20 Best Cfm Air Compressor (2022 Updated)

This compressor packs a punch in a small package. Very well built, excellent packaging and is assembled south of the border vs in Asia. Noise factor is amazingly quiet and access to controls and gauges are right in front for easy viewing and operation.

I do not regret my purchase one bit and as a matter of fact, am contemplating purchasing another two for my production area. Definitely a great buy!!.

I wanted a quiet compressor, this unit fits the bill. It is compact, quiet and efficient. I looked at many others, then after speaking with a tech rep, made the purchase. Glad I did! Very satisfied with the compressor.

My only negative, though not a really big one, is the moisture drain plug should extend out so you don’t have to get on the ground to release any trapped water.

This air compressor pumps up quickly and quietly. You can stand next to it while it’s running and have a conversation. So far, I’m very impressed. I have no experience with the California brand so my only question is going to be longevity, how long will this unit last.

If this unit last me ten years or longer then it will be money very well spent.

I love this thing. It’s just what I was looking for. I wanted a quiet, small, and light compressor for my bench where I build and repair vintage tube amps mainly to blow off debris that gathers inside the chassis.

This is exactly what I was looking for. At first, I thought it was leaking air, although I couldn’t hear the hiss, but the compressor was cycling on as the air pressure was going down. I removed the blower tool on the hose, and it held air.

So, the problem wasn’t the compressor. Shipping was lighting speed as I live across the US and normally it takes 5 days to receive anything from the West Coast. But I had this in 2 days. It worked without a hitch right out of the box.

I will say this compressor is for small jobs, if you need more air or cfm, buy a bigger compressor. But the noise level of this thing is fantastic now if I only had a shop vac that was this quiet.

I want to highlight both a great product and a great company. I ordered the Mac700 as I was tired of the cheaper oil free types that conk out quickly and I saw good feedback on this unit. My first unit arrived with some shipping damage which Acme remediated by quickly swapping with a new unit.

The process was seamless and will definitely keep me doing business with Acme Tools in the future. This unit was quick to set up, just had to add oil, screw on the air filter, and run for 20 minutes with the air release valve open to break it in.

It is much more quiet than my old oil free unit that had a snappy and loud pumping noise to it. The Mac700 is a deeper, quieter, more muffled sound that is much easier on the ears. Functionally it works great, the regulator is super smooth and easy to adjust, air output is surprising for its size.

I plan to have this around for a while.

3 years of steady use in an un-insulated, unheated garage here in northern Vermont. Run continuously in some pretty hot conditions. A flawless performer. Changed the oil after one year and no other maintenance required.

Keeps up with all my air tools. Doesn’t have the volume to run a blow gun as long as I’d like, but I knew that going in. Light weight and smaller footprint were what I prioritized. Like it enough to buy the Mac2400 for my son.

This is my. fourth air compressor. My first one was the premium (years ago) air compressor (dual tank) for subcontractors running nail guns, etc. (roofers). and is 35 years old and still running (but tank is leaking a bit due to rust).

I have a HF larger tank compressor for general use. it works surprisingly well and is on wheels but is too large to do “nail work” inside the house (I own a lot of brad, nail, staple and micropin guns).

I had the ubiquitous red Porter Cable pancake compressor. liked it fine but after 2-3 years the pressure switch is kaput. And I never cared for its drain valve. So. since I own a lot of Makita tools and have always been extremely happy and satisfied with them, I decided to spend the money to buy a more quality unit.

and I’m not disappointed. Obviously passage of time will be the ultimate judge of the thing but. aside from the greater weight (than the PC pancake unit), what is there not to like? It is quiet. I prefer wet sump compressors.

it doesn’t leak any air and it brings it up to pressure rapidly. so far, I love this compressor. Makita continues to meet my standards in a tool. UPDATE: Have now owned it for one year and used it extensively.

I love this compressor. probably my favorite tool of all tools that I have purchased. It is unbelievably quiet. especially in a room working next to it. it doesn’t leak air, recycles infrequently and reaches working pressure fast.

Only caveat is that it’s heavy and a little cumbersome to carry. But it is a well engineered machine. It reinforces my high regard for Makita tools.

I read a lot of reviews and was interested to try one for my dental office. When it came in I took it out and plugged it in our living room. I was genuinely impressed. I could EASILY talk with my son and wife across the room without raising my voice.

This compressor is genuinely quiet! Brought it to my office and have been using it every day for 2 weeks. (LOTS of USE) without issue. Can’t hear it running at all unless inside the utility room and even in there it is more quiet than the HVAC.

I did connect it with my old (LOUD) 40 gallon compressor to have extra reserve pressure. But unplugged the old one and this little guy keeps up pressure all day in our office that uses air driven equipment all day.

Maybe I just got a great one. but I have 0 complaints. I haven’t been paid for this review, I just like to give credit where it is due.

This is the second Cal Air Tools compressor Ive bought. Ive had their small portable for years and its been an excellent, and quiet, performer on the job site. Its nice when the compressor kicks on inside a house and doesnt scare your client or their cat! I needed a larger tank model for the shop and bought this one.

After setting it up I turned it on and filled the tank. It sounds even quieter than the older one. I left it at full pressure for a week with no hoses attached and it stayed at full pressure the entire week.

No leaks what so ever!! Now when I assemble the hose system in the shop I will know that any leaks do not come from the compressor like other brands Ive experienced in the past. Its a great tool. Highly recommend.

I was a little dubious about buying this air compressor because I needed a quiet machine to supply compressed air to another piece of equipment in my retail store. I have been very pleased so far, and the ladies who work in my store have been very pleasantly surprised.

We don’t have enough experience with it to determine its durability/reliability. The carrying handle needs to be redesigned to make it much higher so that people can pull it around without having to bend over.

