Great, but not much of a real improvement - Hoppe's 9 Viper Cleaning System

The viper boresnake is supposedly an upgrade from the regular boresnake, but there isn't really a way to prove that. Its new and "improved" features don't seem to do a whole lot. It has an extra bore brush in it yes, but it's possible that the two brushes on the original were already doing the job. I appreciate the new orange section for the oil, but I've found that it snags more often because it's a separate piece of material with more spots to bunch up. As for the plastic "bore guide" piece, I don't know what it's for; it is just as easy to feed the original boresnakes, and since they're all soft and non-marring, a bore-guide doesn't help. I guess it's to prevent it from snagging at first, but now the orange tail-end snags more so it's a tradeoff. What bugs me most about the new viper though, is that they're the same color as their standard boresnake counterparts. I'm of the opinion that they should all be varying shades of light colors and/or white with different color patterns to differentiate. The color coding isn't really that neccessary in my opinion because the brass weight piece is stamped with the caliber already. All the boresnakes should be white, gray, light yellow, light tan, light orange, etc. not dark purple or dark green. You can't see any of the fowling you've picked up on these darker colors, only until you get to the new orange end, are you able to see some marks on it - the only indicator that the snake is doing its job. Having outlined my grievances regarding the product, I don't mean to say it's not worth your money. I don't think this "Viper" is much of an improvement, but the basic concept is left intact, so like the original boresnake it is still great, just sort of an unneccessary change. It's a great tool to have, especially for revolvers and for quick "in-between-groups" cleaning at the range or in the field. It's nice to have as a supplemental cleaning tool, but make sure you hold onto your traditional cleaning supplies.
Pros: easy to use, not too expensive, reusable, versatile
Cons: doesn't really address the slight flaws of the original

This review was written in the old system and had content requirements that are different than reviews written today.