Tipton's BEST looks decent ($99), I'm sure you've seen it advertised in flyers. (I have their cheaper cleaning rest, and it works well with bolt guns but not ARs... the BEST rest looks like it should work well with ARs).
For cleaning ARs, I usually separate the upper and lower. This is frowned upon by a gunnery sargeant I know, but I just find it easier to clean the upper without the lower attached. Since my AR is a varmint-type gun, it has a bipod. I lock a bore guide into the upper, extend the bipod, and clean with the upper resting on the bipod,
Sinclair offers a couple of muzzle attachments which are great for preventing solvent splatter from brush bristles as they exit the muzzle. One appears to be designed to collect patches as they fall from the Dewey Jag system and can collect patches as they drop.