Flux HiFI Electronic Stylus Cleaner

My experience with the FLUX HIFI - Ultrasonic Electronic Stylus Cleaner, has been mixed; I received it at the beginning of Dec., 2022, and it worked amazingly well .. very happy.  However when I went to use it two weeks later, the only thing that worked on it was the little LED light, no ‘vibration‘ at all.  As everyone occasionally gets a lemon, and I had purchased it thru Amazon ( with Music Direct being the seller), I figured, no problem .. I just a wanted an exchange.  
 

Here’s where a five week odyssey of dealing with Amazon customer service ( definitely not based in the US) began. The item was not returnable due to it being listed by Amazon as a “hazardous material” item.  I told them it wasn’t. Music Direct told them it wasn’t. But five weeks of talking to representatives, then being transferred to a “management team member” I kept hearing the same script, even though they were very nice, actually seemed to want to help, but would call me back saying they were still working on it. 

Near the end of my patience I called back again yesterday, only to hear the same runaround and that the return window had had long closed, despite Amazon having  a supposedly 90 day guarantee, and other team members saying they would process a ‘no return’ refund.  Anyway, I was once again transferred to management  where a very nice lady was able to get me full, ‘non-return’ refund in ten minutes. 
 

Made me wish I’d bought from Music Direct , directly in the first place, but Amazon had the better deal. 

I think the Flux is the same as the Hudson, and while it vibrates, it certainly doesn't do so at U/S frequencies (>20kHz).

I'm currently experimenting on older cartridges with the Humminguru S-Duo, which combines a stylus VTF gauge with a proper U/S (only 40kHz I believe) transducer.

@dogberry appreciate the information about the Humminguru S-Duo! I currently use a HiFi Flux but after looking at the Humminguru, it does seam like a much better way to clean a stylus. Maybe when the Flux goes caput?

My initial experience with the S-Duo:

Firstly, the scale. The instruction booklet does not mention that there is a clear plastic protector over the scale pad, and it is actually hard to see. Until you remove it you will be convinced the scale does not work. The scale reads the 5g test weight as 5.05g, and taking the weight off and zeroing it makes no difference, it still reads 5.05g. Comparing it under a stylus with my existing gauge shows that it reads 0.05g high too. I'll just have to remember that.

Secondly, the U/S cleaner. This comes with three rubber rings and you are supposed to fit one into the well where the cleaning happens, and select the one that lets your cartridge rest its body (not the cantilever) on the rubber ring with the stylus so positioned that it will dip into water placed into the central well. All three rings are the same thickness, and vary only in the size of the aperture in the middle. If your cartridge has its VTA set so as to be slightly tail down it will be hard to do this without getting the bottom of the cartridge wet! It turns out to be critical that the water is dripped into the well to exactly the right level. You don't want moisture inside your cartridge! I put some distilled water into a fine dropper bottle and then tried the cartridge - and had to suck out some water with the tiny pipette provided. It might be better to place the cartridge onto the rubber ring, then add water a drop at a time until the stylus only is in the water. There is only a couple of drops of leeway before the base of the cartridge will get wet, and did I say you don't want water inside your cartridge?
The next thing to be careful about is that by this time the device will have switched itself off, so holding the turntable motionless, you press the power button until it turns on (it may take several tries) and then press the button that starts the 20 seconds of U/S cleaning. Then lift the tonearm, and check the underside of the cartridge, dab off any water - you know why by now. I dried out the S-Duo's cleaning well with a tissue, as the foam drying pad provided won't fit once the rubber ring is in place.
Phew! I have had less stressful times changing cartridges and setting them up. Water and hardware within millimeters of a stylus, not to mention wiping with tissues. This is not a thing I will do on any regular basis, but only if there is visible gunk on a stylus that doesn't come off with a brush. My main way of keeping my stylus clean is to keep my records as clean as possible. After that a little carbon fibre stylus brush gets used, very gently and carefully, daily. I did buy a Hudson "ultrasonic" but it isn't ultrasonic, vibrating rather coarsely at, I'd guess, 100Hz. I think that is more likely to damage a stylus than actual tiny amplitude U/S vibrations. I'll note I didn't see any bubbles in the cleaning well, and I'm inclined to try an experiment with some detergent, distilled water and NO stylus. I just did it, still not a bubble, even if I dipped the tip of the pipette into the water during the 20 second run. Maybe I'm wrong to expect anything - after all, the 120kHz transducers in my Degritter (which will certainly make foam with detergent in the water) are a lot more powerful than the tiny 40kHz transducer rumoured to be in this unit. One cannot hear or feel anything when it is running. If it were a lot cheaper I'd take it apart to see what is actually inside it. Another thing to add to the list of hi-fi items I wish I could send off to Big Clive on YouTube and have him reverse engineer them!

I think the Flux is the same as the Hudson, and while it vibrates, it certainly doesn't do so at U/S frequencies (>20kHz)d  

Having gone through this, I did look at the Hudson Hi-Fi Cleaner, especially as it sells for around $35 as opposed to the $149 retail for the Flux Hifi ..

The Hudson version vibrates at around 222hz according to one of the answered questions on the Amazon site.  ( The Flux Hifi vibrates at a similar hz, if I recall correctly ) These lower vibration frequencies seem safer to me on a delicate stylus, though I’m only guessing here. 

Although it’s hard to tell from pictures on Amazon, the bristles on the Hudson seem different to those on the Flux, and may be possibly coarser, than the ones I’ve personally examined on the Flux.

The Flux Hifi was added to Amazon in May of 2018,  and is made in Germany, while the Hudson version was added to Amazon in February of 2021, and is made in China.

So to say that the Hudson is a much cheaper Chinese knock-off may not be entirely inaccurate.

So there’s that ..