air compressors

The Max Air compressor is probably the best value for money unit around at the moment. It comes in it's own storage bag with a hose & fittings & has a reasonably fast inflation rate. There are better quality models around that are continuously rated & will no doubt last longer but for the average driver who repairs the occational flat & reinflates his tyres 5 times a year it does a great job.
Forget the elcheapo ones as they will let you down when you need it the most. Saw one for $275 recently although other shops charge as much as $380
Craig Vic
Thomas Bluetongue.

Go for the bushranger Max Air just got one simply brilliant plus has 5yr warranty.

You will find that compressors are like tyres............everyone has a favourite, and a horror story to tell.
How much money do you wish to spend? They can range from $20 to $400.
And.....you get what you pay for.
A good compressor should be part of your recovery gear. ie: it's insurance that you may never need, or your life may depend on it working correctly.
One of my cheapskate sons has a $20 one which operates ok (so far) with a lot of noise, and it can cook your dinner with the heat it generates. But rely on it? No way!
I have two bluetongues and an ARB in my family, and all three have done hard work without complaint. (I fitted a mini fan to the ARB to aid cooling).

Decide on a price range and warranty. Study the specifications, specially the duty cycle. How many minutes on versus lots of minutes off. This will tell you how efficient they are at dissipating heat, as heat will accelerate wear of the compressor and can cook the motor.

Bluetongue is my personal preference as they have a continuous rating, are fan cooled, good warranty, and parts availability for eventual rebuild

Edge,

How often are you going to use it and how fast do you want it to inflate?

The problem with cheapies is that they wear out, but this still takes a lot of use before it happens. If you're like me and only use them occassionally a $70 job from Big Woollies that will inflate a tyre from 15 to 35 psi in 4-5 minutes is fine.

If you want speed, go the Max Air, I've used Al's and it is very fast.

If you need one for out in the middle of nowhere to reinflate tyres after repairing them to get you moving and keeping you alive, you don't need one. You need two, a spare in case one breaks down, because no mechanical item is beyond failing, no matter how much it cost.

Over the years I've also had a couple of those $25 cheapies for general use around the home and inflating camp beds. They're slow but remarkably durable. Great for a backup, but not sure if they'd reseat the bead on a tyre.

Anyway, just my thoughts.

Cheers,

Jim.

Don't over look the Blue Tounge as it is the only 12v compressor on the market that has a continous duty cycle. ie it will run all day if you want it too. It is fan cooled internally.
The other advantage to this is on a hot day it pumps up your tyres as fast as on a cold day, it pumps the 4th or 8th or 16th tyre up just as fast as it did the first. Alot of these "u beut" air compressors pump a WHOPPING 72L per Minute!! For about 30 seconds, then start going down hill.
What made my mind up when looking at compressors was a chart/graph in ARB that was knocking the cheap copies of the max air. It actually showed me how crap the max air was too once it had been running for a while.
I drove down to opposite lock and bought the blue tounge. On paper it's slower than the max air but in reality it's probally the same speed if not faster.
Mines mounted under the bonnet of the surf and runs EVERY day at least once pumping my air tank up to 105psi. And yes it restarts at 80psi with no problems at all. Works great.

If you want fast inflation and you intend to use it a fair bit, go for an Endless Air (A/C compressor). If you are handy with the tools then convert an A/C compressor yourself. I did this, cost me $50 for the bits, I got the compressor free and made the mounting brackets myself. I run the compressor piggybacked off the cars A/C compressor ie with a elt between the two. I have a switch inside to turn it on (pulls the clutch in).

18psi to 40psi in a 245/70x16 takes 28 seconds.

another vote for the bushranger max air here

Yep. A good mate of mine got a MAX AIR, partly because I recommended it to him after chating to the guys at ORE. Then I saw one of those copies that looks identical but some no-name brand at half the price. Well guess what, his max air pumps quicker and makes less noise doing it than my cheap copy !! HMMPHHH

We both went through the cheap nasties, then the truck air, then the huricane style but still found ourselves wanting faster inflation.

Having said that, I don't know if parts are available for the max air, but a 5 year warranty is good value.
I DO know that both the bluetongue and ARB compressors have spare parts available.