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.
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:
http://timberlinetools.com/Makita_MA...a%20mac700.htm
Makita 4.5gal, 4.2cfm, $245:
http://timberlinetools.com/Makita_MA...%20mac2400.htm
HF, 3.8cfm, $140 or less when on sale:
http://www.harborfreight.com/cpi/cta...emnumber=94734
Grizzly 3 gal, 2.2cfm, $130:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0465
Grizzly 6.3gal, 4.0cfm, $170:
http://www.grizzly.com/products/G0467
I'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