I purchased the DP-4000 about three weeks ago and I posted my initial thoughts on it over at MOS. Here’s the post:
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I finally took the plunge and order the DP-4000. I received it about a few days ago, and I couldn’t be happier. The price is steep - very steep, but like many other guys that have left reviews about it, I too have to say that “I wish I would’ve gotten one sooner.” The only way I’ll ever use my manual pump again is if the unit breaks down. It’s a game changer.
The unit is much smaller than I thought and seems to be perfect and unassuming for travel (not sure how it would be looked at by airport security during a bag check, though). Installing the software was straightforward; I’m on a MAC so I had to connect it to a VM running Windows 7, but there were no issues at all. Once I selected the right COM port, everything synced right up. (One word of note: always startup the software BEFORE turning on the unit. Doing it the other way won’t sync correctly with the unit - at least that’s what I’ve experienced.)
Chris at CTC send me a beginner profile and following that example, I built 3 pump profiles of my own in only a few minutes. The unit groans a bit when it’s on and running to equalize pressure, but it’s not a long drone of sound like other electric pumps; it only makes noise in short bursts when it’s leveling up to your set pressure for the next step in the cycle. I got some materials from Michael’s (total cost was $16) and made a small (somewhat) sound proof box to house it. Now it runs virtually silent.
The software is simple in its setup and highly effective. Creating a profile can take as little as 10-15 seconds or 10-15 minutes - it lets you get extremely granular in how you set up the pressure levels and correlate them with the length of time at that level. It also displays upper and lower thresholds to adjust and mix the levels with. When running, the profile displays a running line graph that gives pressure along the timeline, almost like watching an EKG. I really like this as you can pinpoint exactly how long your sessions last, to the second, as well as graph your progress over multiple profiles for extended sessions, and know when to implement them.
I’ve set up a pretty good routine where my sessions cover 4 profiles, running at roughly 15 minutes each. The first set is cock-only with the “start-up” profile provided by Chris, a custom profile for the next set at higher pressures, back to the startup profile since it has pressure settings good for ball pumping, and then back to cock-only using another custom profile for cool-down where I cover a wide range of pressure levels back. You can even export your line graph reading from the session.
Initially I was a bit disappointed when I saw that the pressure maximum was set at 15Hg since I am quite use to high pressure pumping. But I quickly learned that pumping pressure from a hand pump versus one from a machine are quite different. With the DP-4000, I was feeling I was reaching my threshold pretty good and the vacuum level was only at 10Hg; those were the same sensations and feelings I usually felt when I was closer to my ceiling around 20Hg with my hand pump. So that was quite a pleasant surprise and made me feel much much better about my purchase since I still have some more room for growth (pressure-wise). And the fact that it constantly and consistently maintains the pressure you set is very cool.
If for nothing else, the way you can program your own pulse pump sessions is reason alone for buying unit. Pulse pumping with a hand gauge can be done, but it’s cumbersome, tiring and requires an active level of concentration/participation thru the entire session. With the DP-4000, I can set the program and do whatever else I want while the machine does the heavy lifting; the pulse and the shifts in pressure are taken care of automatically. And the way the pulse feels when I’m ball pumping is incredible; I’d never been able to achieve the same effect with my hand pump. And when I’m in my big bucket STJ, wow - it feels great!
Even though I’ve only got a few days worth of usage with it, I can already and confidently state that this is, by far, the best PE-related purchase I have made in a long time. Granted, at nearly $500 with shipping, it’s pretty expensive, but in my opinion, well worth every cent.
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Since I posted that, things have only gotten better. I have about 14 profiles now that I use depending on the type of session I want to have (cock only, full package, high pressure pulse, low pressure pulse, constant level, etc) and it’s been working great. The only thing that I have not done yet is water pump using the system since I don’t have any type of water trap inline on the hose. With as much as I’ve paid for this thing, I dare not use water with it until I get the right equipment for it. I REALLY wish I could use my big bucket STJ but I’ll wait.
And yeh, the thing is pretty damn noisy. Even though the box I made muffled the noise pretty good, I will be building a more solid box enclosure soon.
The thing is fantastic. I’ve you have ANY thoughts of getting one, I know it’s a heavy penny but in my opinion, well worth it.