"blueman" wrote in message
...
I am looking for an affordable air compressor for my small home
shop. Uses include nail guns, perhaps some other air tools, blowing
out irrigation system, and inflating car and bicycle tires. I imagine
using it on average a couple of times a month.

Harbor Freight seems to offer about half a dozen models in the price
range of $90-150. Models vary in tank size and horsepower primarily.

- Any experience with Harbor Freight compressors? Any specific models
you recommend?
snip

I have two compressors. One is a small HF unit. The other is a "largish"
Porter Cable unit.

The HF is portable. The PC is "luggable".

The HF is a 2 HP 6 gallon oiler unit.
It has two "hot dog" tanks stacked one on top of the other.
I bought it for portability and light duty use. It's pretty heavy to be
easily portable, but I just grunt, groan and ignore that part when I need to
lift it. Other than that, it does just fine for nail gun use, car tire
inflating and ... well, that's about it. And that's really about all one
can expect from a small capacity compressor but it delivers on that quite
nicely. I recall spending about 85$ for it on sale.

The Porter Cable is a 6 HP 25-gallon unit that will deliver about 6cfm at
90-pounds of pressure. It's a bit of a power house -- to do much better
you'd have to go to a 220-volt compressor.
The PC will drive a powerful 1/2" impact driver, chip hammer, ratchet driver
and other tools that the little HF hot dog couldn't even dream about. The
PC is the mainstay of my shop and gets daily use -- and a lot of it at that.
I bought it for about 345$ on sale about 4 years ago.

Both of my compressors are oilers. They'll outlast any "oil free"
compressor on the market. That they are all "oilers" is one big plus the HF
units have over most any other in that small unit category; the compressor
is lubricated with oil and they run quieter, cooler, and last longer.

Steve
http://www.ApacheTrail.com/ww/