A quick summary before I get into the down and dirty below. If you are in the market for a compressor and considering the Lightning, I know its long, but I RECOMMEND reading the entire review, otherwise the summary hits the highlights.
Summary:
I ordered the Hatsan Lightning compressor from Byan Ware at Lethal Precision back in August. I filled 2 bottles and it worked fine. A few days later filling my bottle again, the compressor blew up. It sounded like a shotgun going off, my ears were ringing and all. After a lengthy exchange with Hatsan and Lethal Precision they sent me a replacement compressor which was also defective. The replacement leaked and then one of the foster fittings failed around 4000psi shooting shrapnel all over my room. Luckily, I was not hit with the flying debris. On top of that, Hatsan sent me an old, used, corroded compressor, not a new one like they had promised and I had paid $1250 for. I returned the compressor to Lethal Precision, Byan had repeatedly told me the refund should show up tomorrow. I kept emailing him every couple days and he kept giving me a different excuse. After over two weeks of this I had to file a dispute through Paypal. It’s been two months, I haven’t had a working compressor, but they still have my money. It’s been over 3 weeks and Hatsan has not returned any of the 4 emails, service requests forms, or phone calls regarding the defective replacement compressor, not a single one. What horrible service. I would never buy anything from Hatsan or Lethal Precision again.
Honestly, I had better service and luck with my clone YH compressor I paid $225 for on eBay. I filled my bottles about 25-30 times with that little pump and when it started dying, the seller was very helpful. It’s sad I paid 1/5th the price for the YH clone and it filled my bottles 15 times more than the Hatsan. I guess in this case, you don’t get what you pay for.
Review 1st Compressor:
Overall the Lightning looks just like the Air Venturi or Tuxing. They have different features, but the pump if generally the same. The difference is who imports it from China and what Quality Control oversight they have from the Chinese manufacturer. From my experience and from the others I’ve heard from on AGN forum having similar issues, Hatsan does NOT have the quality control anywhere near under control.
The first two bottles I filled were fine. It’s a pretty quiet machine and fills fast. In my case the temp remained around 155 degrees F and filled a 74cf bottle from 3000psi to 4500psi in about 20 min. Another AGN member’s lightning overheats within minutes every time, (you can search for his posts on AGN). The auto-purge was a nice feature and the moisture separator was very deceiving. I thought the large gold filter was the desiccant moisture filter, but it is only filled with cotton. There is just a very small amount (Teaspoon) in the block before the hose. I’m not sure if that is really a selling point over the AV like the boast, but it is definitely better than nothing.
A fellow AGN member contacted me having issues with his Lightning compressor and asked if I could check if mine was making the same noise his was. So started to fill my bottle (I didn’t have the same noise as he did) and this time my compressor was losing pressure fast. As it was dropping through about 3500 psi it sounded like a shotgun going off. Ears ringing and everything. I turned it off, let it sit and fired it up again. No pressure at all. After several back and forth’s with Hatsan and Lethal Precision, Hatsan agreed to send me a new compressor, told them I want a brand new one otherwise I wanted a refund. I didn’t spend $1250 for a used compressor. They agreed, but lied and sent me a used compressor.
Replacement Compressor:
It took about two weeks before I received the replacement compressor. They told me the 1st one had a blown head gasket. They also said they tested the replacement and filled one bottle with it. I set it up, did the proper break in and pressure test the manual says to do and it failed the pressure test. The manual has you plug the hose with the supplied dead end fitting, pressurize it to 310 Bar (4500 psi) and it should hold pressure, any less than 10 bar per hour loss is OK. I was losing 70 bar (1000 psi) in 6 min. I called, emailed and filled out a Service form on Hatsan’s website. They still have never responded. I contacted Lethal Precision and they told me to look for leaks. Then after no leaks were found, they said Hatsan told them its normal. I reached out to other Lightning and Air Venturi owners and they said theirs held pressure, just like my first one did before it blew up. I went to test it again and this time the Foster fitting failed. It split sending internal bearings and brass pieces all over the room. Luckily I was not hit. That was the last straw.
After a couple weeks of back and forth’s, Lethal Precision agreed to return it and got Hatsan to pay the return shipping (not 100% if Hatsan paid or LP, but they sent me a label). Now its been over 2 weeks since they received the compressor and I’m still waiting for a refund. I filed a dispute with Paypal and I am waiting for the outcome.
Recommendation:
Hatsan’s customer service was horrible through this whole ordeal. They are slow responding to anything. And then, with the replacement compressor, they never responded to a single email, call or form. Anyone thinking about buying one of Hatsan’s Lightning compressors, my recommendation is DO NOT.
