I'll try to better capture what I meant when I used the capitalized and underlined NOT.
Wet tumbling, stainless steel pins, rotary, sonic, vibratory with corn or walnut, all of these are options. Some folks don't tumble at all. Some wipe with a rag. Some wash them in a sink. There are many ways to skin this cat.
I think it's fantastic when someone figures out what works best for them. But something about the wet tumbling folks reminds me of the Jehova's Witnesses. It's like item #1 in the wet tumbling instructions and bylaw #1 in the wet tumbling club is that you have to beat everyone over the head with wet tumbling.
Naaaa. Dry tumbling works wonderfully for me. I can take a couple minutes of my day, dump clean brass out of my bowl, put dirty brass in and dump in the media and the lamp timer handles the rest. All of the other nonsense ceases to exist. If I forget about it and go on vacation, it's just going to repeat it's cycle one time each day. It's probably 35 cents of a electricity. I'll wipe some bird defecate off a solar panel to make up for my carbon footprint.
Wet tumbling might be as fantastic as a Barrett .50 cal. I've shot the Barrett and it put a grin all across my skull but I'm going to go ahead and stick with .223 and the 50-grain V-Max. Just like I'm not going to get my brass wet and then have to get to work getting my brass dry and wondering how sideways it will go if I miss a step somewhere and don't get my brass dry.
Your kinda coming of a little strong yourself in defense of vibratory.
Agreed, there are lots of ways to get the job done. Some do a more detailed cleaning than others and all of the ways have their pros and cons. In the end all that really matters is that you get the carbon/dirt off the brass you don't wear your dies out, and the brass functions properly in the gun. With that said I personally feel that If I am going to put the effort into cleaning my brass, I might as well go all in an make it look pretty/like new. Yes the process is slightly more involved, but I feel that its worth it. I'm not shoving my ideas down any ones throat or telling them what they should do. I simply stated my experience with vibratory. What I am doing currently. And why.
The important thing is that the OP gets some good equipment that meets their needs. If the OP is looking at an entire new setup and is considering spending almost $200 it really depends on what the OPs needs are, and the OPs preference as long as its a good reliable setup.
For the OP to help figure out which tumbler will be best for your needs.
How much brass are you needing to process regularly?
How much brass are you wanting to fit in the tumbler per batch?
What kind of medial are you using, walnut, corn cob, other?
How long do you typically leave your brass in the tumbler, assuming you don't forget them?
are the powders you are using particularly sooty or hard to clean off?
do you have your tumblers on a flat hard surface