Benjamin Recharge, After a year and a just a word of warning to keep in mind!!

Hi! all, Ive been going to write a revue or write up for some time now but have held off so as not to bash any of my good friends at Crosman. They have some of the best customer service in the industry and have always been more than fair with taking care of any problems related to their products in a prompt and fair manor.

That being said, In July of 2019 at the Crosman shoot in N.Y. they offered us shooters a VERY good deal on the new at the time Benjamin Recharge compressor so I purchased one for my air gun club to use to recharge our SCUBA and SCBA bottles we all own. I was put in charge of using it and maintenance of the unit sense I have a mechanical background and will be there at the club as much as anyone. I set up the unit and began to fill peoples bottles with no problems for about two weeks keeping track of all hours of use. I had topped off about five bottles in that time when the clear plastic water reservoir started leaking so I called customer service and was told they had no parts yet to send me as it was a new product so just send it back for free replacement. I told the person that It was a two minute job to change the reservoir to just send me a replacement and it will save them a bunch of shipping cost and me the hassle of shipping it back, they checked with the person in charge and agreed to remove one from a returned unit and send it to me to fix the unit we had . GREAT!!! 

About ten months later after warranty was up!!! I was filling a bottle when the unit began making a terrible racket so I shut it off ASAP and removed the outer case to find that the plastic fan that pulls air through the unit had self destructed so again I called customer service and got the same answer that no parts were available!!! "SO" we were able to find a metal replacement on the web that could be machined to work and put it all back together once again. The new fan actually made the unit run about ten degrees cooler than the origional so we were in business again no thanks to Crosman this time.

A couple weeks ago I was filling bottles again and the unit began to smell like it had an electrical problem but before I could shut it off It stopped very abruptly with a clank! It seemed to be very tight when you tried to turn the pump but never ran hot at all?? We disassembled the crank case thinking that we had seized a bearing or something but came to find the shaft that runs through the electric motor that drives the pump had sheared off completely!!!! Once again I called Crosman, Still no parts available but was told that If we had not taken it apart they might have done something for us!! What a JOKE!!!! So once again our member saved the day by machining a complete new shaft for it and once again we have a running compressor!!! No thanks to Crosman!!!

In case you are wondering we have topped off about 85 bottles so far and have about 60 hours on the unit at this time. I guess if only one person was using this compressor for his personal use it would have had far less use in the year and a half but it has been over maintained and NEVER overheated!! I guess I could say the unit might be a good one for a person that uses it less than we do but I am very disappointed that a company like Crosman dose not stock any parts to repair them!! I think that is just bad business!!! You CAN get parts for the three hundred dollar throw away compressors from E-Bay but not for a unit costing many times more?????? Gimmie a break!!! Just thought I would warn anyone that is thinking about a Benjiman Recharge compressor to keep in mind that NO PARTS ARE AVAILABLE IF YOU NEED THEM!!!! Other than that I guess it's as good as any of the cheap China compressors on the market but at a MUCH higher cost!!! Hope you all have a great holiday!! J.L.
 
Buy any PCP compressor from Wal-Mart only with the optional 4 year added on protection plan. Keep doing this every time they break till they wise up and stop offering the 4 year protection plan.

So far seems like they just let you keep the broken compressor even with minor issue you can DIY repair and they either send you a new additional one as a replacement or refund if requested and you get to keep the paperweight as souvenir to use as parts for the next one you order from Wal-Mart online with 4 year protection plan of course!

Amazon is interesting but then again it's not a Benjamin Akela they sent an additional FREE BENJAMIN AKELA when it won't cock.(that you fix by simply adjusting the trigger) since they don't take back defective PCP guns? Buy 1 get 1 free? Nuts!!!

I think it's the no brainer way to go because even if you pay up to half the price for a compressor at Aliexpress it will still break then it's all on you when that happens. You may luck out and breaks within their 30 or 90 days guarantee and let you keep the broken one and they just send another under ideal conditions though but still they WILL break.
 
