Nozzle Heat Facts

"Nozzle Heat” has been recently promoted in communications by several different defense spray companies. Since then it has been spreading like a virus via the Internet and numerous e-commerce stores. We happen to believe that its inception was brought on by the introduction of Fox Labs’ (now) famous “ FIVE POINT THREE” formulas in August 1998. You see, once Fox started using their 5,300,000 SHU pepper resin—the purest OC resin ever used to create defense sprays—these other companies had to figure out how to deal with Fox Labs’ superior formulas in a way that would make their formulas sound better, even if they couldn’t out perform those of Fox Labs. Someone got the idea that it did not matter what went into the formula, it was what was coming out of the nozzle that was important. And Fox Labs actually agrees with that assertion—up to a point.

Less pure resins have much, much more color, sugar, oil and junk in them. This is why the formulas that use them are dirty looking, opaque liquids—you can easily see this when they are discharged because they make whatever they hit look like it has been spray-painted. Now, when companies pump up the percentages of this less pure resin used in their formulas (usually 10% or higher) they are actually increasing the levels of this worthless, miscellaneous stuff that has nothing to do with stopping power. What this “stuff” really does is slow down—that is, actually delays—how fast these formulas can work.

So, for example, brands using 10% of a 1,500,000 SHU or 2,000,000 SHU resin (or even higher percentage versions!) will have “nozzle heat” numbers that sound really great (150,000 SHU and 200,000 SHU in the above example), but what they are actually doing is increasing the amount of inert matter in their formulas. This makes it impossible, really and truly im possible, for them to work faster than Fox formulas that use a lower percentage of purer resin.

Because the main feature of a product in this category (defense sprays) is how fast it can bring someone into compliance, or stop them from attacking. This means that for the sake of marketing, or perhaps a more honest way to put it, to mislead the consumer—be it civilian or law enforcement professional— these companies use higher percentages of low-grade resins so their "nozzle heat story" sounds good, but the performance can be greatly compromised. The bottom line is how safe, how fast, how wide ranging

is the effectiveness of the formula regarding different types of people/circumstances. As anyone who has ever compared products already knows, Fox Labs Premium Defense Sprays remain unmatched. (Fact: Comparing apples-to-apples, if Fox Labs were to use a 10% formula they would have nozzle heat of 530,000 SHU and 3.5% major capsaicinoids!!! Pretty impressive, and scary, huh?)

Lastly, the cost savings these companies receive in using less pure resins is incredible! Fox Labs pays up to ten times more for their pepper (OC) resins than these other companies, yet our prices have always remained competitive. So when you are paying less for these higher percentage products it isn’t because you are getting a deal, it is really because you are getting what you are paying for—simply cheaper, slower-performing products, that cannot outperform the Fox Labs brand.