Which air compressor will suit me?

Nomad/traveller/Hatsan will happily fill bottle guns. I run mine almost constantly when shooting at home. I swap out guns while filling empty guns. 

Kral BP and Mrod fill a little faster than I can shoot the other one and manage targets.

There is a need for an American made well supported reasonably priced compressor.

Seems to be no interest. My suspicion is the high pressure makes for a very slippery slope.

I have concerns concerning humidity filling directly to the gun. This may or may not be justified.

Its also pretty unhandy for me at least not having a tank. When I shoot I usually shoot a lot and running back and forth to a compressor just wouldn’t work. 

I don't doubt the Chinese compressor is the best value and they will improve ( my guess) 

I would prefer air cooling over water .

There seems to be no happy medium with these compressors and no local service on any of them at least in my area.

For now I’m going with nitrogen but it’s no bargain . I figure it’s the best for me because there is nothing to service or maintain and the no concerns about contamination . I figure the money is a wash.

The Shoebox is American made, and long since proven reliable. I have a Yong Heng clone (Vevor, has a bad seal design), and frankly found it a hassle to use, dealing with water/ice, having to vent it of moisture every couple of minutes, etc. I ended up getting a Shoebox and have filled a Scuba tank as well as a 9L, 6.8L and 3L tank several times over. The Shoebox is set and forget basically. Paired with a $140 Harbor Freight Ultra Quiet shop compressor and I can easily have a conversation in the same room with both of them running-- that was NOT possible with the Vevor-- I pretty much needed hearing protection to sit in the same room with that noisy thing.

Seems like the negative with the shoe box is the need for moisture filtration. That and the extra's needed. Guys are talking about oilless compressors and rather involved filtration. 

The filtration concerns me because it seems some what unpredictable. By the time you get it all organized ?????

As for the nitrogen you don't go to a weld shop. You have to go to a gas supplier. Praxair is one there are others. It's not without its hassles and it's going to cost you $500 to $750 to get set up and I'm estimating another couple hundred a year to keep it going. So it's probably on the higher end of the cost structure BUT it's easy as heck to use and you are pretty much assured you are suppling the cleanest gas to your guns. I figure if your going to spend the money you want to be absolutely certain you're don't push bad air into your guns. You will if you compressor seals fail or it the filtration fails. I've had some of this happen and it's turned me off on the compressors. 

The problem is the promises and assumptions on all of the this and then the reality that occurs down the road. There is no perfect solution and nothing the we can count on long term.

I think liability is a part of this and of course the engineering and cost to make a compressor which will do the job . AND the rather limited market.

Probably the best deal is using a local dive shop or fire house IF you can. Guys object to a fill charge but I'm not sure it's not the best for the average guy. Especially if you are not shooting a lot.

The yong Heng works just fine for filling small tanks and guns. Just don't get those clones aka vector. They suck. I have both the yong Heng and the hatsan lighting and both work great and still running. You can get a yong Heng for about $200-230. Vs other compressor that will cost $1000-2000. It's your money. Do what you gotta do.

I like Centercut and many others started with a Tuxing 2 stage. I made an offer of $400.00 and got one. No whistles or bells. After 20 hours it started to sound funny and took a lot longer to top off. I then bought an AV it didn't last 30 days. I now have a Hatsan that has about 4 hours on it $1100.00. Decided to rebuild the high pressure side of the Tuxing? That sucker is working just fine! Now I have two. Would like to find a way to hook um together! The high end compressors? $25-3000.00 they have issues as well, just a lot fewer. Bottom line? They all will fail if not maintained, Just like our airguns. It's not if, It is when they will need maintained. 

Best of luck



Dennis

I recently purchased a refurbished California Air Tools compressor to accompany my new Shoebox. No problems so far. Quicker than I thought it would be and reasonably quiet as well. About $750 total. Very happy with it.

What about your needs is it that you don't need a tank but a compressor? Just curious cause I might be in the same situation.

Every air compressor creates moisture. I've purchased $25 K + compressors for work, they all come with special drying systems. If you don't want moisture in your gun you should put the air thru some sort of dryer before storage into a tank or gun.

Aloha, 

With all the different types of compressors out there the OP should look at the volume of shooting they're going to do. I own a repair shop and have a shop compressor with filters & moisture removers piped throughout my shop so I went with the shoebox F10 route. It has served me well with no issues, I shoot every chance I get. I use the shoebox to fill a great white and 2 guppies. 

I did look at the nitrogen tank route because I do welding at my shop, but a 6000 psi tank would cost me $750 deposit for the tank and $400 to swap out the empty tank with a full tank everytime. Cost wise it was not feasible to go that route. 

Oh yeah, I did get put a filter after the shoebox just incase, but so far the filter has not shown any type of moisture, at least I know the air going into the shoebox is dry as it is coming out. 

Aloha, Keone

Anyone have one of the FX air compressors? I have been looking at one of those. They look pretty good for the money. 

I had one of the older FX air compressors several years ago. It worked well until the liquid pump went bad and I could not get a replacement. FX discontinued that model. and I believe they have a newer model now. 

I now have the Daystate 4500 psi 220 volt model that is a well built very reliable compressor. Down side is it's a bit pricey.

With the problems FX has with there air guns I’m not to sure I would buy a compressor from them.

Not all FX airguns have had problems. I own a Impact and Crown, not a problem one. Have owned a Royale 500 and 400 same there, great guns. There will be problems when one manufacturer out sells the remaining builders because that's the ones you hear most about. Remember its Ford/Chevy vs Lamborghini. I'd buy another FX in a heartbeat. Compressors maybe a different story but as far as I know they only make a hand pump. I believe the original poster was referring to compressors in general so there are lots of options out there. Why the drive by?

Jking

Guess I'm lucky but I haven't had any issues with FX airguns. Maybe some other models have Issues. I did get burnt on one of their older compressors, ie, parts availability.