Ripple Tank, Compact

I was a bit hesitant to purchase these based on another review. We purchased 6 of these units, and they've been holding up well now for over a year in lab. The agitators are a bit finicky to position, but they can be adjusted by bending slightly. We bought some extra agitators to have on hand, so that's not been a problem. I like the small footprint due to limited storage space. The older ripple tanks we had were giant in comparison, so this is a definite space saver. You get a lot of bang for your buck with these.

The basic design idea is fine; however, the product is unnecessarily difficult to use and deficient for its intended purpose. Pros: - Simple design - Strobe options - Acceptable range of agitation frequencies CONS: - No built-in storage for the acrylic and metal accessories. - One acrylic piece is too large to fit into the ripple tank. - The agitator/"dipper" elements are wire that is too thin to position well. - The agitator elements we received sit too high, and do not reach down far enough, to reach the water if the water is shallow enough for the submersible acrylic pieces to be effective. - Agitator/"Dipper" motor does not seem to run smoothly. - Documentation is poor -- virtually none of the included elements is described or explained. - These units could easily have been designed to run off of user-supplied batteries as well as plug-in power supplies; even better if these units were designed to run off of built-in rechargeable batteries.