Just saying that one product is better than another can be a dangerous thing to do. Inevitably, someone will challenge your opinion or findings. However, when it comes to "neoprene" and "santoprene", the evidence is overwhelming. If you'd like to jump right to the meat of the matter and judge for yourself, click here to visit the Megaflex corporation website, products comparison webpage. There you will find the complete specifications for both Neoprene and Santoprene.

On the other hand, if you don't care to get into all the scientific comparisons, let me break it all down to simple English. In the simplest of terms, 'Santoprene' is less prone to aging (or hardening) when confronted with our environment. You know... things like smog, smoke, heat, cold, salt, etc., etc. Whatever is in the air that causes things to age. Mind you, I'm no rocket scientist. I'm just a payer piano technician. But when I visited a number of websites that showed the specifications for Santoprene and Neoprene, the question about which product was superior just disappeared.

There's something else you should know about the difference between 9/64" neoprene and 5/32" Santoprene that I sell at Player-Care.com. The 5/32" tubing, like the 9/64" tubing, is slightly smaller than the advertised size. That's because the tubing is meant to fit snuggly on that sized nipple. However, the Santoprene is so supple, by comparison to the neoprene, that the 5/32" tubing fits perfectly well on trackerbars and 9/64" nipples -without the struggle that's normally associated with neoprene tubing. Admittedly, Santoprene tubing is not available with a thin wall, like the 9/64" neoprene tubing that Schaff sells. Professionally speaking, I've found that it's worth the effort to accomodate the thicker walled Santoprene because it has such a longer life expectancy. But, if you insist on using thin walled neoprene, I'll special order it for you.

Santoprene®

Flexible tough opaque, beige and black thermoplastic rubber with very good abrasion, heat, UV and ozone resistance. Industry sectors include medical, laboratory, automotive, construction, electrical, and fluid delivery processes.

• Hardness range from very flexible to firm (55 to 87 Shore A)
• Suitable for most laboratory and industrial applications
• Medical grades meet USP 23 Class VI
• Food grades use FDA approved raw materials
• Industrial grades available
• Excellent chemical resistance to both acids and alkalis
• Can be coloured
• Wide range of sizes stocked Medical and FDA grades. Many other sizes manufactured to order.
• Wide range of Pump Tube Assemblies stocked to suit specific Peristaltic Pumps
• Long pumping life
• OEM capability for special Pump Tube Assemblies
• Usable Temperature Range -51 to +135 degrees C
• Easily sterilised by Gamma Irradiation, or Autoclaving on unbridged tubing

Santoprene® is a registered trademark of Advanced Elastomer Systems L.P.

Neoprene Tubing General Purpose. Black in colour. Good resistance to ageing, air weathering, accidental exposure to hydrocarbons and mineral oils, good dialectric properties.