Testing 3 Hobby Paint Mixers And 1 Epoxy Mixer 

Badger for Tamiya jars, modified Trumpeter (badger style) for Vallejo dropper bottles. Biggest negative is the cleanup after every individual mix and removal of the dropper bottle head to mix. I just bought a shaker mixer similar to the one in this demo. In the mail. Didn't cost much, so will see how it goes. Suspect it'll be OK with the 17ml droppers. I have BBs in all bottles and jars.

The Badger mixer has been my go to for decades. Love it.

I just got a mixer in the mail yesterday. Unfortunately, it was that first one you showed. If I shake a metallic paint, all the metallic just settles to the bottom. It's pretty much useless. Wish I could have seen this video first. THANK YOU!!! I got the Gundam Breaker Battlogue from UPS today. It's been years since I've assembled a model, but I'll give it a go. Also, I want to thank you for these extensive tests you do. I just found your channel recently, but I've gone through and watched a lot of your older videos. Wow! You really go in-depth and show the pros and cons of such a wide variety of items. This has all been very helpful for my entry into airbrushing. Thanks!

Thank you for your product reviews. You really do a great job of being thorough and fair.

I've just bought some... M4 A2 Stainless Steel Nuts. A lot cheaper than ball bearings plus the paint flows through the hole of the nut to help with mixing. They really do help, so much better than ball bearings. The A2 STAINLESS STEEL Doesn't rust or discolour the liquid.

Nice Info on stir sticks and shakers..A Hobby downdraft booth .Sounds sweet..SD Gundam Baby..

Thanks for the review I picked up a trumpeter paint mixer which is the one like the badger and it works really well. Definitely a lot less hassle than shaking and stirring by hand

As someone who suffers from chronic fatigue and physically can't shake my bottles. I really appreciate these vids

Since you are the paint guru I have heard from guys to store paint upside down, and some say to take plastic wrap over the opening of the jar and screw on the top. When you have shown your paints you have them caps up. I saw one of your vids on the nail paint shaker, so far it works great but I went to the web site on that hobby mio when they come in stock it will fit better on my work bench. I like a lot of guys love the badger mixer mine is about ten years old and still working great, a must have for any air brush user. thanks for sharing

I ground down the head on my Badger mixer so it can fit in smaller hobby paint bottles. I also make pipette holsters out of masking tape for my commonly used solvent bottles. That way I don’t ever have to search. The pipette is right there whenever I need it.

I'm glad I'm ordering the Badger. Thanks for the test.

I bought the frother one, and did the same thing. I couldn't get a mixer at my local hobby shop. You would think they would have the mixers in stock. So i bought the milk frother one at my local Canadian Tire store when i seen it. I think i got the idea from this video. Thanks

Years ago, my brother purchased a Robert or Robard can’t remember. Big time money back in the 80’s…… Being younger I was ban from using it. So I purchased the trusty Badger and here we are in 2023 and I still use the Badger mixers. Note, purchased 3 over the years and keep an extra on hand. You can’t beat them for the price. Made my brother a believer. On a side note if the Badger can’t mix it it……. I toss the paint pot.

i tried out the frother and the Micro Mart mixer both. I tried them on the small clear cups and mixing the cheap acrylic paints from Dollar Tree. The frother made the paints just that. It now belongs to my wife for her coffee. The other one tho, is pretty nice. When I'm mixing larger batches of paint it really shines in short bursts. Other wise I stick to the coffee stirrers and even then sometimes I end up wearing some of the paint. Just tonight I airbrushed some glow in the dark paint and while mixing it some splashed out. I didn't realize it until I turned on my black light to "charge" the paint and shirt had glowing spots on it. DOH!

I have a badger knock-off that I used to use and also the Robart Paint Mixer. Didn't like the $50 Robart and the badger won't fit in my Vallejos Air Model bottles. BUT, my 4-E vortex is the bomb. Absolutely love it. My badger works great when I'm mixing paint/thinner in my plastic cups, especially when you do the Createx paint, then add 4053 UVLS, then 4011 Thinner. Thanks for the vid Rex. Can't thank you enough for the 4-e review a while back.

Love my badger stirrer but I'm really looking forward to the HobbyMio being back in stock.

I live this tool. I got mine but its for coffee mixing. And yeah i use it for paint mixing. Im on a budget.

I use the Badger also, just love it.

Idk why but these videos are wholesome and relaxing

Who doesn't respond to the givaways? Think of the value! Best place for paint reiviews!

Thanks Mr Rex!! Great video!!

PLEASE enable "CC", I'm severely hearing impaired & cannot follow along without them. Thanks 👍 They're on now!

