CALIFORNIA AIR TOOLS CAT-1P1060SP GAL 56DB Air Compressor

You can have this running in the same room and and almost not even hear it running. I can carry on a conversation and keep working. Weight isnt bad little heavy but i believe it is due the the frame. But it protects the pump and motor so I am ok with a little extra weight

I set this product up in my garage for general use. Work Bench, Tires, Stuff, What I found out right away is that if your using this product for like a nail gun, it works just fine. It does not work well on its own when you need a little more than a quick puff of compressed air. I purchased an extra 5 gal air tank and added it to the system. This gave me more volume when using. Good product, Very Quite, It is not fast but does a good job. If I had to do it over again I would by the same product but with more air volume.

This compressor was packaged extremely well and arrive undamaged. (Actually 1 day earlier than expected). I’ve tested it under heavy load for 2 days straight with no issues. Yes it has to fill up the small tank often but does so quicker than any other brand I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a professional Mechanic for over 25 years and have dealt with many air compressors, this one is amazing for its size and output. As for the loudness of the unit... just as described. Very, very quiet. I plan on buying the largest one this company makes for my shop. I hope the quality of this small unit carries over to a larger one.

Seems like a decent product. Relatively quiet. Wish that I could get more psi out of it as I mainly use it for bicycle tires which generally require 100 psi plus and the tank pressure has to fall pretty far before the compressor starts up again.

California Air Tools charges more than competitors for the same tank capacity / air output and in trade, you get a noticeably quieter device. Not zero noise quiet, but more than quiet enough. The downside to this specific affordable CAT unit is that the tank is just 1 gallon and after only a few seconds with a air gun (blow dust off), the compressor is already back on and recharging. So this is okay for a brad nail or stapler, or for a low-volume air gun. But it is not intended for production work with, say, a framing nailer, and no way is it powerful enough to do spray painting. I got the unit reviewed here, the CAT-1P1060SP unit (left in my photo) over the similar-specs CAT-1P1060S (right in photo) because theres a cage around the compressor (except, oops, when you attach the muffler to the back, that sticks out) and because theres a panel with two gauges, pressure regulator, and quick coupler. The unit I got is about $10-$15 more than its workalike, but I plan to haul up to our summer cabin and back and wanted one with more protection when its banged around in transit. The only thing I dont like is the power on-off lever which, I wonder, how durable it will be. You can buy, separately, a 5- or 10-gallon auxiliary tank for ~$50 (5-gal steel) to $125 (10-gallon aluminum) from CAT. That would solve your problem of air supply running out, but so would spending $200 for a CAT compressor with more capacity. 4-5 years ago I bought a 2-hp, 10-gallon CAT air compressor that is also quiet and CAT calls it ultra-quiet but its still noisier that the 1-gallon unit I just got. I know I paid $50-$100 more than for a cheaper, noiser compressor, and Im glad I spent the extra money. My experience with CAT service / support is mixed. It hasnt needed any service. But the first compressor came with the rear supports / vibration-damping lags out of alignment and missing parts. A year later (seriously) CAT sent me a completely different quote replacement part unrelated to what was wrong, and in the meantime Id been to Home Depot and bought a bunch of big flat washers to use as leveling shims. If you need ultra, ultra quiet, there is a thousand-dollar CAT compressor with 1 hp motor and 8-gallon tank in a noise-containment cabinet.

I unpacked the compressor, plugged it in and waited for it to reach operating pressure. It never did because the manifold that accepts the air chuck was cracked and therefor leaked. The manifold itself is made of a brittle and fragile, low quality cast metal. it ideally should be brass or, at least, a beefy grey cast iron. Very disappointing.

Really quiet but not enough power ! I use it for my airbrush , if you going to need it for bigger things I would recommend a bigger one !

I used this compressor in an industrial setting where it was required to keep kicking on to top up the tank pressure every 12 minutes non-stop, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, without pause, forever. Requiring no maintenance (other than draining water from tank) it held up under these unrelenting conditions for 18 months before its pressure shutoff started to get sticky. For the price I am impressed. I replaced it with another, operated under the same never-ending duty-cycle and that is still running strong a year later. I just changed the duty cycle to only 14 hours a day, every day, so who knows how long it will last now... I cant review how loud it is because it is used in an area that is already loud, but this compressor is definitely a great little unit at a great price.

I know its advertised as quiet, but I was still surprised at HOW quiet. Night and day compared to my cheap Harbor Freight donut compressor. I can now still have a normal conversation (no yelling) while the compressor cycles on. Also, even though the tank capacity is very small, Im surprised at how infrequent it cycled on, using a brad nailer. Speaking of Tank Capacity -- versatility is limited. This compressor simply wont work for most high volume applications, but I knew this when I bought it.

This is _almost_ as quiet as the $1,800 Jun Air that I use in the laboratory. I use this one in the shop for pneumatic clamps and intermittent air tool use. It is day-and-night different in noise level than any other shop compressor I have used. It is nice to have the dual gauges. It is small and light enough to easily move around the shop. When I want a bit more reserve air, I just connect it to an inexpensive 7.5 gal walk-around tank. I have not had it long enough to make a comment on reliability. I can observe that the initial quality was great - no leaks, just plug and run.