I was trying to make a similar decision last week and didn't get much for useful info.
Somehow people seemed to get the idea having a quiet compressor was way more important to me that is was/is, and did not get that I have a hard time getting large packages sent to me, on top of not liking to buy stuff I may have to return because of issues with it online because of the hassle.
I was looking at the bostitch set, or maybe the Porter cable set. Both were similar, or there are a couple with the compressor and just one gun.
Somebody mentioned they had the bostitch set and it worked fine for them.
They all have a mix of reviews bad to good, both on the box store sites and on amazon, etc....
It sort of depends on what you plan on doing with the setup.
If its a one time deal, or maybe a few times on say a house you are renting, then the cheap set will work fine I think. Light duty occasional use. Not sure it matters which particular brand you pick, but the actual unit you end up with might or might not have issues - but that's about the same with anything these days.
If you own the home and it will need a lot of work and you plan on doing more building later, and/or want the compressor to do other jobs, then I would say you want to step up a bit.
For an actual contractor situation I would look around and see what others in the field are using and look on contractor forums, though I can tell you there isn't much agreement there either.
I fall in the middle category. I had kind of settled on the hitachi compressor and their framing gun before I went to the store.
They have a good name in general, though there were few reviews of the ec99s compressor to be found they were all pretty positive with a couple exceptions.
I think most people just go for the set because its so much cheaper, so fewer people buy the better (in theory anyway) unit.
What I like about the hitachi is that its an oiled compressor.
Should last much longer, and parts will be available in the future should it have an issue.
It is quieter than your average oil-less compressor by a fair amount, not quiet, but not annoyingly loud either, and a little deeper sound besides. I have it in my laundry room and with the so so door closed you can hear run, but no louder than say the washing machine on spin.
There is a video review on it that is decent.
I did a break in procedure which while not mentioned in the manual is a common practice for a new oiled compressor. Hitachi actually says to change out the oil within the first 50hrs of run time instead.
I ran it for 20 minutes, changed oil (15w40 full syn) and let it cool, then ran it again for another 20 min and changed again. A reviewer on one of the sites did the same thing and it sounded like a good idea to me. Got a bit of fine metal the first time, very little the second time.
Had a small air leak when I first let it come up to pressure, but was just one of the brass fittings on the plastic line needed another half turn. Has been holding pressure for 3 days now.
Another thing I like is that it kicks on at 105 psi, and at 100psi my framing gun will drive a 3.25 nail into a 4x4 no problem, so I should never end up starved for pressure.
They have the guns out for the kits at the stores so you can pick them up, they feel pretty lightweight to me, but I'm not an expert by any means. The single unit hitachi guns feel way better.
None of the kits include a framing gun, so I had to buy one of those separate anyway.
Definitely more expensive though, I paid 179 for the compressor, 179 for the gun, plus hose and couplers, I already have tool oil. Plus the oil to break in the compressor was like $12 a quart, probably a lifetime supply though. I still have to buy whatever other guns I will need also.