I want to buy one of these but I am overwhelmed with my choices. I like the extras: inverter, outlets for appliances, computers, led lights. I'd like to have the copper clamps for the battery cables, 28" seems to be the extra long cables, the air hoses are really short. Longer would be better. the batteries on the units are mostly not replaceable. That means when it goes the whole thing goes. I don't want to spend more than $75-$100 for as much as I'd use it.


I remember Carl Feren liking his so Carl if you read this send me your pro's & con's on yours. We saw you several yrs ago so you should have a pretty good idea of what you like.

Thanks ahead of time for any input.

Tere

Hi Jim & Tere ... We bought a battery-powered air compressor from Camping World and it came with 2 - 25 - 50' air hoses, one of which had a built-in pressure gauge. There were a couple of blower nozzles & other accessories. It was around $275, which is a little pricey but it works really well. The only drawback is that it has no air storage tank so it is not very useful as a blower but is great for filling tires. Currently, we are having our mechanic retrofit it with an old fire extinguisher tank so we have an air resevoir.

The gas or electric powered ones with a tank are cheaper but this one is VERY compact, comes with a handy-dandy carrying case and runs directly off the battery terminals. In spite of the cost & resevoir limitations, we would get another one if this one craps out.

My friend and I each bought one on sale at Tractor Supply a few years ago. His marches on, mine has a failure between the compressor and the motor. It still charges up, jumps batteries gives light, flashes etc. just doesn't pump up tires. Cheap and Chinese, whatcha expect?

We carry a booster battery rated at 700 amps(I believe) -- it has gone a lot of miles with us, is about eight years old (so all it has is a trouble light and a 12 v receptical, in addition to the short leads for battery boosting) and is still working just fine. We carry a small compressor as well which we have used with this booster battery pack when we were suffering through a plague of tire tube side-wall perforations on a trip in Alaska. The model we have is a "Canadian-Tire" product (relatively inexpensive)

Regards Bud

Low cost units available at Harbor Freight, ie:

http://www.harborfreight.com/a...compressor-8884.html

Caveat: Need to keep in mind that it IS a Harbor Freight product, but for back-up use only it may suffice

Does anyone have experience with the Black and Decker product? It's about $150 but has very good consumer reviews. I would like to find one made in America. Or maybe Germany or some other country that still makes quality products. I'm tired of getting stuff from China that breaks. And I'm also tired of buying junk from countries whose goal in life is the destruction of the United States.
Jim