scottb

All things being equal, I'd take a refurbished CH compressor over a Harbor Freight compressor any day. CH compressors are generally pretty good. The company has been around for awhile, and they have good customer support. Last time I called Harbor Freight for support I was on hold for, literally, 35 minutes.

bbh03

I bought a HF belt driven pump only and fabricated my own setup with a good quality motor (Leeson). The pump itself is a very simple and hard to screw up piece of equipment - definitely solid enough to last a long time. The HF compressors get crappy when you factor in the motor and the pressure switch (and maybe the tank).

theiceman

definitely buy the refurbishe C , they build a greatunit and lets face it , as a home mechanic the most you can possibly use it will be exremely light duty comaperd what it is designed for.

Sammyg2

As posted on the bird board, I've had the HF 2.5 hp 8 gallon compressor for about 4 years now. No crying involved, but an occasional chuckle when i think of how much money I saved vs. going with a similar capacity compressor from one of those other places.

It works just fine, the only problem I have had with it was a pressure relieve valve, and the replacement parts cost less than $2!

It is limited on what it can run for for a small shop and occasional use it is very hard to beat for under $100.

silver44

Is the harbor freight compressor oiless? The only thing I might add here is that when you buy one of those oiless Craftsman compressors from Sears, be sure to get a good set of ear plugs...those things are much louder than the regular ones.

bbh03

Oilless in general are extremely loud and, in my opinion, lower quality than oiled. The oilless tout low maintenance, but how hard is it really to change the oil occasionally in an oiled pump?

BHMSC

From their on-line catalog:

http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=34850

Edward

Oil-less sucks. Craftsman, CH, whatever. Do not get an oil-free compressor. They are *significantly* louder which, believe me, is no fun if it's buzzing deafeningly in your garage as you're working off your 30' hose. You want to spend money? Buy an oil-type.

Generally I agree with all you here about buying quality first, and it will only be once. But one MUST weigh one's use when figuring in your cost. If you are spending multiple times the cost for a better compressor which does not do a better job or last any longer for *your* purposes, then how is that "saving" you anything?

As an avid home wrench and DIY-er, I still find that I am not firing up the compressor as much as I initially "thought" I would. Translation, more dough spent on a better compressor would have bought me nothing. So be sure to buy what fulfills *your* needs, and not how great this compressor is and what it can do for you ...and should your needs change later, then buy what you need at that time.

FWIW, my HF oil-type POS compressor has worked flawlessly now for over 3 years, and I just fired it up last week w/o a glitch. If it dies and I need to replace it, so what! It'll still be cheaper than paying 4x or 10x the amt on a kick-butt unit. The key here is to buy the correct tank size (actually, a little bigger than you think you'll need), buy enough CFM, and get an oiled type.

And of course, all IMHO.

Edward

BHMSC

I'm old school when it comes to compressors. I got the Harbor Freight CH one noted in my post above. An electric motor, connected to a twin piston compressor head, by a v-belt is the way to go as far as I'm concerned. It replaced a similar Sears compressor which, after more than 30 years of service, sounded like it was about to throw a rod.