My suggestion would be to change the design to have a bolted lug on the tank so that the newly-designed handle could be much longer, yet packed inside the same shipping box. All the customer would have to do is bolt on the handle with a couple of nuts and lock washers.

Bought one of these bad boys a few months back. Initially I thought it had some issues because it worked for a while then made a weird noise and wouldn’t turn back on. It turns out you can’t run it on a 100 ft.

extension chord. It requires as much power as it can get which is restricted and the amperage dropped when run through 100 ft. of extension cord. A short 10 ft. chord was swapped out and never a single problem ever since.

It does get hot and will visibly pump moisture straight through the outfeed line so you’ll want to get a moisture trap for it or else you’ll corrode your tools from the inside over time. I run a nail gun or an HVLP spray gun with no problems – painting smaller projects only, I’m sure it would handle larger project but you may need to wait for the tank to refill from time to time depending on how quickly you discharge it.

Its not silent. It does make noise but it’s relatively smooth as far as the noise factor goes. It’s about as loud as a car idling. I run mine with the HVLP spray gun all night long with the garage door open without disturbing the neighbors at all.

I bought the Merlin high flow air gun to go with it so I can blow the saw dust out of my garage. Paired with the respectable 4. 3 SCFPM output, compared to the old POS I had before, this Fortress compressor is a dream.

Easy to put together but it’s heavy getting it out of the box. All the knobs and valves are easy to access. My moisture trap was fitted with a quick disconnect and plugged right in. No leaks, no problems, going on 3 months now.

worth every penny to me. take that for what it’s worth.

I had a California Air compressor which I was happy with. The motor finally gave out after about 10 years. I figured I would give Fortress 10 Gallon ultra quiet a try. First out of box started compressor and noticed a considerable air leak out of pressure switch.

I let it continue to fill and reaching its 175 PSI pressure noticed that there was and obvious problem. Second cycle, motor was unable to start. Returned it to store for a full replacement with no questions asked.

Second compressor is working correctly and I’m very satisfied with the product. Sometimes bad parts get through. Harbor Freight stands behind their customer service. I definitely recommend the compressor.

I’ve used this compressor for two years now and I am very happy with it. It will run nailers, air ratchets and my craftsman air impact wrench. It is small so I have it tucked under a bench in the corner of my garage.

While the 4. 5 gal capacity my seem small, the fact that the tank charges up to 200psi means that the compressor doesn’t kick on as often as my old craftsman 20 gal compressor that I replaced. The rigid compressor is much quieter too.

Not quiet exactly, but when measured with a db meter outside from 6 ft away it is about 77db. So if you’re using it outside (framing or roofing) it is very nice. If you’re using it in an enclosed space it will seem louder, but it is STILL quieter than other compressors at this price.

It holds pressure well and has not leaked. I leave mine on all the time and charged with air in case I need to top up the pressure in a tire before leaving for work. It weighs about 70lbs so its not exactly easy to tote around everywhere, but its doable.

As far as the other complaints about the air pressure being “only” 150psi at the outlet, I don’t see what the problem is. 150psi is plenty!.

About 1 1/2 year(s) or so I purchased this compressor, everything was working great never encountered no issue with this compressor , although it isn’t really as quiet as you would expect ahah. It Wasn’t abused or anything I do framing so compressor was getting used a bit like normal.

I live in San Diego so no hard weather conditions but one a regular day about 9 am. They compressor blew it’s internals. 12 in bolt snapped, pulley rod snapped. So be careful maybe not so commercial as the mention.

serial code got scratched off somehow and rigid or the Home Depot were no help. I guess warranty isn’t all that. Thanks rigid 400. 00$ compressor. I could’ve bought 4 portable cable pancake compressor that would still be going !!!.

This thing is great. I have a framing company with 4 skilled guys and this compressor keeps up no problem. This is my second one first one crapped out in just under 2 years so I bought a makita Mac 2400.

The Mac 2400 wasn’t even close to the rigid so I took it back and bought another rigid. We work that little thing really hard 100 foot cord and 5000 watt generator never trips breakers and always keeps up even with LVL.

So if your a framer that’s wants an electric compressor that doesn’t slow down I highly recommend the Rigid.

Let me start by saying that I really want to like this compressor. When I was looking to buy, I researched a number of different models, and this one fit all of my criteria. I purchased my first one, and it lived up to its description.

It was quieter than my old compressor, and it held a large volume of air. However, as I was finishing the break-in process, I noticed that there was some signs of rust near the drain valve. I returned it to the store, and the staff were absolutely great and accommodating.

I exchanged it for a new one, and it sat in my garage for a couple of weeks until I pulled it out to break it in. Unfortunately, the new tank also showed rust on the bottom. In fact, the plastic bag around the tank was stuck in one part with a rusty stain both on the bag and tank.

I wiped the rust stain away and examined the tank. This new tank has some small spots that show what appears to be damage to the coating on the tank, and these look to be where the rust originated from.

There are a couple of other suspicious spots near weld joints. So, I will have to take this one back too because I don’t want to mess around with rust and a pressurized tank. I really want to own this air compressor, but I can’t accept that a new one is already showing signs of rusting.

Bottom Line: The price was right. The product looks great. It is easy to move. The store employees have all been fantastic. The rust is bad. I am greatly disappointed because all I want is this air compressor without the rust!.

nice compressor for the price, was not sure buying an oi-less unit. so far it is holding up. long term we will see as i don use it often or for long periods of run time. i like it operates at 175lb tank pressure (kicking on less often than my old compressor) but it seems to take more time then i expected to fill when empty.

rolls around really easy, like the oversized rubber pads in front for isolation, grips floor nice and does not move around at all while running. nice soft grip handle. lean the tank forward with easy opening petcock to drain the tanks moisture, i like this feature and the petcock is a ball valve, not the old style wingnut drain cock.

easy to get to on off switch, my only nit is it only had one quick connect, BUT has a provision for a second one which i put on which is handy for me. overall a nice purchase for a home garage compressor.

its not that quiet but a way less annoying frequency sound than most comparable compressors i have seen and used.

