I've been thinking about getting a sonic cleaner and wondered if anyone had any recommendations for what brand to get?

Get this one from Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/25-liter-ultrasonic-c...

It is exactly the same one as this one from Lyman, but a lot less:

http://ads.midwayusa.com/product/225214/lyman-turb...

The only difference is the basket.

There are several YouTube vids cleaning various things There are several homemade cleaners you can make, many vinegar based: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99kGy8-bGXs

There are several features you want to look for in a US cleaner. You want the water heater, you want a timer, and if available with the heater - you want to be to adjust the temperature.

The solutions - only last one use. Mostly, I use warm or hot water and just a few drops of normal dishwashing detergent. Although size is important - you will never own one big enough, lol. So, picking one out that fits on your bench, and, you have an easy way to suspend parts into the water without touching the bottom or sides - this is 2nd best and very important.

I have a small Branson at home. We have a much larger and newer Branson 5510 at work that has all the bells and whistles.

A small .75 to 1.0 gallon model - that is just as deep as it is tall - this will let you clean most pistols, suppressors, and rifle parts. Deep - is good. The not so deep and wider - are for jewelry. Bigger will cost you more $$ but might not let you do more stuff unless it is deeper. Big things, I can suspend half in the cleaner for an hour, flip it around, then dip the other half. I do pretty well with this smaller one.

The Hornady model that accepts a full 16" AR upper - sound pretty sweet - but, if you only have 1 16" upper and all the rest of your rifles don't fit - it's not all that great.

If I had to buy a new one - I would buy a model like that Branson 5510 we have at work. It can do several pistols side by side - and - does a wonderful job on larger motorcycle, valve, and ATV and burner parts. I would not go bigger.

You very much need a model that either automatically heats the water or allows you to adjust the temp. To get the nasty crap out of a 22 suppressor - you need the heat. Same with AR bolt parts.

For doing gun parts - you need a timer. Or buy an external timer to plug it into. You will no doubt put this thing someplace out of the way so the noise does not drive your crazy when in operation. If you forget about it - and then come running back in 6-12 hours instead of 1-2 hours, it can clean the finish off your gun parts. Or worse, if two parts manage to touch each other, it will wear spots into the places they touched.

I never like using one for brass. The water seems to bring out all the nasty powder fouling from inside the brass and spread it to the outside.

Check ebay. No shortage of folks who have bought these for different projects - and have discovered they really don't need one.

The sonic cleaner is awesome for getting crud out of places you just can't get to with a brush. There are a few downsides, not the least of which is the fact that the cleaner strips off EVERYTHING, including helpful lubricants, so you need to practically immerse everything you've sonically cleaned in CLP or other protective lube upon removal for any finishes which could oxidize.

My first experience with a sonic cleaner was a small jewelry cleaner, cleaning the crud out of pistol barrels. WOW.

The other side of that "wow" is that I never knew parts which were treated could rust like that within days of being sonically cleaned without having the protective lubricant re-applied.

Just my experience.

In a nutshell: Sonic cleaner is and can be very useful in cleaning firearms thoroughly. However, the sonic cleaner strips off EVERYTHING, including stuff you really don't want to strip off -- so beware.