I've got 16.5 hours on my ReCharge, which I've owned since July. I normally only use it to fill guns directly, but I have used it to top off my 6.8 liter and little 18 cf tanks a couple of times. I have only changed the oil a couple of times. I don't know when these automatically shut off due to temperature, but I never let mine get above 65C. When I have filled a gun or tank, or when I reach 65C I open the bleed valve and allow the compressor to run maybe 30 seconds more without a pressure load on it (and immediately see it begin to cool down - pretty quickly). I'm hoping that babying it will result in a long service life. So far I like the ReCharge a lot, and haven't had a single issue with it. Maybe, hopefully I got a good one.

Unfortunately, as a companion to my ReCharge (and something which was a bit more portable) I had purchased a Hill EC-3000. But it failed after less than 1 hour of use. It may have been something as simple as an over-pressure valve failing, but it was making improper noises and wouldn't fill to more than ~50 bar. Fortunately it was taken back without question by the dealer, and I received a refund for it. I either got a bad one, or maybe they just aren't ready for prime time yet.

There seems to be some pretty good potential for reasonably priced and well featured compressors on the horizon based on some product announcements. Seems like they aren't really available yet, maybe due to COVID issues getting parts, getting things assembled, or getting things shipped. Would be nice to see some more choices in the mid-price compressor category.
 
I just looked up the Crosman Recharge on the net expecting to find one of those junky $500 water/oil free units. But it is not one of those. I'm kind of surprised you had so many problems with a $1500 water cooled unit. But I guess 60 hours of runtime is a bit much for most of the Chinese made compressors. I will be happy if I get that many from my YH. I only put 20-30 hours on it in a year.

https://www.crosman.com/benjamin-recharge


 
Bio Man, It's not so much the break downs that are so disappointing , It's that they have no parts for a machine of that cost!! It is very much a Chinese P.O.S. compressor in a fancy package as are ALL of the non "Dive compressors" sold as Air gun compressors but you would think they would have some parts available even if they were (used) from returns as I'm SURE we are not the only ones that have had a problem or two!! Service in this country is becoming pretty much non existent because of our love of cheap Chinese products we have accepted as the "new normal" Sad state of affairs for sure!! J.L.
 
Is it THIS ONE?

Screenshot_2020-11-30-17-34-232.1606810480.png

 
Odoyle, Yes it's the recharge!! And Crosman sold them to the shooters at an even lower price than you show so that is why I wrote this article as I did, I guess we got what we paid for in a way but I just want to let others know that "IF" they buy one don't expect any parts to be available during or after the warranty is up!! Inside the case is little more than most of the cheap compressors for WAY more money in a fancy case. Crosman will replace the compressor at there expense while under warranty no problem but I just feel it's not a good business decision to not have parts available for a unit costing this much and it is costing them a bunch of money for needless shipping of units when many could be repaired by the owners. I'm sure many others have paid near retail for it, I sure hope they have better luck than we have!! Only saving grace is that most people wont refill 80 bottles a year and may get some years of service out of it HOPEFULLY J.L.
 
It's a long shot, but I found a replacement part online for the "warrior II" pump that could be what I need to fix my Traveller motor shaft. Have you taken the broken pump apart to assess replacement?

I have run across mention of a Traveller II pump, and the one photo of have seen of that pump it is very similar to the Warrior II. That said, I learned the hard way that the Hatsan pump is just different enough to not have interchangeable parts. It may be worth a 60.00 gamble to save a 400.00 pump... maybe.

https://www.canadashootingsupply.ca/crankshaft-set-for-new-warrior-12v-compessor.html
 
Jim, Yes we disassemble ours and pressed the shaft from the motor (ours was about ten inches long ) The crank shaft looks similar to yours but it bolts to the end of the main shaft which is what broke on ours. We have a member that is a retired machinist and he has access to a lathe so he mad us a replacement shaft for ours. Hope you can do the same and repair yours!! J.L.