I actually picked up the Hobby Mio mixer and put a small sponge wrapped in a few rubber bands to be slightly bigger than a bottle of pain and used the holding bands to lock it in the hobby mio shaker. with the unit powered on, it acts like the $100 shaker when you place the bottle on top of the sponge... ! :)

I like my Badger too. I thought of making a smaller tip from a ship propeller.

Thanks for the video. I am waiting for the final decision as to the best white paint, as its very often the hardest to airbrush. Ken at Badger says never shake acrylic paint, but stir it like the factory does, so that has been my practice as well. Your videos are amazing, thanks

Me getting happy when I see a new video...then instantly sad it's still not the AOK paints

i love badger airbrushes Barbatos ;)

Great review as always. I enjoy watching your videos while waiting in the car for the wife. 👍🏼

love my badger paint stirred, but i use a a empty toilet paper to surround the paint jar and exit, with no mess on the bench

Negative end of battery always touches the coil spring end! Nice review - thx.

SMS has just put out their acrylic paints here in Oz..i bought a couple of them the other day...quite good

I got the Badger mixer, its awesome

I think out of all of these I like the Hobby Mio and the Four E's best. They do such a good job without any cleanup afterwards. Well except for that one metallic on Hobby Mio.

The badger one I used to use was chipping up the bottles.

Can't wait for that white paint test

I purchased one of the hobby mio's from Midwest Hobby and Craft. With a couple of hematite or glass beads, they do very well on my Vallejo paints. I also picked up one of the Micro Mark's. It will not fit in the dropper bottles.

The Badger mixer might be the best option if you're combining colors and using disposable medicine cups

Just an FYI, the badger is great but if you mix in a glass jar make sure it is a thick jar. My dollar store glass jar broke to shreds when kept the mixer in the corner too long. Love your videos and thank you for showing us the ropes.

The hobby Mio shaker seems nice since there is no mess required, too bad it requires bit more set up, but if youre tackling one paint at a time not too bad.

The HobbyMio is intriguing, might have to invest in one.

Love my Badger paint stirrer. I definitely prefer the stirrer’s to shaker’s as I have found that stirring helps to preclude paint getting onto the threads of the respective containers via the mixing process. You also get better monitoring/control during the mixing process via the hand-held approach. (Quest - One thing I have noticed with white paints is the there is (almost inevitably) yellowing of the “white” coloration over time regardless of paint brand(s). Have you also seen this (aging) effect? If so, will you consider revisiting the applicable paint samples at a later time to see how “true” the white finish holds up? Just ask’n.

Hell, I would respond. lol. I have the Badger & Micromark mixer. And because of your review, I have the Four E's, not the variable speed, but that tri-lobe one. Thinking about that epoxy mixer now, that would give time to do other things while resin or paints mix.

I bought the hobby mio mixer from robot kai after watching this video. Right in my price range and I'm very happy with it so far.

I love the badger I seen you use it and went and order it on Amazon

Badger is my favorite.

I think the new bright green mixer is the best it cost the most but you save on no paper towels no cleaners acetone or thinner or sticks eventually it’ll pay for itself thank you sir another great video , One question where can I buy Mr. color a hole set of paints , I like to paint 118 scale cars and I am just getting set up and started because of watching all your videos !

I am looking to get the badger. I am enjoying your posts.

I like the badger but the Four E’s just makes things so much easier.

I have to replace my Badger after 20 years of using it - finally gave up the ghost. Yep - just gonna go with another Badger...it works, it's inexpensive, and it lasts.

i have been using my badber mixer for ever i had a shaker box i did like it tossed it out...who didnt want a free kit next tell me ill pay the shipping lol keep them coming

Thanks for reviewing these mixers. A thorough set of tests, as usual. I've never entered a give-a-way, but I wonder if your winner emails are somehow going into the recipiants' junk mail folders. That would be my best guess for why you have had so many non-responses. Who doesn't want free stuff? :-) Cheers from Wisconsin!

Awesome video. Might get the badger a go. I'm surprised people won't answer for the giveaway. I am looking forward to the waterfall booth.

Here in Germany, the Vortex shakers are available from amazon for €35 Greetings from Germany ;-)

Looks like that shaker is still a vortex mixer inside, they just adapted the rotational coupler to that sled instead of a nubbin. Hmmm. I bet you could adjust the FourE's to do the same thing with a little work....

ohhh i'd love to see the waterfall spraybooth. Dunno if it has gone under revisions, Rex, can you also test how "loud" it is with your phone (im sure theres an app). Thanks!

Saw someone using a Theragun muscle massager to shake their paint. They held the paint with one hand and used the Theragun to hit the bottom of the bottle. 😅 I’d be afraid of it hitting the paint out of my hand and the jar breaking when hitting the floor.

I use Createx daily and I heat them up prior to stirring.

