I have a had a pre-order pending since December for the Nukatap FC faucets with KegFactory. I wrote to KegFactory a week or so ago and was told that manufacturing was being moved to the USA and that they had no further information on availability. Sounds improbable to me, actually. A couple weeks ago, though, I saw them available for sale on Kegland's own Australian website. At the moment, the site says they're out of stock, but expected back on May 10. That being the case, it sounds more likely to be a production issue as opposed to a design issue.
I would buy CM Becker's X1 faucets except their faucets all have a small groove in the ball of the lever which provides a bit of venting when the lever is in the open position. This is intended to reduce dripping. The problem for me is that it makes it impossible to use my beloved Tapcooler counterpressure filler without making a mess, as beer sprays out from that groove. Apparently, the groove can be filled with food grade epoxy, but I'm disinclined to go that route. One feature of the X1s that intrigues me is their plastic composite body. I expect that this would reduce first pour foaming because little thermal transfer is likely to occur. They are used nationwide at Twin Peaks restaurants for the super-cold pours.
Anyone want to share their experience with the X1s?
Finally, I have three of the original Kegland flow control ball lock disconnects. They're just OK and only where you need significant restriction because the baseline restriction is high, even fully open. I think that's what Laphroaig's mod above is intended to address. I haven't tried that. I use mine only for highly-carbonated beers -- say, over 3 volumes. I imagine that they would be useful for connecting a faucet directly on a keg or a for short picnic tap line. However, when I use a picnic tap, I'm expecting to kick the keg and am unconcerned about the potential of my beer going flat, so I just reduce the serving pressure.
I had hoped the the Kegland flow control disconnects would eliminate the need for fiddling with line length in my keezer, but the high baseline restriction makes that impossible. I cannot use them, for example, with a stout where my secondary reg is set to 7 psi. The flow from the faucet would be a trickle. My understanding is that a Gen 2 version has been created which addresses this issue, but when I last checked several months ago, Williams Brewing was still selling the Gen 1 units.
BTW, the disconnects are also prone to leakage, especially from the threaded barb. I had to swap out the original o-ring with something more robust.
