesn’t!
@@adamdarklord I understand you point of view but... A machine with the ability to change cams is important because it is not necessary to have more machines for absurd prices. For example, in pieces with only lines, I can use 4.5 or 5mm stroke, if it's realism, I can change it to 3.7 or 3mm and if you need both I can use a 3.7 or a 4.1mm stroke changing the motor torque (in Acus case) depending my needs, the perfect solution! Having this possibility in just one machine is fantastic. When I say the machine must be fully clenable and autoclabable, I'm referring to examples like Acus (to me, best machine out there), where you have complete access to all parts that come into contact with contaminated ink. Finally, the internal batteries cost 20 or 30 dollars and you can have as many as you want, the same cannot be said about critical or F.K.Irons batteries. But it's like you say, everyone has their opinion and tastes.
@@bullsheeptattoo What's "absurd" to you? $5k-10k of owning machines is about right if you're a professional artist making close to 6 figures a year or more. As for batteries, how are you fucked if you have two batteries? This machine is definitely not for the apprentice or starting out in tattooing. Acus requires you to take apart to access the cam which I think is an issue itself and putting in the VAPE battery is a pain. Not a fan of that. Again it's about preferences...
@@V8laca Absurd is the calculation you have just made. A machine must be evaluated for its quality and characteristics. A less than versatile machine that fails in things like cleanliness and versatility shouldn't cost more than machines that do. Saying that machines must be expensive just because my paycheck justifies it is like saying that a ball must cost tens of thousands because players make millions. Can you see the ridiculousness of the situation? In any machine to change batteries, you have to change gloves, unwrap the machine, clean it etc, so it doesn't make any difference if it's vaper batteries or otherwise. The difference is in the price and that's important to most people. Having the possibility of having several configurations on a single machine is incredible, you can have a machine dedicated to old school, realism, all-round, etc... To say that this is not relevant because you have to disassemble the machine, makes me believe I'm talking to a newbie!
