NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Professional Rock Tumbler Kit - Complete Rock Tumbler for Adults & Kids with Durable 2 Lb. Barrel, Rocks, Grit, and Patented GemFoam Finishing Foam Polish, Rock Polisher

My 7 year old loves this, it was easy to do and worked perfectly. It only comes with 1 pack of tumbling supplies and it's loud. We set it up in the garage so the noise wasn't ever an issue and we plan to buy more tumbling gravel

This is my first rock tumbler ever so please take that into consideration. I had it in my "saved for later" until I saw it on sale. It took me a while to do this review because I wanted a successful batch first.It's small which is perfect for my small (crafting/beading/jewelry making/lapidary) workspace. I live in a tiny one-bedroom studio apartment. I was expecting the noise to wake the neighbors; however, it is very quiet..I believe it's due to the rubber barrel. (I'm one that has ran dishwashers at night to help me sleep...so I actually like the constant sound.) No noise complaints so far..lol.After running the small batch of rocks that came with it...using the sample grits & polish that also were included, I read many reviews & did a lot of YouTube-ing as the rocks never got shiny. I found that National Geographic brand tumblers are good, but the grit/polish...not so much. On my second try, using silicon carbide grits & aluminum oxide polish, (I couldn't find any information about what kind the Nat Geo was) the stones & gems came out nice & shiny. So you may want to spend a little more to get better results. I do use the National Geographic brand ceramic media & have been pleased with it.I only run it on level 1 speed as, according to my research, most comparable models/brands have a slower rotation speed than this National Geographic one on level 1.The included instructions are clear & helpful & will tell you running times & speeds to use. If you purchase another brand of grit/polish, it may also come with instructions regarding running times & such. The settings on this tumbler are very simple & easy to use.I'm very happy with my National Geographic rock tumbler & would recommend it.

I bought this unit back in August '23 but didn't try it out until February '24. It was very easy to set up and worked flawlessly through the first run (4 days) with the coarse grit. After that run, using the supplied rocks and grit, the rocks had lost their sharp edges - very pretty at that point in the process. Yes, the machine is noisy but it's tumbling rocks around in a rubber barrel. Much quieter than the tiny, metal paint can that came with the tumbler that I had when I was a kid.I followed the instructions to clean the contents, load up the 2nd grit and water and set the timer for 5 days. After the first day, the motor shut off and "Er" was displayed. I tried the steps suggested (unplug, replug; remove 1/2 the contents, etc) but no joy. I tried multiple iterations over 3 days. In desperation, I contacted customer service via email, with very low expectations. Well, to my shock, Candi answered me in less than an hour! After just a couple of emails, we decided that the unit was beyond help but Candi explained that there was a warranty and sent me several courses of action, any of which were perfectly fine.I'm looking forward to completing my project with my new tumbler when it arrives, thanks to amazing customer service!

This tumbler does fine for what it is. The main thing is to not follow any of the directions or use any of the included objects. Just use the tumbler and ignore everything else. Also don't go to any higher speed than 1. Yes, the directions say use speed 3. Don't. Speed 1 is already too fast. Don't go faster.Why should you not use the included items?Well.1) This is a 3 pound tumbler. There's only 1 pound of rocks included.To get a good tumble you need to at least fill it 2/3rds full (i.e. you would need AT LEAST double the amount of rocks, if not triple -- the rocks will lose volume as they go, meaning you'll have less and less rocks to take up space as time goes on). Not only that, the mix of stones is not of similar hardness. If one were to dump the included amount in, not only would it not fill the tumbler enough to get an effective tumble, but the harder stones would absolutely obliterate the softer ones.Also to note: most of the included stones were not really of a good enough size or quality to tumble, even if they were of similar hardness. Many were tiny chips or shards. Some were so badly cut that they wouldn't polish up well at all. Not great candidates for making it all the way to the end.2) The included grit is both not enough and also not really useable due to having no indication as to what you're using or how coarse each step actually is. Even if you WERE provided that information, to get an effective tumble, you would need a great deal more than what is provided. It would be very difficult to achieve your desired results with so little product. Visually, all stages seem to be silicon carbide. This will not effectively polish your stones in the final steps, no matter how hard you try, even if you DID have enough. Additionally, the included gemfoam seems to do nothing to improve the situation.Just go ahead and get a set of tumbling grit from The Rock Shed or Polly Plastics and include some ceramic pellets for cushioning. Follow their directions instead.3) The included booklet is really only good for IDing the rocks that were included in the one pound bag. Other than that, the directions and suggestions are garbage and the little blurbs beside the gems have a bit more woo than I personally am happy with (lots of "people believe this stone has (x healing property) etc"). Meh to that.End takeaway: The speeds they suggest are inappropriately high, plus, as stated above, the included objects are inappropriately proportioned and mixed. Get yourself a decent amount of stones from elsewhere, augment with the proper grit, keep the speed on 1, and follow literally any other directions, and you'll be golden. It's a decent tumbler in and of itself. It's also comparatively quiet, for a tumbler. This is probably due to the rubber barrel. Good purchase all in all.