Fight Medic Painting and Photography

Review of the Badger Patriot 105 Xtreme.

It is with a heavy heart that I write this review. Please understand that I am a Badger fanboy. I use a Badger Patriot 105 (regular) and a Badger Renegade Khrome. These are my favorite airbrushes. So much so that when given the opportunity to use the Harder and Steinbeck Evolution and Infinity CR+ (see my review here Harder and Steinbeck Review) I went right back to my trusty old Badger Airbrushes.

With that let's take a good in-depth look at the Xtreme.

Here is the word from Badgers website

http://www.badgerairbrush.com/Patriot_105.asp

The Patriot, Model 105, is a comfortable, reliable, cost-effective, user-friendly gravity feed airbrush, designed for use by experienced, as well as novice airbrush enthusiasts.  Its two angle needle tip precisely mates with the Patriot’s cone shaped nozzle, enabling a single needle/nozzle configuration to spray a variety of materials, while eliminating the need for multiple needle/nozzle variations.  It has a 1/3 ounce permanently mounted color cup with a convenient spill-proof cap.

The Patriot’s body design provides exacting balance and long-term user comfort. 
The Patriot is a low maintenance airbrush, easy to clean and simple to operate; it will spray any properly reduced paint or airbrush-ready media.

Developed to deliver precise performance and fine line detail, the Patriot is an ideal airbrush for custom art, graphic arts and illustrative work. The Patriot airbrush will operate at 30 PSI, as well as lower pressure settings (10-15 PSI) and is ergonomically balanced for hours of comfortable airbrushing.

FEATURES
• Single needle/nozzle for spraying all mediums including inks, dyes, watercolors, properly reduced acrylics, enamels, lacquers, and airbrush-ready colors including SpectraTex, Air-Opaque, Air-Tex, Modelflex, and Totally Tattoo.
• Single needle/nozzle sprays pencil thin lines to 3” (76mm) spray pattern

• Minimal spare parts

• Easy cleaning and maintenance
• Patented handle design produces the fastest needle release on the market

• Finger tight assembly tolerances

• Excellent for multiple applications, for novice to advanced airbrush users

• Lifetime warranty on labor and PTFE seals

First for the good:

The coating that is used on the Xtreme is seriously easy to clean. Wiping with a paper towel will remove the vast majority of any paint residue. It reminds me of a non stick pan. Color changes during a session take about half the time. 

The finger guide (for lack of a better term) is the same one that is found on the Khrome. I really like it as it reduces hand fatigue. 

I really like the balance, which is almost identical (to my hand) as the regular 105.  

Tight lines - I was able to shoot pencil sharp lines with both inks and thinned paints without issue (shooting at 20psi) 

Now for the bad:

PAC Dial . While I like the concept of this feature. I find that it doesn't really belong on this airbrush. As I experimented with it, the spray pattern did change but not to any real significant degree. More importantly when the valve was anything but screwed tight, paint would leak out of the valve, and not just in small amounts.  

Tip dry. I rarely have tip dry issues with my Khrome and regular 105. I generally have an issue with it after prolonged use (over 30 minutes or more of spraying the same color). With the Xtreme it was a constant problem, which is strange as the advertising claims that this brush reduces tip dry. (on the bright side the needle sticks out enough that you can easily use your fingers to remove the dried paint. 

Longer Trigger - The trigger on this airbrush is quite long. It is touted as giving the user more control of the paint flow. While the theory is sound I found that it just added to my hand fatigue without giving me all that much more control (your experience with this may vary, and some reviews and users swear that this is the next best thing in airbrushing). 

Pricing - The MSRP on this airbrush is $165. Most webstores have it for about $100. This is in the same range as the regular 105. 

Overall - I find that I am disappointed in this airbrush. Maybe I was expecting something that totally shifted the way I use an airbrush. Maybe I thought that this would replace my old 105. Sadly I can't say that it has done either. I tried to like this brush, I tried really hard. Sadly at the end of the day it's now back in the box sitting on the shelf.