I have the badger and a tattoo vortex mixer. It’s black and about half the size of a soft ball both great but the vortex is awesome. Thanks for all your videos and your hard work in posting so many extremely useful and entertaining videos 🙏🤓😂 never ever change what you do as you’re perfect just the way you are 😇😍👍 all the very best to you mate, Kenny 😃👍👍👍 ps not sure if your giveaway applies to us in U.K. but I’d love one of those kits you’re giving away… please 🙏😂😂 thanks again for all you do for us Rex you ARE amazing 🤓😍👍👍👍👍👍👍

Not sure how folks are missing their notifications but I am still waiting for mine lol.

Love seeing the resin mixer but it's nowhere to be found in South Africa.... I'm really looking forward to getting some as soon as possible.

The badger paint mixer had a clip on coupon few days ago on amazon total came out to $8

I’ve been looking at the red mixer I’ve got a vortex one a lab one

Been using the Badger for a few years now and can't recommend it enough. Honestly, aside from the bigger $100+ shakers you use, I don't see any reason to get any of the others. All the shakers just seem like over-engineered 'exotic' options for people looking to spend money on something and as you showed, most don't even work right unless it's a thinner paint. Even the Dspiae vortex mixer loses to the Badger on virtue of versatility alone because while Dspiae's works great, it's limited to the 20 mixing rods you get - and no store I have seen that has the mixer available has extra rods for sale. I'd rather spend less money on something that works on 95% of my paints, than spend more on something that only works on 20 of my 150+ paints.

I have an old lab vortex mixer that is very strong and works, but after your video I am very tempted to get a little badger unit so I don't have to keep lugging out the heavy monster. I might try using an extra milk frother that is still in its packaging sitting in the drawer, but fear that blade might be too delicate and much harder to clean. As always thank you so much for the informative videos. I was wondering if you had any opinions on any building jigs primarily for aircrafts. Are they a necessity or more trouble than they are worth? Many thanks.

For some reason the vortex mixer is just so so for me even with a mixing ball . Maybe mine is defective

Just a comment, the reason no one is responding to your messages when you announce a winner is becausing of the crazy amount of scamming that is flooding the U-Tube and other media lately, there is so much of this going on that it is very hard to tell at our end if your free offer is real or not. Great video and I learned a lot of useful information, thanks for your hands on demonstration approach and your comments of information.😊

WARNING - Don't use metal or ceramic paint balls in glass jars with any mixer. Learned my lesson over the weekend - lucky I was airbrushing on the balcony. Trumperter/Master Tools mixer is same as the Badger - for those who can't get Badger.

Hey Thx for the valuable info. I'm gonna get the badger tomorrow at Apponaug Color & Hobby Shop. Can I tell them you sent me?

Not sure I like the idea of ball bearings in a glass jar with the shaker types like the Hobby Mio. Flying paint is bad enough but if a jar cracks you could be caught in a hail of flying glass.

Would you happen to know where I can get a table clamp for the Hobby Mio shaker? I found one online for under $9, but the shipping is $18. That's a bit too much, for me. I'm thinking I'll just use a bar clamp to hold it to the table, if I can't get a better price on one. Thanks!

I hope all of you are having an amazing day.

I know if you watch on phone you don’t see the notifications. I saw a bunch yesterday when I was on my computer. I would have responded for the airbrush. Thanks It’s been years since I made models and am getting into air brushing again due to 3D printing. How I found you.

Are the shafts interchangeable , put the longer one one the other ? Maybe ?

just a FYI there is a problem with RU-vid on the reply PMs sometime we get them sometimes we dont so the best thing is just to a quick vide and on who wins then tack it down in 3 days.

20:18 i bought the hobby meio one after seeing a review from another gundam kit builder and he swore it was his favorite, i thought it would be good cause it was like AU$45 and i have found it to be horrible. the only thing it seems to be good at is crawling across the floor while its ment to be mixing the paint. im starting to wonder if i got a bad one or if the unit struggles with paint brands like GW's citadel/vallejo/P3/scalecolour/army painter etc (im a wargaming miniature painter and most of their paints are thick like maple syrup)

Is that modo white near top left?? Should also include G paint white and the new AoK white you have received

Badger mixer all day long for the price. 18 yrs and still working well

how the hell is no one responding to the kick ass give aways!!! my bdays the 11th...ill take a give away lol!! that tumbler is genus!!!! I thought that was a great idea!!! love ur vids man...keep em coming baby!!:)