Summary:
I ordered the Hatsan Lightning compressor from Byan Ware at Lethal Precision back in August. I filled 2 bottles and it worked fine. A few days later filling my bottle again, the compressor blew up. It sounded like a shotgun going off, my ears were ringing and all. After a lengthy exchange with Hatsan and Lethal Precision they sent me a replacement compressor which was also defective. The replacement leaked and then one of the foster fittings failed around 4000psi shooting shrapnel all over my room. Luckily, I was not hit with the flying debris. On top of that, Hatsan sent me an old, used, corroded compressor, not a new one like they had promised and I had paid $1250 for. I returned the compressor to Lethal Precision, Byan had repeatedly told me the refund should show up tomorrow. I kept emailing him every couple days and he kept giving me a different excuse. After over two weeks of this I had to file a dispute through Paypal. It’s been two months, I haven’t had a working compressor, but they still have my money. It’s been over 3 weeks and Hatsan has not returned any of the 4 emails, service requests forms, or phone calls regarding the defective replacement compressor, not a single one. What horrible service. I would never buy anything from Hatsan or Lethal Precision again.
Honestly, I had better service and luck with my clone YH compressor I paid $225 for on eBay. I filled my bottles about 25-30 times with that little pump and when it started dying, the seller was very helpful. It’s sad I paid 1/5th the price for the YH clone and it filled my bottles 15 times more than the Hatsan. I guess in this case, you don’t get what you pay for.
Review 1st Compressor:
Overall the Lightning looks just like the Air Venturi or Tuxing. They have different features, but the pump if generally the same. The difference is who imports it from China and what Quality Control oversight they have from the Chinese manufacturer. From my experience and from the others I’ve heard from on AGN forum having similar issues, Hatsan does NOT have the quality control anywhere near under control.
The first two bottles I filled were fine. It’s a pretty quiet machine and fills fast. In my case the temp remained around 155 degrees F and filled a 74cf bottle from 3000psi to 4500psi in about 20 min. Another AGN member’s lightning overheats within minutes every time, (you can search for his posts on AGN). The auto-purge was a nice feature and the moisture separator was very deceiving. I thought the large gold filter was the desiccant moisture filter, but it is only filled with cotton. There is just a very small amount (Teaspoon) in the block before the hose. I’m not sure if that is really a selling point over the AV like the boast, but it is definitely better than nothing.
A fellow AGN member contacted me having issues with his Lightning compressor and asked if I could check if mine was making the same noise his was. So started to fill my bottle (I didn’t have the same noise as he did) and this time my compressor was losing pressure fast. As it was dropping through about 3500 psi it sounded like a shotgun going off. Ears ringing and everything. I turned it off, let it sit and fired it up again. No pressure at all. After several back and forth’s with Hatsan and Lethal Precision, Hatsan agreed to send me a new compressor, told them I want a brand new one otherwise I wanted a refund. I didn’t spend $1250 for a used compressor. They agreed, but lied and sent me a used compressor.
Replacement Compressor:
It took about two weeks before I received the replacement compressor. They told me the 1st one had a blown head gasket. They also said they tested the replacement and filled one bottle with it. I set it up, did the proper break in and pressure test the manual says to do and it failed the pressure test. The manual has you plug the hose with the supplied dead end fitting, pressurize it to 310 Bar (4500 psi) and it should hold pressure, any less than 10 bar per hour loss is OK. I was losing 70 bar (1000 psi) in 6 min. I called, emailed and filled out a Service form on Hatsan’s website. They still have never responded. I contacted Lethal Precision and they told me to look for leaks. Then after no leaks were found, they said Hatsan told them its normal. I reached out to other Lightning and Air Venturi owners and they said theirs held pressure, just like my first one did before it blew up. I went to test it again and this time the Foster fitting failed. It split sending internal bearings and brass pieces all over the room. Luckily I was not hit. That was the last straw.
After a couple weeks of back and forth’s, Lethal Precision agreed to return it and got Hatsan to pay the return shipping (not 100% if Hatsan paid or LP, but they sent me a label). Now its been over 2 weeks since they received the compressor and I’m still waiting for a refund. I filed a dispute with Paypal and I am waiting for the outcome.
Recommendation:
Hatsan’s customer service was horrible through this whole ordeal. They are slow responding to anything. And then, with the replacement compressor, they never responded to a single email, call or form. Anyone thinking about buying one of Hatsan’s Lightning compressors, my recommendation is DO NOT.
