When the eChump broke down I was pretty disappointed because $849 is not an insignificant investment. I enjoyed this hobby tremendously but hand pumping was not fun. I spent more time pumping than I spent shooting. In my quest to optimize what I had my Altaros regulator I ordered for my Gamo Urban went horribly wrong due to o-ring issues and I had decided to "go big" and ordered my Brocock Commander. Shortly after having my Brocock the eChump self-destructed and I was faced with the delimma of either investing more into the hobby or just walking away from it. After much discussion and lamenting with the wife I decided to "go big" once again and ordered the LC-110.
I am a tinkerer at my core but I also like things that are well made and just work. If I could travel back in time I'd tell my past self to just "go big" since I ended up spending more in the long run to get where I am today. I learned a lot of lessons along the way, many the hard way.
The real issue is there is no sizing chart for "go big" so buy the best you can afford. The eChump was sketchy from the word go -- the original packaging had the origin label printed on the box cut out and an "Airforce" sticker attached. The country of origin was, in my eyes, carefully and wilfully concealed. This is the case with quite a few compressor resellers where they are not the manufacturer but they are the logo affixer.
I see nothing wrong with the Yong Hengs, Shoeboxes, etc. The level of understanding, research, and modifications done to the Yong Heng series are very impressive. I bought the best I could afford for the use case I have in this hobby. Like bandg said, it's about duty cycle. Understand your use, your requirements, and your goal. Once you have that quantified you can then "go big" by buying the best you can afford. Just remember, as in the case of the eChump, a high price doesn't always correlate with high quality.