Totally unrelated to this particular video...but it's spoon and an alclad question.... The spoons you buy, what is the surface like, is it smooth or it is pitted. The spoons I have are most definitely not uniform, the surface has divots when you look much closer, I only noticed today while I was doing some alclad glossy black tests (managed to knock all of the painted spoons flying while cleaning up which as you might expect, resulted in some swear words), obviously this is going to have an effect on the final surface, even when I get a nice glossy finish, I'm seeing a reflection that is nowhere near as smooth as yours and I'm wondering if it's just the crappy spoons I picked up from amazon. Secondly, spraying the glossy black I do a first mist coat from maybe 6 inches away, I then follow that with a slightly heavier mist coat, more paint and more air, once that is flashed dried with the brush I find I have to open up the brush massively for the wet coat, no half hearted caution to the wind, I have to spray close and heavy, maybe 2 inches away, when I do that, it's the only way I get anything that's remotely glossy. No obviously, when you open up the airbrush like that, there's a lot of paint coming out, and the cup empties in absolutly no time. Now, I'm spraying at about 15 PSI as that's what Alclad say you should spray at, but to be honest, even their videos don't ever come close to the glossy finish I see you get on your spoons. I'm trying to figure out what exactly the perfect storm is to get the glossy black base down nicely, consistently every time, because I've never found a video that seemed to show a result anywhere near what you get, you must have some knack because when I've watched your videos I really can't gauge how heavy that wet coat is that you put on. The other thing is overspray, I built my own booth and I've done multiple tests, definitely for sure when I have the fan turned up (it's a monster of a fan used to exhaust fumes from a boat engine room) it's much easier to get a finish that doesn't look orange peel. Every time I think I've got a handle on this particular paint, a curve ball comes in from the side, knocks me out and reminds me that it's in charge and not me! I've stuck at 15 PSI because that's what alclad say, but the more I paint with it, the more I'm tempted to see what happens by both upping and lowering the PSI. There's a Venn diagram here with PSI, distance and the amount of paint, it seems that unless you're in the sweet spot and centre of that diagram, you're going to have less than satisfactory (well, terrible actually) results. I'm not sure if you have a patreon, I can't see one, heck I'd probably even pay for a virtual lesson if for nothing other than knowing that I'm doing it right despite my brain saying otherwise! I'm almost at the point where I'm so confused by this particular paint that I'm considering laying down a matt black (goes down nice every single time) and covering with a clear and then going over that with the candy colours and then another clear.

im also a gunpla builder from rhode island if you ever need to get rid of some of the shit you dont want lol

I prefere the other two you have. less trouble.

Hello sir, Just recently subscribed to your ever so useful videos. I've been using the Badger mixer for years now on Tamiya and Testor bottles. What you recommend for the smaller Vallejo 17ml/057fl oz bottles? I was thinking of using a Badger stem and lathe it down to a smaller diameter so the blade would fit into the top of the bottle?

I’ll take anything

seems like the ball bearing kept the badger mixer off the bottom of the jar

Vortex mixer. Spend the money.

Does anyone make a small vibrating surface to vibrate the bubbles out of paint or resin? If so could you test it. Thanks, Mike

Hey rex I have a question for you when you use floor wax to shine up your paint job what do you use to clean out your airbrush.

You know you feel like a budget hobby painter when I use a Dremel and a soft bristle brush

Don't give up on the giveaways. I don't understand why people don't want a free airbrush, but I'd respond. I have the Badger and I love it.

I had the Badger. Never used it at all to mix paint. I installed the batteries, the "wand" and turned it on. The ON/OFF switch was 110% garbage. The mixer would turn on or off just by Touching the switch or even setting the mixer down on the bench, with the switch in the UP position. Bump the bench - unit on/off. Returned to Amazon for refund the next day. YMMV

Hi, do you think, your green & white shaker pod could mix up that old sticky Tamiya metallic paint?

I wanted to mention for the giveaways, I've noticed a lot of people have been having issues with the notification bell. Usually it goes off when you get a reply, but lately it hasn't been working for many channels on various occasions. RU-vid's just being weird. I think the safest way in case the bell doesn't work is to announce the winner in the video and include your email. Just wanted to give you the heads up, it could be the notification bugs could be the reason why replies aren't being seen.

I'll stick to the badger until I can afford the 4ee one.

You can purchase rechargeable batteries that are kinder to the environment.

Would using lacquer thinner to clean the badger mixer hurt it at all?

You didn't included the Dspiae paint mixer

I double checked to make sure you didn’t try to contact me for a giveaway, just in case. Not sure why nobody wants free stuff! Especially a good airbrush, I could definitely use one of those hehe.

When someone wins, how do you reply to them? I really wanted that badger air brush.

I don't understand why people don't respond, I would love to win a new airbrush lol. I have to say you have quick reflexes , that caught me off guard when that cleaner flew all over your table...lol

?? I only use my Badger a half dozen times a year and have loved it. Sadly, now, the stem always falls out of the handle. Now, useless.