Bought this compresser 2 years ago. Had to change pump just under a year. don’t like the handles there to short to bring back to move. front side is heavy. tire brackets and front floor brackets not set right bad design.

To low to ground can’t get to drain plug to drain water and I just broke that moving to a different outlet to work on things. now can’t get plug out. (heat,drill, tapped, easy out,) plug still in nut hole.

needs to. Be set up higher and longer handles.

I needed an air compressor that was on wheels, plugged into a 120 household current, and had at least 5 CFM to meet my plasma cutter needs. This met those requirements. The unit was delivered to my home and placed in my garage on a pallet.

All good. I ran it for a 30 minute warm up, and next day connected it to the plasma cutter and it worked fine. So price, delivery, and performance were all good. As others have noted, the drain is really awkward to use as its so low.

I went to a big box store and bought a replacement drain that extends to the front and is easy to reach and install. I would recommend this. Three other nagging drawbacks. The on off switch is mounted upside down.

Honest. Not an issue other than, well, how did it get out of the factory that way? Second, the air intakes on mine do not have wing nuts to remove to check the air filters. Mine apparently screw off like a jar lid, except they refuse to turn.

A call to Dewalt was less than helpful, as I was told they screw off (except mine don’t). A second call will be necessary, and perhaps they have more of the original design. Finally, my owners manual was printed with so little ink that the first 15 pages are almost invisible.

I was told that perhaps i could download a copy and print it at home as she couldn’t send a replacement. (At the Dewalt site, the manual to this unit was ‘page not found’. No help there. So to summarize, good price, good delivery time (two weeks), product works fine with minor quirks and tweeks, and a couple of things to be resolved (ability to access air filters and a readable owners manual).

Hence a 4 star instead of a 5 star.

I needed a replacement compressor as my old one had pinhole leaks in the bottom of the tank. This compresssor attracted me due to the brand, tank and motor size and separate motor and compressor units.

Down the road I could replace either the motor or compressor if needed unlike direct drive units. For the bad side of this unit I found that it did not like cold weather. In Wisconsin, at this time, the temperature is dropping.

This unit is in an unheated garage with the temperature in the 20’s. I use it for an adjacent heated woodworking shop. Upon the recommended startup, with the tank drain open, it seemed to start and run ok.

However after closing the drain and using it, the motor seemed to struggle. I found it would trip the motor reset and also the 20 amp circuit breaker. Even with the tank drain open the motor would struggle to get going.

Replacing the circuit breaker made no difference. Since the motor can also be 220 volts I rewired the motor per the decal. I also had to add an additional 220 volt outlet from my welder circuit. So with 50 feet of 10/2 grounded cable, an additional 220 volt outlet and an adapter for the end of the compressor cord it starts and runs great.

If this unit is in a higher temperature setting maybe there would be no problem. Also the drain on the bottom of the tank is a problem. It is too close to the ground and not easily accessible. I added a 90 degree fitting with a hose and gate valve attached to the axle.

It makes it much easier to drain. I like the size of the unit and feel it was a good choice.

Pretty much all these 6g pancake compressors are made by the same company. Bostitch, DeWalt, Porter-cable, Stanley, Black and Decker, Makita, Craftsman: all the same company. Only minor differences in design.

So just get whatever has the best value for what you want. And for me on sale at $80 off with no tools it was this one. It fills up pretty much as fast as a compressor can on a 15amp circuit. No leaks.

Worked fine. But with so-so build quality and cosmetic defects right off the bat. Paint chipping around every connection into the tank, loose plastic cover over the manifold. But it worked and for the price I didn’t care.

Really I should’ve taken this more seriously. It’s loud but a good kind of loud. A deep bass kind of loud. At 2 feet away my old compressor ran at 75db, this one runs at 85db, which technically means its TWICE as loud, but if you told me I had stand next to one of them for 10 minutes I’d take the 85db model in a heartbeat.

I couldn’t stand within 20 feet of my old compressor when it was running but can tolerate this one fine. The difference is the pitch and vibration. My old compressor rattled and ran at a higher pitch.

This one is a steady bass. It’s just a more tolerable sound. Its like comparing a screaming baby to a V8 rumble. Here’s the real problem. It gets hot quick. Max duty cycle is 5 minutes on, 5 minutes off, which most people will never get close to anyways since it fills much faster but I did once when the cheap drain valve came open and I didn’t take notice soon enough.

On a 65F night, with no sun and barely a moon, and outside with full ventilation after running for less than but close to 5 minutes because of the loose drain valve mine had reached a temperature most would consider burnt to a crisp.

I didn’t have time to take actual temperature readings but I estimate he tank itself was at least 100-120 degrees F, the rubber hosing outside the engine housing was too hot to touch, maybe 160-170F, and the internal components, though I couldn’t touch them, got hot enough that the heavy metal engine began to melt through the flat plastic base of the engine cover so that now instead of a flat base raised above the tank with significant clearance I now have a deformed base where you can see the distinct imprint of the engine where it started to melt through the plastic until it stopped when it hit the tank.

So now it makes contact with the tank. Shining a flashlight into the housing shows obvious heat damage on the metal components some of which most definitely reached temperatures far beyond what is safe, easily 300-400F.

