Scotch Cassette Deck Head Cleaner Buff Strip Cleaning System 3M

Finally got around to using this. Couldn't find these in stores. It worked as stated. Simple to use.

It is a dry type that is so easy to use and works. Insert into player, side A. Play to end. Do not rewind, eject. On next use play side B to end. Now rewind. (Use twice before one rewind). Check off each use on provided list located on side B. They recommend 24 cleanings. It Is a product I would buy again.

The 3M Corporation knows magnetic tape because in the heyday of reel to reel, 8-track, and Compact Cassette the Scotch and related brands outsold almost all the competition combined. Personally I even had one of their Wollensak brand 1/4 track stereo reel to reel tape recorders. I say all of this because, in general terms, I trust the quality of anything that has the Scotch brand name on it. This played into my decision to buy this product.If you have a home cassette deck this product really shouldn't be your head cleaning solution. In fact, any deck where you have access to the heads the only solution is manually doing the cleaning yourself with a good quality cotton swab and the purest isopropyl alcohol, or dedicated tape head cleaning solution, you can get. That said, reaching the heads in a auto-loading type deck as used in automobiles is difficult to impossible. Enter this product. I believe it is a good choice for car/truck cassette deck maintenance of the heads. It's one of the few, if not the only one still available, that doesn't require "wet" cleaning meaning you have to apply a solution to the cleaning tape. This makes it infinitely more convenient for the car environment since you can actually clean your car stereo's tape heads while, pretty much, not missing a lick while driving. The downside is that this type of cleaning can be a bit more abrasive to tape heads and may not be as effective.After using I would say this is at least 80% as effective as a similar wet tape cleaner. That is to say it worked for me and I'm guessing since it worked it's pretty good it warrants an estimated 80% or better. Earlier I mentioned that dry cleaners are a bit abrasive compared to tape itself. While this is irrefutably true, I will say I trust Scotch by 3M to make a very balanced product that does minimal harm when used as directed. Therefore, if not used to excess I'm sure my tape heads will last every bit as long as they should with this dry cleaner doing no harm.This is a good product. It may not be the most aggressive cleaner but it's balanced and second to none in convenience. I'll keep it for my car tape deck and use my alcohol and swabs for all of my home tape machines. I'm glad this is still available on Amazon because otherwise this product is impossible to find. Keep in mind this is a product designed to be used about 2-dozen passes (I count a pass as once in each direction myself). It will eventually become somewhat saturated with both visible and invisible magnetic particles. Too much of these particles embedded in the cleaning tape will not only reduce the cleaning efficiency, but may act as superfine metallic sandpaper. In other words use this as directed because even though one may think the tape looks pretty clean it should be remembered that it catches small metallic particles which may not show in the usual reddish brown residue dis-coloration of the cleaning strip. Better to be safe than to do harm so I believe it is wise to not overuse this product beyond the recommended (i.e. conservative) 24-passes. If you've got car cassette players still I highly recommend this for the absolute easiest maintenance.

I find it very difficult to put cleaning fluid into the hole that is required to clean my tape heads. Just gets all over the place but in except the hole. Scotch does away with this. My heads were really dirty and I put it though three times. Sounds so much better. Highly recommended.

Cassettte player cleaning.

My Sony tape deck adapter wasn't working in my 2002 Audi Allroad. There was a lot of interference and fuzz, and it required me to turn the volume up considerably to even hear there was music playing. After reading that a head cleaner might help the problem, I bought this one. While it improved the sound to the point where I could distinguish it, the tape deck adapter is still unusable. Maybe my tape player was too far gone, but this didn't work for me.

This just didn't meet my expectations. I was hoping of the "old" days cassette tape head cleaner where you put a drop of cleaner on a felt like surface of the tape cleaner and it worked back and forth.

Excellent product and delivery!