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Pepper Spray


The Best Pepper Sprays – How to pick a Pepper (Spray)

Not all PEPPER SPRAYS are alike.  So how do you protect yourself from exaggerated marketing claims?

Some brands are reputable and market their products accurately while others make unsubstantiated claims using big numbers to impress the consumer. Some brands claim a certain percentage of pepper (15% OC, for example) while others make claims regarding the heat of the pepper BEFORE it is diluted with all the inactive ingredients (2,000,000 SHU, for example).

So what do pepper spray numbers mean? How do these numbers relate to the actual heat rating of the pepper spray that hits your attacker?

Simple math will tell you that 15% of a 2 million SHU pepper yield a a Certified Heat Rating (CHR) of 300,000 SHU (.15 x 2,000,000). Based on our supplier’s independent lab testing, the average heat rating of the brands that were tested were LESS THAN HALF of that (123,000).

Another leading brand tested 16 other brands and found their average heat rating to be 109,000 which indicates that there is SOMETHING WRONG with the claims made by most brands.

So, the first step in protecting yourself from an attack is protecting yourself from exaggerated marketing claims. Any percentage and heat rating can be printed on a label, so Fits My Budget purchases pepper spray from suppliers whose products are certified by the same independent laboratory (Chromtec LLC) that has been used by pepper spray manufacturers and the US government for over 40 years. This certificate is available upon request.