The compressor still works but sounds completely different since it rattled against the tank now and gets hot even faster since there’s no clearance between the tank and the base. So this lemon is going bsck.

I could try a warranty replacement but I’m within the return window so might just do that even if it means I have no compressor until the next sale. Good thing there’s pretty much one version of these things on sale somewhere or other at all times, and I’m pretty sure this was just a lemon because other models didnt come with the cosmetic defects that mine had right off the bat.

I bought this to replace my old Porter Cable pancake that bit the dust after nearly 20 years. First, this model is an obvious rebadge of the newer Porter Cable compressor but it’s $10 cheaper (regular price).

My old compressor came with two hoses and a brad nailer, this one comes with nothing at all but the unit itself in the box. Not that it matters to me because I could re-use the ones I had, but in terms of value if you end up spending money for those tools there are other options that are much better.

That said, for my needs and getting this on sale it meets all my expectations. It’s as loud as my old one, definitely not one of those “quiet” compressors, and it fills with air in the same amount of time.

I have a big 35 gallon compressor, but it’s not mobile. I needed something for projects outside my garage, such as putting a shingled roof on the chicken coop or filling tires farther away than my driveway.

I’ve been using this one for over a year now and it works great! Staplers, nail guns, air chucks, and my blow gun all have been used in much more mobile situations. I was able to top off all four tires on our car this morning from the tank at max pressure to start, but without having it plugged in.

I’ve had a Garage Mate compressor for 10 years now. It gets used often, but not in daily service (I’m a weekend warrior). It is surprisingly heavy, but the wheels make it easy to drag it around. Able to run a cheap HVLP gun with it just fine, all of my nailers and other air tools.

The only thing I couldn’t run was a sandblaster, just doesn’t have the CFM for that.

It’s an industrial style compressor in a compact, small garage size. The only annoyance I had was that it came with pneumatic tires that instruct you not to fill with compressed air. You have to use a bike pump? I find that very ironic and of the logic you would get from a foreign countries product of say Asian manufacture.

Should come with flat-free tires if you can’t use the air compressor to self inflate. I wonder if IR employees find that amusing? Anyway, other than that it seemed of good sturdy quality and held air very well.

I would always want the bigger compressor but needed to fill a small space which it does very well. One more irony is that you can’t lift by the mobility handle such as going up a stepped incline. Well how else would you move it reasonably? Through bolts will solve the problem.

I will probably put bolts through the handle one day and change out tires to flat-free and all will be well. I gave it the good rating because it deserved that and I think most people won’t be bothered by what bothered me.

It has the IR name and hopefully will outlast me. Good luck with your purchase.

It was everything it was advertised to be. Belt guard was damaged. Local vender is working on getting it replaced. As for the Air Filters – the IR part doesn’t appear to be any good. I see there was a question below on this topic.

Try PUMA or Senco 2142013.

The air compressor arrived on time. Getting my ff the truck and then the pallet proved to more challenging. During shipping the pallet was crushed under one of the 3 legs. Which added to the challenge.

During the un packing an moving into it’s new resting place I discovered the drain fitting was broken on the bottom of the compressor likely done during the shipping when the compressor broke through the pallet.

Wiring the plug was a simple process other than the confined space under the pressure switch housing to fit all the wires. Aligning the housing cover back on took some patience to get the tab to align with the switch as part of the wiring process and reassembly.

Big you are not careful easy to break. Looking forward to putting it to work and report back.

This is by far getting better, I notice it runs less than the other 3 I had. It’s less noise for sure, my last one was a 5HP Husky that had a high sound of 91 decibels and my Quincy is 83 right at it but goes down the farther away you are but are about equally.

Whereas 91 goes down to 83 @ 30 and the 83 goes down to 63 decibels at 30. Runs a 1/4 of the time my other compressors ran. The only thing that would make it better is if it came with an hour meter. I purchased one from McMaster Carr was like $40.

00. I am so impressed with this compressor could have spent less for the big box store compressors but then I would just have to buy another in a few years. This buys far should have been done years ago.

I was blown away when I turned on this compressor. I’m used to my Porter Cable pancake compressor which is loud. It’s having issues so I needed a new one. I purchased a “quiet” one from another big box store for about $50 less and I was happy about the noise level.

Then walking through home depot I saw this one which looks very similar but you can wheel it around and has higher psi. I bought it to compare and was absolutely blown away at how quiet it is. This coupled with dual connections, higher PSI, wheels, and the ability to store it with virtually the same foot print as the other one makes it an absolute no brainer that it’s an extra $50 well spent!! For the home user, its awesome.

even for the job site listening to it all day would be excellent!.

My wife said she only could hear when I let the air out of the compressor. This is the quietest compressor I have heard. Only issue, which someone else commented, are the wheels. They are small due to their position under the tank.

If they were extended beyond the tank, bigger wheels could be added which is better for steps. I plan to put protective tape along the back support bar so it does not scratch up the paint. I highly recommend this unit.

super quiet, great quality Only nit picky thing is that I keep grabbing the extendable handle whenever I go to lift it and it moves because it isn’t designed for you to life it from that handle. The two output quick connects are nice.

I plugged my old air compressor tank into it for extra capacity.

Whisper quiet compressor, reaches working pressure very quickly. Regulator very accurate. Bought to replace 5 gallon Porter Cable pancake unit. Please note that it’s a very heavy unit so not easy to move around.

I use a small wheeled buggy. Fit and finish is excellent, one of my friends is a carpenter by trade and uses the same unit. I’d probably have moved up to the wheeled unit if I’d done my homework. I bought it based on independent testing reports, I.

e. , “best small air compressors” where it was rated #1.

