I have been looking for an air compressor for the garage & shop use mostly to use with nail guns, (finish and brad) and general garage and shop use. The local Grossman's Outlet has a stack of Ridgid OL50135W twin stack tank-oil lube compressors with wheels for $169. These are factory reconditioned units and carry a 30 day warranty. If any one out there has one I would appreciate some feedback or opinions. I have never gone with reconditioned tools so I am not sure if this is a good deal or not.
Sorry I can't help you with the Ridgid in particular, but I've been keeping half an eye out for a new compressor also, and here are some others for comparison. The $170 seems pretty good for a 5-gal, 4.6cfm compressor, and I've had good luck with other refurbed tools, but you might be able to find a deal on a new one for not much more than that. Or if you're willing to spend a hundred or couple more, you might be able to find a good stationary one that would let you blow lots of sawdust, run sanders and higher-cfm tools, etc. But if you want it portable, you might even consider an even smaller one, which would be fine for the nailers etc, but would slow you down for blowing or some other tools. I currently only have a noisy little oil-free 1- gal model, which works great for brad nailing/stapling, and I've even used it with a framing nailer (works OK if you're not in a great hurry, fires maybe 4 shots before the motor kicks in, at least 3 or 4 more work fine after that, but I didn't push it too hard). Anyway, here are a couple oil-lubed, "small-to-mid-sized" compressors I've been considering: Makita 2.6gal, 3.3cfm, $153:
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4.5gal, 4.2cfm, $245:
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3.8cfm, $140 or less when on sale:
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3 gal, 2.2cfm, $130:
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6.3gal, 4.0cfm, $170:
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'd also check Amazon and Toolking for sales.
None of these are high-end, fancy name compressors, but if you're looking for something small, inexpensive, and oil-lubed, they might be worth comparing to the Ridgid. I'm sure someone here will disagree with me on that, since I don't know anything about the Ridgid, but I thought I'd share some other options for comparison. Hope this helps, Andy
I've had very good results with reconditioned tools over the years.. Most have been returned for operator problems or it being the wrong gift, but can't be sold as new..
IMHO, a reconditioned unit is going to get a little bit better quality control than a new one... why test a new one, it's NEW..lol
Oh.. this is very dependant on whether the discount is enough to make it a good deal and check for warranty info.. YMWV
Direct drive compressors are ok on a construction site, but in the shop with you the noise is a bad nuisance. After living with two different direct drive compressors for several years I got rid of them and bought a belt drive, oil lube compressor and my ears thank me every day.
I originally had a belt drive unit, 240 V. Got rid of it because I couldn't take it to job sites. After building my own home I had lots of people wanting work done. I have to do it all by hand until I get a portable. I just saw an Iron Horse 150 max PSI, 5.9 cfm @ 90 PSI for only $199, $169 on the sale I missed by 2 days. But it goes on sale often, per the sales clerk.
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