I'm probably getting ahead of myself a bit here, but I am in the process of buying a townhouse that has a 1-car garage (my first garage ever!). One of the things I want is a small air compressor, mainly for tire inflation but also for an impact wrench for when I rotate my tires, and maybe also for something like a brad nailer. What size do I want? It seems like 6-8 gallons are in my price range. Are certain brands better than others? There is a Harbor Freight near me, but it seems like Menards and Home Depot have competitive products (maybe they are the same?)
My father has one of these:
Other than being loud it's pretty good at fast recovery. You won't run air chisels with it but a brad nailer will be no trouble.
It's $329 @ Northern Tool.
I have the older version of This Bostich, and I've been exceedingly happy with it. It's $200 with a set that has a brad nailer, finish nailer and stapler, which I've used quite a bit successfully.
Edit: With the rubber feet, it's quieter than a lot of comparable compressors I've used, but it's still a single-stage oil-less, so it's still loud.
The Harbor Freight compressors are all tagged with their respective capabilities and if you are going on the cheap, I'd suggest going by the tags. I picked up a 3 gallon 100 psi compressor for inflating tires. That's exactly what I use it for, but when inflating a really flat tire, it'll take a while. For the air tools, go big. 
I have this:
http://www.lowes.com/pd_57655-30449-0200382_1z10d76__?productId=4686711&Ns=p_product_price|0&pl=1
I used it in my house to lay ~1000sq. ft. of hardwood floor. Works great with nailers & whatnot. Its also light an easy to move around and doesn't take up a ton of space.
Thanks guys! I like the size of these.
Just a note: you'll probably find compressors that are oil-less and oil-bath. I personally prefer the oil-bath compressors. They tend to be much quieter. The oil-less make a ton of noise.
I've got a small one from Coleman, its very quiet but won't run tools (maybe that brad nailer). Get a 110v impact for lugs.
EvanR
Dork
6/2/15 2:40 p.m.
Gearheadotaku wrote:
I've got a small one from Coleman, its very quiet but won't run tools (maybe that brad nailer). Get a 110v impact for lugs.
This. It takes a crapton of CFM to run a decent impact gun. Any small compressor that promises enough CFM is lying.
Ah, OK, that's good info. Thanks!
I have one of these from Northern Tool.
It works surprisingly well. Too small for air tools except for short bursts. $69
http://www.northerntool.com/shop/tools/product_200634584_200634584