Once again Makita exceeds my expectations. This unit is much quieter than expected. It fully pressurizes in a minute. It allows spray painting besides running air tools. It’s a work horse that is well built and will last.

This is not a renamed product sold by other tool company’s. Makita engineers, designs and builds their own equipment. Good job!.

I was real happy with this compressor, just using it to run a pinner and blower for under an hour, total running time over several days. I’d set it up and ran it according to the instructions. All good.

Fairly quiet. No issues. Drained the tank after each use. However, I hoped to put up a little trim today and it doesn’t work at all. Really disappointed. I’m taking it back tomorrow for an exchange.

I really like the compressor and I have kept it. However, it was damaged in transit or the warehouse, almost certainly by Home Depot and not by the last-mile shipper (Same Day). I went to the store and received $100 cash-back for my trouble.

Amazingly enough I have since bought three Panasonic fans (each at $151+tax) at Home Depot in Burlington and one of these was damaged by handling in spite of excellent packaging design. Your handling people seem to be frustrated demolition-derby drivers.

Paul Donders 905 847 8018.

Nice portable and compact unit. We use it for separating nested (stacked) plastic pails that get stuck together. When in use, it is used with short air bursts to push the pails apart, but repeated every few seconds during 6 hour shifts.

Keeps up and is not too noisy. Happy with the unit a month in, will probably buy another for a spare.

My brother borrowed my compressor for automotive needs. I use it for my automotive needs. Instead of loaning mine. I bought him his own unit. Very happy. Great for your home garage needs. Easy to move and store.

I returned 2 in the first week because I thought the motors burnt out. Turns out this particular model is sensitive to the amperage that it can get from the source. If you are working at an older house or Or even off a hundred foot heavy gauge cord it will start to overheat and shut down by mid day or earlier.

Usually you can just turn it off and take a 5 minute break. Sometimes it is longer. One tie I gave up after a half an hour and burrowed a different brand from the owner of the ranch I was working on and that one worked fine all day.

The guys I have talked to running all the other brand pancake compressors all say they never have this issue. The second big issue is the drain valve. This is a portable jobsite unit and it is going to take some hits.

Well, mine got bumped on the job site and the valve cracked. Had to shut the job down and go find a replacement, which Home Depot does not sell. It is sticking out the bottom close to the ground and close to the side as well.

Very exposed and vulnerable. When I got home I welded a short piece of angle iron behind it and a V shaped pice of rebar in front so I can access it. Now it’s bullet proof but I am going to replace it soon anyway with a 5 gallon fortress from harbor freight.

I just can’t count on it to not shut down on me while I’m framing some walls or nailing shingles. Job stoppages like that are frustrating and not acceptable when caused by failures in style that so many other companies have done right.

This one is going to be relegated to home duty for airing up bike tires and basketballs. Probably going to get rid of my shop compressor since most of my shop air tools have been retired now that cordless impacts and ratchets are actually good options.

Replaced my old broken no name compressor with this Ridgid. Use it mostly for tires but also DIY projects around the house. It is fairly light and easy to carry around. Fills up fast enough. It’s a compressor, so it’s noisy but not unbearable.

I was looking at more expensive compressors but happy I made this purchase as it satisfies all my needs. Thanks Ridgid.

Right out of the box it performed wonderfully. Not quiet but manageable I wore ear protection because I have only 1 good ear and will not chance damaging the other. Would be loud in a room in most houses but not like some compressors.

NO ASSEMBLY required. Remember to do the 30 minute break-in run before you do any work. Pumped up tires on lawn tractor in seconds and blew the dust from my work bench in a breeze (wind?). Cleaned up my chainsaw in seconds.

Will not likely be doing any nailing but this thing will do most light to intermediate nailing without effort. Not recommended for painting or continuous use jobs but it could do some short jobs in an emergency.

Pumped up the tank to 150PSI in about 2 minutes and holds the pressure without leaks. The universal quick connectors (2) are great and come installed. 1/4 turn drain plug is very neat. Remember, this item does not include any tools, hose or attachments, JUST the compressor.

Buy the best hose you can afford, don’t cheap out! Get 50 ft and you’ll thank yourself. I suggest 3/8″ hose with 1/4″ fittings. Don’t get the coiled stuff; it’s just a pain. I’ll do a later review when some time passes.

Me as a user: I restore antique/vintage motorcycles and the occasional car. In the late 70’s I had a motorcycle shop and used a 3. 5 HP, 25 gallon Craftsman with 3 of us connected to it. How this Dewalt compares with limited use to date Noise comparison: a wash.

While not deafening, the Dewalt is as noisy as my Craftsman ever was. Not horrible, just not the “quiet operation” I was anticipating. I believe a large part of the noise is driven by this next component refill time.

My Craftsman would go from empty to full in less than 5 minutes. After bleeding and refilling several times my Dewalt takes a minimum of 12 minutes to fully refill (30 gallon Dewalt vs. 25 gallon Craftsman).

I haven’t taken the cover off yet to peek but my guess is the piston and canister (what broke on my Craftsman and 3 Chinese crappy replacements later led to this purchase) for pumping air are significantly smaller on the Dewalt than on my Craftsman (also 1.

5 HP Dewalt vs. 3. 5 HP Dewalt). This combination leads me to believe that, with regular usage, I will be lucky to get half the years of service out of my Dewalt that I did with my Craftsman (also purchased Craftsman when parts AND assembly were made in the good ol’ US of A).

Ultimately this is a pancake compressor mounted on a 30-gallon tank. I do appreciate the 200 psi whereas my Craftsman was rated at 125. As an “old guy” who will use this as detailed, I believe it will suffice so long as I do not have to use it in an extended, continuous operation, setting.

