Here at HornBlasters, we are proud of the train horn kits we sell. We pay a lot of attention to detail and have created some of the most powerful train horn kits ever made.
Buying a train horn can be very confusing these days as there are a lot of websites lacking important and sometimes accurate information. We want to help take away this confusion by bringing up some key issues. (In parenthesis, we will note which topics are specific to some of the websites you have visited.)
Our company designs, produces, and sells the best train horn kits possible. This is exactly what we do. Our company started in Tampa Bay, Florida and has been providing quality train horn kits with first-class customer service since 2003.
HornBlasters is not a fly-by-night company. Years of experience have gone into building the highest quality, best performing, and most satisfying train horn kits possible.
First-class customer service remains a core focus, along with continuous research and development. As an industry leader, HornBlasters uses that experience to deliver the best train horn kits available today.
We recommend reading this page before you buy, but if you want a quick summary (TL;DR if you want to call it that) then jump to the independent third party train horn decibel tests below;
Many so-called train horns sold online are little more than glorified air horns. Some entry-level options, including a few products in our Outlaw value line, fall into this category. These horns may look impressive at first glance, but they lack the tuning, materials, and performance of true locomotive horns.
If you want something authentic and properly tuned, focus on our Shocker and Nathan product lines. These horns are American-made and built by HornBlasters and Nathan AirChime for real-world performance. They deliver the sound and durability that imitation horns simply cannot match.
One of the easiest ways to spot a generic horn is its finish. Most imported air horns use chrome plating, yet real train horns never come with a chrome finish. That shiny coating is often a clear sign of a low-quality, imported product.
Generic air horns typically use plastic diaphragms that warp, bend, or crack after limited use. Once that happens, the horn quickly falls out of tune and loses what little performance it had to begin with. Stainless steel diaphragms, which authentic train horns use, provide consistent tone and long-term reliability.
Air efficiency is another major weakness. Cheap horns waste air rapidly and drain tanks in seconds, producing only marginal sound output in return. The result is loud for a moment, then disappointing and ineffective.
Many sellers advertise having the loudest train horn ever made. When those claims come from sellers of imported air horns, the exaggeration becomes obvious. A horn that is not designed for locomotive use cannot compete with one that is.
HornBlasters stocks real train horns used on locomotives. Every authentic horn we carry outperforms imitation horns in volume, tone, and projection. Some competitors argue that larger flares or oversized valves make their horns louder, but this claim misunderstands horn design.
Flare size and horn length control pitch, not volume. Longer and wider horns produce deeper tones, while shorter and narrower horns create higher-pitched sound. Shocker horns are engineered with precise dimensions to deliver deep, powerful tone comparable to an AirChime P3.
Even with a six-inch flare, Shocker XL Train Horns overwhelm imported horns with ease. Our Shocker XL kits also use half-inch valves instead of quarter-inch valves to ensure proper airflow and consistent performance.
A lot of websites are posting videos of train horns now. The only thing is, most of them: a) aren’t made by the people selling horns (we can presume that fly-by-night companies don’t want to invest time and money into video production, so it’s easier to steal other people’s videos) and b) aren’t even of the same products they’re trying to sell!
This is a sad state of affairs! This is why we publish our own series of videos and only reference ones from customers. Our videos are heavily branded to prevent thievery from companies who don’t sell our horns and we take copyright infringement seriously.
We’ve been around for a long time and seen companies come and go, and lies morph and morph. Be careful with any sound clip or video you watch. If it doesn’t come from a reliable source or isn’t even of the same product, you might be getting played.
Some air systems sold online are about as durable as a cupcake in a blender. These systems usually feature no-name air pumps that are notoriously loud, awkwardly slow, and prone to failure.
These pumps normally don’t include any kind of warranty which is a huge indication of their quality. These pumps are usually poorly balanced resulting in excess vibration and extremely loud operation. Also, they normally lack a check valve, placing excess strain on the piston. These both heavily attribute to the lifespan of the pump.
These pumps also do not normally include any kind of voltage protection and draw an unsafe amount of current at voltage spikes or shortages. This coupled with their inefficient, and thus excessively hot motors, make for a very hazardous piece of electrical equipment which could possibly cause damage to your vehicle and potentially void your factory warranty. Trying to save money by buying an inexpensive air horn kit can potentially cost you thousands.
It seems that air valves receive the most buzzwords of any part of a train horn kit. A lot of people like to boast about how their in-house brand valve is better than a generic ‘knock-off’. We’d like to point out that it’s very unlikely that someone would make a ‘knock-off’ of a no-name brand.
In-store brands are rarely anything of quality. This is why we stick to name brand valves that are used in the most strenuous pneumatic applications. Our valves, Air Lift, SMC, and E-air have been tried and tested by the air suspension community and are complete overkill.
