Need Advice on which new Air Compressor

[MayerMR]

Alright fellas,

I'm facing a quandary that I'm hoping some other tool nerds may be able to assist me with. I currently have a Makita MAC2400 air compressor that I love, with the one exception being that its capacity is very small (+/-5 gallons). It's got a wonderfully quiet motor, it fills very quickly, and generally does just about everything I need it to do. I've even sprayed paint with my HVLP spray gun with it and while it does run for nearly the entire time, it does keep up. It works with my other air tools as well, but runs out of breath quickly with things like an impact or die grinder (which I use fairly infrequently). The biggest complaint I have is that when I want to use it blow dust or something, the thing runs out of air very, very quickly.

So all that said, I'm looking to buy up into a bigger unit. If Makita made a bigger unit, then I'd buy it, but it doesn't make one in the sizes that I'm looking for.

After having a truly quiet air compressor for awhile now, I simply cannot go back to anything that is loud again. I've narrowed the field down to three units and at this point, I am kind of getting stuck and would love some advice.

Option 1: California Air Tools 10020C - 10 gal 2.0 HP Ultra Quiet Air Compressor
Pros:

• Larger than current unit @ ~2x the volume
• Powerful motor, so faster fill time
• Reasonably priced at $375.94

Cons:

• Only 2x more volume than current compressor, not sure if it'll be sufficient to my needs
• More expensive than larger Kobalt Quiet Tech alternative

California Air Tools 10020C

Option 2: California Air Tools 10020CAD - 10 gal 2.0 HP Ultra Quiet Air Compressor with Auto Drain Valve
Pros:

• Same Pros as above
• Features Auto-Drain valve - not sure if these feature is worth the extra $140 premium?

Cons:

• Same Cons as above
• Cost is starting to climb up with this unit because of the Auto Drain Valve feature...

California Air Tools 10020CAD (Auto-Drain Valve)

Side Note - CAT does make a 20 gal version of this compressor, but the price tag just kind of puts it past what I want to spend.

Option 3: Kobalt Quiet Tech 26 gal 1.8 hp Air Compressor
Pros:

• Ultra-Quiet (I've heard it running)
• ~5x volume of current compressor
• Lowest priced unit I'm looking at $309.99

Cons:

• Less power motor coupled with larger tank = slower fill time"]Less power motor coupled with larger tank = slower fill time
• Larger volume tank is probably more than I need for a fair bit of what I use it for, so I'll be waiting around with this thing filling up more than I would be with a 10 gal compressor.

Kobalt Quiet Tech 26 gal 1.8 hp Air Compressor

Thanks for your input,

-Matt

 

[TuxThePenguin]

Is having the air to use a blow gun your only requirement that your current compressor doesn't meet, or are there other things you'd like to use that we should account for?

How long do you want the blow gun to run before you'd be okay with having to wait? Blow guns don't typically require a ton of CFM, but if you're trying to spray air for 10 minutes straight that might be a bit of a different situation.

The CAT ones are rated about 0.9 SCFM more than that Kobalt at 90 PSI which is more than I was expecting given the 0.2 hp rating difference, but SCFM is typically a better spec to look at than HP

 

[MayerMR]

Is having the air to use a blow gun your only requirement that your current compressor doesn't meet, or are there other things you'd like to use that we should account for?

How long do you want the blow gun to run before you'd be okay with having to wait? Blow guns don't typically require a ton of CFM, but if you're trying to spray air for 10 minutes straight that might be a bit of a different situation.

The CAT ones are rated about 0.9 SCFM more than that Kobalt at 90 PSI which is more than I was expecting given the 0.2 hp rating difference, but SCFM is typically a better spec to look at than HP

Thank you for the quick response and advice. I think it is fair to say that the blow gun issue is one of my larger items that I'd like to correct. No, I wouldn't say I need to blow for 10 mins straight. But it would be nice to blow for say, a minute or 90 secs before the air loses all power (as it does now, but only in about 20-25 seconds.

**edit**

Actually, two things that I'm trying to balance are - and I think this is where I'm struggling - is that I would like to be able to use the blow gun for longer time periods (as I mentioned above), but I also don't want to be waiting around for long periods of time for the tank to fill itself all the time. I know that's like asking for two opposing things, which is really the only reason I'm hesitating to just go and buy the Kobalt that is cheaper and quieter (thought as you mentioned, I'm trading some SCFM) to gain that extra capacity. The trade off being with the larger capacity, I have a longer downtime while the tank is filling. This is really the reason that the 10 gal CAL appealed to me - faster fill time, extended blow time, etc. The real sweet middle spot might be the 20 gal version of the CAL, but it's a hard pill to swallow shelling out $553 for a 20 gal air compressor. (They do sell a 20 gal, 1.5 hp model for $493, but you lose a lot of capability, SCFM-wise)

CAL 20 gal 2.0 HP

CAL 20 gal 1.5 HP

 

[TuxThePenguin]

I notice that Kobalt is actually rated almost the same SCFM as your Makita, and the CATs are only slightly ahead... So essentially the only thing you can count on is the larger tanks in them, which inherently means waiting longer.

I hadn't looked up the Makita last reply... SCFM @ 90 are 4.2 (Makita) vs 4.5 (Kobalt) vs 5.3 (CAT 2hp)

So my revised opinion is that you probably either need to learn to live with the fill time (maybe you can flip the compressor on and then do something else for a couple minutes?) or you might want to consider higher hp and 240v (I take it you don't have a 240v outlet readily available, though?)

You can also add another air tank to your current setup. Might be the cheapest option. Will obviously also take longer to fill, but your current compressor isn't rated that much less in SCFM than buying one of those. Edit: example - https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-10-Gal-Portable-Air-Tank-CT10H/202528456 (10 gal, 150psi rated, $60 - note that the Harbor Freight ones seem to be rated 125 so you won't want those) Edit 2: Would need to spend a little more on the correct hose and fittings also

the 2hp CAT would definitely be a noticeable-but-not-substantial upgrade in performance... the Kobalt would pretty much only have the larger volume going for it, but that's what you say you don't want...

 

[tarbellb]

Id go Kobalt based on your options listed. Get the extra capacity.

But, HF just introduced a line of quiet compressors, may want to check them out.