I have yet to use it for spray painting a car but I am marginally optimistic the refill capabilities will keep up. If they really wanted to make their customers happy they would sell this unit with a slight increase in HP and pump/refill capacity.

But I understand why they don’t it’s purely marketing (you’ve already purchased the motor and piston how much could the incremental cost really be?). Truth is I haven’t had an opportunity to put it through its paces yet as I purchased it in the middle of moving to a new residence.

If I think of it I’ll circle back in a year or so to provide an update.

I really do like my DeWalt air compressor. I chose this model because it required less amps to restart the motor to build the tank pressure back up. The only complaint I have is it is kind of slow to get back up to full pressure before it shuts off.

I have had other compressors that were much faster but they also would not restart when using an extension cord unless you drained all the pressure out of the tank. I guess thats the trade-off. Overall I am happy with it and may buy it again but I would seriously look around for a better option before I chose this model again.

I found it rather easy to setup and use. The instructions are very clear. It is definitely user-friendly if you are not in a big hurry.

I bought this to winterize my sprinkler system. Now, I am finding lots of new uses for it. Wheels make it easy to move around even up and down the stairs. Easy to use make its low barrier to entry for new uses.

Don’t need to wait to fully fill the tank for shorter uses. During the initial run, I was taken aback by the fact that the compressor kept running after the tank pressure passed than what is listed as the maximum pressure on the tank.

Since then I learned that the pressure regulator would trigger way before the tank could rupture from pressure. I wish that was mentioned in the instructions.

I bought this compressor last year to use on a car restoration project. It replaced my 30 year-old Sears compressor that finally coughed up a bearing (that I have been able to replace- good back-up).

I needed the DeWalt mainly for a Harbor Freight sandblasting cabinet and painting. The blast cabinet gobbles up a ton of air (requires like 20 CFM) that this compressor can’t keep up with (as expected), so I have to stop every 10 minutes or so to let it catch up.

That’s fine, you can only blast for so long anyway. But I have blasted many, many parts and it got the job done. As for painting, so far I have only sprayed epoxy primer using an Eastwood HVLP gun that only requires 5-9 CFM.

The compressor was GREAT for that- it only occasionally had to turn back on to refill. 5 plus stars for that! I was a little disappointed at the set-up on the compressor when I bought it. The two pulleys were quite a bit out of alignment- way more than the manual called for.

So much for American Made. I changed the oil after a few hours of break-in running, and then filled with the Royal Purple compressor oil after a month or so. I’m working in a detached barn with 20 amp service and it’s able to keep the compressor running OK.

If it’s very cold I have to let the pressure run down low before running the motor or it will trip the breaker, but after it runs to fill up and warms up it restarts with no problem. Since I don’t have 220 in the barn this is about the most compressor I can manage, and it does the job in my situation just fine.

I bought this same model 4 months ago just to have in my garage for small impacts, air blower, angle grinder and such. I ran it 4-5 hours and drained the compressor oil and refilled with the compressor oil that tractor supply recommended.

I’m going to do it again in 15-20 hours of use. The original break in oil had quit a bit of Metallic in it from parts breaking in. I also replaced the drain cock with a brass sub, elbow and ball valve to make draining condensation off easier.

I also installed a ball valve between the regulator and quick disconnect making it easier to unhook air hose. So far it hasn’t been a bad compressor for the money. Time will tell. I own a larger 120 gallon, and a couple 60 gallon compressors, but I wanted this one to accomplish small jobs and operate nail guns for carpentry work and it seems to be a good fit.

It pumps up to a true 155 psi.

Bought this compressor to replace my SpeedAire unit which is probably at least 30 years old. It came with the house when I bought it. The tank finally rusted out. This new DeWalt compressor is much much much more quiet than my old compressor and is portable because it has wheels, where my old unit did not.

Fills up from zero to about 150 psi in around 6 minutes. So far very happy with it, but have only used it a couple of times as it is now winter and I don’t do a lot of work in the cold temps. Only a few things to caution you about and this is why I knocked it down a couple of starts for quality.

When I went to do the 30 minute break in procedure, I checked the oil level sight glass and could not see any indication of the oil level. I even rocked the unit back and forth trying to see the oil level, Did not know if it was shipped empty or over full to the point where the level was above the glass.

Decided to open the drain plug and held a measuring cup under the opening. The drain plug was very hard to turn because of the amount of paint over the plug, but once I added an extension over my allen wrench I was able to break it loose.

To my relief oil did came pouring out, but I found that it was actually 4 ounces over full from what the manual says is correct. Poured the correct amount of oil back in and then the level showed where it should have been, halfway up the sight glass.

(Wife wasn’t too happy that I used one of her measuring cups to check this by the way!). I then opened the tank drain plug to do the run in procedure and at least a quart of water came out all over my garage floor.

Not sure why there would be that much water in a new compressor, but perhaps they do a run test at the factory which may have added condensation into the tank. This drain plug is very difficult to get to, so I suggest you add a drain plug extension hose to the bottom of the unit like I did.

Under $20 and worth it. The only other thing I had to adjust was the positioning of the blow off valve. The opening of the valve was pointing straight up so that when the compressor reached full pressure it would briefly blow high pressure air straight up just as the compressor stopped running.

Not safe in my opinion if you happened to be standing near the compressor when it finished filling. I cranked the valve around a quarter turn to direct the air stream to the side instead of up into my face.

Will report back if anything changes once I start using it more. Like it so far.

Owned it for a few years with very limited use. Wasn’t thrilled when the auto shutoff stopped working once the tank reaches full pressure. Compressor will keep running even once pressure relief valve goes and lets out the air.

Warranty has obviously expired but still took it to the Dewalt factory service shop to get repaired. They told me that this compressor is NOT a Dewalt made tool and that a company called MAT makes them and just pays to be able to put the Dewalt name on it.

