California Air Tools 8010A Aluminum Tank Air Compressor | Ultra Quiet, Oil-Free, 1.0 hp, 8 gal

California Air Tools have addressed all of the issues other brands seem to have struggled with. This one isnt the fastest to compress air but I would happily trade that feature for the impressive low sound level. Building the tank in Aluminum results in a compressor about ten pounds lighter than the steel tank model and a lightweight steel handle furthers this goal. All welds are good, other parts high quality. Like it very much except: there is a very slow leak where the compressed air enters the tank so this unit will empty its air overnight, not a large problem. Email to California customer service brought a message from them about this fitting is installed with red loctight rendering it un removable for further sealing without application of heat. I have decided to live with the small leak because further communication with California Air tools stalled, hence only 4 stars. Get one, youll love it.

I work as a finish Carpenter doing interior trim work, I wanted this because I cant stand working beside loud ear piercing air compressors all day. On the noise issue it is great, terrific! Its recovery time is decent as well. Now for the bad news, for one thing it is very unbalanced with a ton of weight on the top and only one point of floor contact in the front which is a tiny rubber foot, this makes it tip over very easily, especially when I put it in my truck I have to buttress it up on both sides with tool bags and buckets or whatever to keep it from flipping over while driving, and flipping over for this thing is extremely bad because it has all kinds of unprotected components on top that just screw into the mechanisms for instance just today the black filter air Inlet part broke right off because it tipped over again and that knocked into another tool in my truck and knocked it off. On the front you have the gauges and the Quick Connect port and power switch along with the copper line going into the air tank. That thing is constantly getting twisted whenever it falls over which is basically daily. I wish they made this thing in a pancake style with a sturdy plastic shroud cover over all the parts because it seriously feels very precarious the way it is and I feel like somethings going to break any day now and Ill be screwed until I get a replacement. I may just see if I can return it I think Im still under 30 days. If not Ill be building some kind of plywood box around the delicate Parts on top and clamping the whole thing to the tank somehow. Oh the other problem Ive been running into is that a lot of these houses dont have power run to them yet so I run this off a 3500 Watt generator and it will often just stopped working if theres a hiccup with the generator in the power flow or whatever, that especially happens if someone is using a miter saw at the same time the air compressor is refilling. Im not sure I can fault this compressor for that as its probably some protective feature to safeguard the motor

Really really quiet compared to other common air compressors! A little top heavy over uneven terrain.

I bought this compressor to engrave with a GRS GraverMax G8 (compressor on their website is $400+)*half the price, same specs*. Works great, holds psi, no leaks, not loud. The only thing was a small retainer of some type was broken by the air filter so I wasn’t able to hook up one hose. Didn’t affect the performance. Recommend a dryer of some sort as any air compressor will have some moisture.

This was a gift for my husbands 36th birthday. He has wanted it for some time now. So I purchased it and received it without incident. However, this guzzles electricity and after turning it in once, I thought, this is perfect. But the second time my hubby tried to operate it, it would NOT turn on no matter what we did. We tried everything... literally everything. I was about to call amazon to return it or exchange it, when after 4 hours of fussing with it, we finally got it up and running again. But it does use a lot of juice. I’m very worried about my energy bill this summer. But even so, since that first day, it’s been running smoothly and we have not had an issue. It works very well & my hubby loves it, so I love it. ^_^

picked one up for dusting out stuff at work, its nice, its not silent, but you can have a conversation over it. wish it was either a little less top heavy, or if it had a longer bent up handle. but for the price its good..

So much nicer than the big, old, very loud air compressor we replaced. Easy to move around and so nice it is quiet. Good job

First day of receipt, I had a conversation while standing over the unit, and it wasn’t until it stopped that we realized how much of an improvement the noise level was over our last compressor. No leaks right out of the box. Very well packaged and presented. The noise level will vary based on the environment it is used in, but it’s awfully quiet- for a compressor. After the first week of use, I filled the tank and have been monitoring the pressure, three weeks later, and no air loss. Probably quiet enough to use inside for evening, but not too late, for airbrushing in an apartment. Nice fittings and drain valve. Regulator feels and acts like a good one. The aluminum tank is a great feature and won’t leave rusty puddles when the tank is drained. Lightweight too, lift and carry it around with one hand. If the handle was longer or the wheels larger diameter, I’d have not found out how light it was. The handle causes average height human to bend over while rolling it; if you stand up, the end of the tank will drag and the compressor gets a little unwieldy because it is almost balanced on the wheels, and wants to pirouette, like a wiener dog dancing on two legs. When my 80G compressor dies, I’ll be looking at their replacement model.

Since over time every compressor i had rusted out i decided to get the Aluminum model and im very happy with the compressor. Its very light for the 8 gallon size and when i fired it up in the house, you could have a normal conversation while its running. My last series of compressors were ear numbingly loud , This is a very nice unit and i highly recommend it!

The location of the drain valve makes it a terrific pain in the behind to drain the water out after use. You have to lift the entire compressor and rotate it slightly to one side to drain, and it is not easy. The position of the valve on the side prevents the use of automatic purge valves as well. I think its safe to say well be looking for a compressor with a drain on the bottom the next time we need a new one!