At least one other site you looked at is selling very small, high pitched air horns as “train horns”. These horns can be quite loud, but they won’t produce the bass note that is reminiscent of a real train. Some sellers even pride these horns on the bass they produce which is very misleading.
We advertise these types of horns as “Air Horns” as they should be.
Some sellers offer extremely low-volume air setups with their horns. These setups can be so limited that the horn dies down almost immediately. The sellers of these types of systems often use liters instead of gallons to mislead their customers into thinking they are getting more than they actually are.
Inaccurate frequency ratings are also common on the internet. A typical bass train horn is in the range of 277-494hz (C# (3rd)–B (4th)).
The Nathan AirChime K-series (most popular authentic train horns) are in the range of 311-622hz. Most high-pitch small size horns are in the 740-1975hz range. Claims of extra-low hertz ratings like 150hz should be taken with a grain of salt. A sound at 150hz isn’t even a musical note, which clearly shows the horn is not tuned or the rating is inaccurate (probably both).
Inaccurate decibel ratings are a sore subject among train horn buyers and sellers. That said we won’t dabble much in the matter other than to point out the obvious. The loudest train horns you can buy are actual train horns used on locomotives. These horns are made by Nathan AirChime, Leslie, and formerly Wabco, Hancock, and Prime.
There is no such thing as a 160+ decibel horn. There is also no such thing as a train horn kit that increases in decibels when you add a compressor or tank. Some of the information available just doesn’t seem quite right.
An independent third party tested most of our horns alongside competing products. The findings were not that surprising, but worth taking a look at before you purchase. Below are data graphs of various train horns and their true decibel ratings. The full train horn video review can be found on DJD Labs website. enlarge)
We’ve noticed a lot of people don’t post a public phone number on their website. We consider this a bad thing for many reasons. A few would be that if you have any questions regarding your order, installation, replacement parts, or even just sales advice, you’re going to have a hard time getting a hold of anyone.
Here at HornBlasters, we have a 24-hour contact phone number so you can call and talk to a real person. We employ a friendly staff of experts who can handle any questions you may have.
Lastly, we have seen a lot of over-complication with air horns.
We’ve read, on numerous sites, some instruction guidelines telling the user to run the compressor only to half pressure before letting it cool down, then to run it again after 15 minutes and repeat the process before using the horn.
This is ridiculous! Quality air systems, like the ones we use, can fill up the included air tank without any rest, and in just minutes. Cutting costs on your air system can take all the fun out of using the horn.
They say a picture is worth a thousand words. This might be true, but that doesn’t mean those thousand words you hear aren’t lies. We’ve noticed all over the Internet that some people prefer to fabricate product photos instead of bothering with taking a genuine photo. They simply cut and paste separate photos of the items they sell all into one picture.
Doesn’t sound so bad, right? Wrong! When people do this they ruin the proportions: all of a sudden something measuring 3 inches is as big as something measuring 10 inches. This can be pretty deceiving and we can’t tell you if it's intentional or not, but we can tell you it's definitely happening!
In comparison, our photos are all taken in our studio and every train horn kit we sell is laid out independently so you can see exactly how it will look before you buy.
Do you really love paintballing? Well, you should if you’re the proud owner of a 20lb CO2 tank, but some people like selling them with train horns. Now honestly, it will work but there are some things you should know about it before you buy.
If someone says it is a 1,000 PSI train horn kit: this isn’t exactly true. The tank might hold 1,000 PSI, but it has to be regulated down to 150 PSI or so to be used. So is this going to be any louder than a normal 150 PSI kit? Not really, but you will be able to honk for a little longer to drain from 1,000 PSI to empty.
This could be a viable solution for you, but you also should know that you will have to pay someone to refill your tank up to 1,000 PSI using a CO2 machine (like you would to fill up your paintball tanks or kegerator). If you don’t feel like paying for this every time, then you can refill it with a shop or gas station compressor leaving you with a few gallons of 150 PSI air and having to stop to refill every couple of honks.
The first thing that came to mind when I saw this online was a news article a few years ago about a kid getting seriously hurt by a pipe bomb he made and then charged with terrorism. Okay, clearly that isn’t what you’re going to be doing but there’s a reason people use this kind of tubing to make bombs: it's cheap and disposable! PVC tubing is designed to hold water at about 50-70 PSI when plumbed around your house. Do you really trust it to hold up under 120-200 PSI that you need to honk your horns? We wouldn’t.
There’s also a reason air tanks are usually made from thick steel (you know the same material they use in constructing 200 story skyscrapers) and that’s because it’s strong; strong enough to hold not only a stable working pressure but a burst rating much higher. e.g. We sell tanks that are rated to hold 300 PSI stable and a burst of 800 PSI without being damaged. Safety is incredibly important!
Another concern of yours might be the lifespan of your purchase. More than likely these PVC pipe tanks won’t last that long. At least you know you can run to the local hardware store and build yourself another one.