Said they won’t fix it because it’s not their tool. Even with getting paid to use their name, they won’t stand behind the product. Unbelievable. Most of my garage is fitted out with Dewalt tools. Really regretting my brand loyalty.

Used it only for a few days so my experience is rather limited. Operation proceeded as expected with the turn of a button. No leaks or any other issues. Vibration during operation required to place it on a rubber mat to prevent it from “walking” all over my garage cement floor.

Daily draining also require the purchase of a drainage kit, basically a 1 ft tube with a valve that attaches to the draining valve and allows easier opening/closing of the valve, since the location of the valve at the bottom of the tank makes almost impossible to reach.

I wanted a compressor mainly for HVLP and latex spray painting. I researched on and on about what you MUST have to be able to spray HVLP. Many say you need a 240v 80 gallon compressor that delivers 13-15 CFM.

That would require a 240v plug in my garage, tons of storage and thousands of dollars. I decided I did NOT want an oil lubricated engine since it has been known to cause issues with HVLP systems. I am very happy with this unit! It has plenty of capacity to push an HVLP gun.

I’ve used several guns now. Some requiring less than the 7. 7 CFM this unit delivers, others that require more. It handles all of them just fine for a serious garage DIY’er. Don’t let the marketers fool you! Considering I don’t spray for 60 minutes at a time.

Considering much of my spraying time is spent moving my project, mixing paint and waiting for my project to dry, this has more than enough capacity. When spraying multiple coats on a cabinet I built, the compressor maybe filled 1 or 2 times in an hour of working, re-positioning and waiting.

No big deal. It takes about 5 minutes to fill up initially from empty. When working, it takes about 2 minutes to fill. It starts filling again around 110 psi or so, and finishes at 150 psi. The unit is loud.

But not as loud as some cheaper units. My brother hasa pancake compressor and it is horribly loud. I typically leave the garage when it is filling up. Or I wear hearing protection when in the garage.

But it doesn’t really fill up that often, so it’s not a big deal. And, I don’t absolutely have to wear hearing protection. The biggest surprise is how much I use other pneumatic tools. I’ve been using the crap out of my Harbor Freight Staple Gun, nail pin gun and especially my high volume turbo air sprayer.

That thing ROCKS. Although it does suck through the air quicker than any other tool I own. But I can use that to spray out the entire garage! And speaking of a pneumatic stapler. My wife and I have a 15 year old dining set and all of the chair coverings are completely ruined.

They are leather and have ripped down the middle. The manufacturer wanted over $1000 bucks to repair all 6 chairs. My wife went to Joanne’s and bought 6 yards of fabric on sale for $20 bucks. I used my $25 Harbor Freight 20 gauge stapler, a $10 staple puller from Hobby Lobby and re-covered all 6 chairs myself.

It took longer than expected. Maybe an hour each to pull the massive amounts of staples from each chair and another hour each to re-cover each chair. But this project alone has paid for my compressor, got my wife on board with the purchase and frankly, I think I did as good of a job as from the original factory coverings.

For the unit I bought an in-line air regulator and water filter. I also bought a 100 foot retractable hose and mounted it in my garage. I can reach from the garage to my back yard with that retractable hose.

Because of that, I’ve rarely moved the unit from its resting spot. Although, it isn’t that heavy and is easy for me to move when needed. BTW: It is pretty fat and takes up about 2 foot square of space.

I do have it on a 20 amp fuse. I pretty much think it needs that 20 amps. Although, I have it sharing that circuit with a freezer in my garage. But they’ve only had contention 1 time that caused the fuse to trip.

But that was after I accidentally toggled the unit off then on, then off quickly. Highly recommended for serious DIY use.

I had to drive 2 hours to find one in stock even though there are at least 3 stores in the metro area where I live. The display model at my closest store had a dual voltage motor and no hour meter. The display model at the store I got mine at had the hour meter and Marathon motor.

The unit I ended up with had no motor label and no hour meter. I was a little disappointed by that, but with stock being as limited as it is now (only 40 left in the national warehouse at the time) I figured it’s probably not worth trying to cherry pick the features I want.

Even though the price got jacked up by 100 bones in the last year, it’s still a lot cheaper than the closest alternatives (which also got their prices jacked). The good: It’s way quieter than I anticipated.

My previous home air compressor was a little 8gal that was ear pearcing, and most of the other compressors I’ve been around have been uncomfortably loud. After topping off the oil, as I fired it up to start the break-in, I actually winced in anticipation of the loud noise, but the loudness never came! If the direct drive compressors (especially the oil-free ones) are an enraged yell, this thing is an angry groan or growl.

The loudest, most annoying noise coming from this machine is actually the echoing whistle of the air entering the tank, and that’s not even that loud. The fact that I can even hear the air entering the tank should tell you how quiet the actual pump is.

I’m beginning to suspect these are actually dual voltage, but aren’t labelled as such for whatever reason. All of the 2hp compressor motors on the Marathon website are dual voltage. Don’t quote me, but that might be food for thought for someone.

As for the output, I’m fairly confident this will serve all my needs. I’m sure at some point in the future I will upgrade the pump and motor, which is why I drove 2 hours away for a belt drive compressor.

In summary, I’m disappointed by the price increase. I’m disappointed that mine doesn’t have a motor label so I know what motor it is. I’m disappointed mine doesn’t have an hour meter. I’m not at all disappointed by the apparent quality and surprisingly quiet operation, and I still think this is a great value despite the disappointments that go along with not winning the desirable model number lottery.

A great compressor for the price. I’ve only had it a couple of weeks but I’m happy with it so far. This replaced a 40+ year old Craftsman compressor that had a 30 gal. tank. The Harbor Freight 29 gal, 2 h.

p. unit is considerably quieter than the Craftsman which is a plus. It performs comparably with my old unit and also has a smaller footprint taking up less floor space. Weight is about the same and portability is good.

Overall quality is very good for the price. There’s a couple of things I wish were better. The oil drain plug for the compressor crank case is not as easy as it should be as far as accessibility, the drain plug hole is recessed under the unit and is angled downward not making it very easy to add an extension.

An extension would make oil changes an easier and cleaner task. I plan to add my own later on. Oil changes though are only needed every 100 hours or at 6 months so this is only a fairly minor inconvenience.

Also this unit didn’t have the hour meter that other versions had for tracking oil changes. Other than these things I would have given it 5 stars. Time will tell as far as durability but oil bath units of this type normally outlast oil less types.

I’d say overall this compressor is a real good value and should perform well for most any air tool you have.

After having no luck with 2 McGraw and 3 Fortress burning out after just a few weeks, I decided to give this 29 gallon cast iron Central Pneumatic a try. So far, after just one week this compressor is purring like a kitten.

7 minutes to fill and holds air much longer than the McGraw or Fortress. I was stubborn and went with an oil free compressor and much to my dismay, they were right. Never purchase an oil free compressor.

They just won’t hold up to hard work like the oil compressor’s. The associate who helped load it into our truck was very wrong in placing this compressor on it’s side. He told us emphatically that these did not come with oil.

How wrong he was. Once the oil get’s into the cylinder’s , it just pumps out oil everywhere. After letting it set for a couple of days, it is now running like it should. Much quieter than the Fortress which came as a huge surprise.

We have had it for only one week but so far, we have a gut feeling that this one will last us for 5 years or longer. It is wider than the McGraw or Fortress and barely squeezed through our doorway. We had to remove the door and moldings to accommodate this big baby into our small room.

We added an auto drain system which is a big savior for us. No more bending down each night. We will give another review in a year from now to see if this baby is still running.

I am using this to run a harbor freight air spray gun, I am painting large dumpsters, and it maintains enough air pressure to allow me to keep spraying a full 20 oz cup. It does constantly run, but it maintains over 100 psi the whole time so no lag in my painting unlike my other compressor (older central numatic 26 gal with auxiliary tank attached) that compressor could not keep up I could only spray for about 10 minutes before pressure was too low to spray and had to wait till it built back up again.

with this one there is no waiting I can spray the entire dumpsters with only stopping to fill my paint cup. I have now used it on three dumpsters with no issues have run it probably total of 18 hours in three days at about 6 hours each day.

Compressor seems to be doing just fine. A little noisier than I expected but hey its a compressor there is going to be noise. The built in pressure gauge seems to be very accurate, I have a secondary inline gauge to make sure I never run too much psi for the tool I am using.

Also this compressor doesn’t seem to be putting as much moisture in the lines as the older compressor did so that is a plus as well. I hooked up my die grinder to it, which previously I could not use for more than 2 minutes at a time, and i used it for about 10 minutes without dropping below 100 psi in tank on compressor.

So if your like me and need a compressor to use for periodic projects that require higher-longer use time of the tools then you can’t go wrong with this one. it has been worth the money for me. Assembly was easy- put on two tires, put on the hose hanger total of 2 bolts and 4 nuts took all of 2 minutes to assemble – I found it easiest to leave on the base of the box with styrofoam in came on put the wheels on and roll right off the packaging.

easy breazy lemon squeazy. Dont waste time getting the smaller psi compressors you will just regret it spend the little extra and have a compressor that can do it all for the small home shop.

Exceptional in size, weight and capacity but lacks power and lacks the ability to stay cool in outdoor conditions above 78°F on an overcast day. The pressure will climb slowly to 200 psi but once achieved will not turn back on until the psi drops to 160.

While this is a feature it doesn’t keep up under power tool use such as sanders/dual action pneumatic applications. After the initial cycle to fill the tank the thermal protection switch will kill the power.

At this point the compressor must be unplugged and the pneumatic pump must cool before the unit will engage again. While 200 PSI sounds like a lot of capacity the compressor can’t provide more than 10 minutes of air tool use before you have to stop and allow the compressor to catch up and reach maximum pressure again.

This is where the thermal protection is triggered again and the whole process starts over. Once cooled it will start again but the compressor and circuit systems are pretty much what you find on a pancake compressor.

The tank is just larger. The closer you get to maximum pressure the slower the tank fills resulting in waiting on the system to catch up, thermal lock and then restart. The price is low if you don’t have to ship it like I did.

Around 150 for shipping and that raises the price to 500 or so. This is basically a tall pancake compressor on a big tank. It is under powered and resets to a debilitating and annoying process that almost renders it useless for any professional application.

Break in time is 30 minutes with the tank valve open. The features are nice yet again, underpowered. In the video I tried to sand a small tabletop with a dual action pneumatic sander. The system could not keep up with a small project for a brushed semi-gloss clear coat finish.

My disdain and lament are egregious.

Not your big tank volume, but this product is great! Very quite operation compared to the smaller oil filled ones, or a Big compressor. Operates big tools at ease. Die grinding, body sanders, and blast cabinet all work well, yet it runs all the time to keep up.

Sometimes you have to wait a little bit. CFM is good for painting and other operations @ 5. 2, but optimal should be 7. 0 or above for all purposes. 110v power is adequate for a 20 amp circuit. Portability is optimal.

If you can’t afford a 2 or 3 stage 240V large volume compressor, this is your best option! I have had no problems so far. I would recommend this product. Price range was right for me when on sale for $399.

00.