 Hey everybody, it's DJ B and welcome to my channel. If you're new here, I'm a well-versed airbrush artist in the model horse community. So in this video, I'm only going to be giving you a comparison breakdown on hobbyist compressors and the quiet shop compressors, but the quiet ones are definitely more suited for airbrushing and the general artist. Another thing to take into consideration with your airbrush compressor is the hobbyist compressors will generally come with everything you need. So they're pretty plug-and-go, they're not very expensive, so if you are a beginner, going with that hobbyist compressor with an air tank is probably your best option. You're going to be able to pull it out of the box, plug it into the wall, hook up your airbrush, start it up, it's going to run for you. It comes with a moisture trap and some of them come with a hose as well, so like it's all set up to go. Whereas if you're going for the quiet air compressor, you're going to need additional supplies. So you're going to need to purchase a separate moisture regulator trap, an air hose to connect to the actual machine, and you're going to need all of the adapters to actually connect all of the pieces together. So it's going to be a little bit more expensive on that front and a little more work kind of on the forefront. So I'm going to make a separate video explaining exactly how to do that and what parts you would need to do that. This video is purely going to be reviewing the kind of airbrush compressors that you can purchase. If you're a smaller artist, just starting out, just learning the ropes, do airbrushing very casually, hobbyist compressor with a tank is my recommendation. If you're going to be a professional and this is exactly what you love to do and you're painting a ton of inventory and really getting into the thick of things, the quiet shop compressor is what I would recommend. So I'm going to go over a couple of the options that are available online with brand names and pricings and breakdowns and everything so that you can make the best informed decision here. I've done all the research for you and I think I will also include a PDF document that you can download and it will have all the links and everything. All of my prices will be in US dollars and based on the US Amazon website. These are all approximate costs and obviously these could fluctuate. If you're from other countries, I'm not exactly sure. If you're in Canada, all of these models are available readily on the Home Depot website except for the Fortress models. Those are only really available to people in the US or off of amazon.com. So for the hobbyist compressor, my personal recommendation for you would be to go with the Master Airbrush brand. I don't have access to that brand in Canada but that's a pretty well-known brand in the US. If you are from Canada, they have a similar option from the brand TimberTech. That has pretty good reviews on the Canadian Amazon. The Master TC320 comes with the $89 price tag and that comes with an airbrush hose and a moisture trap. So that's a really hard price to beat but like I said this guy has no tank so he will continuously run for you. This compressor has 0.2 horsepower, is at a noise level of 47 decibels, a PSI capacity of 57 and weighs only 9.5 pounds but this compressor will run continuously. So the $89 price tag is tempting. I understand. Try not to do this. The other master option is the option that I would personally recommend and that is the one with the tank and that is the TC326T model and it is basically the same as the other one but with a reservoir tank. These guys have a bunch of fancy gadgetry with like cooling fans and different things. I personally never have tried these guys but this is the compressor I would recommend just based on reviews and there was also saying on Amazon that these guys have like a five-year warranty so that's pretty good. This one's a little more pricey at $139 but it still comes with the moisture trap and airbrush hose so pretty good deal. I'll send them. The engine and all the specs are basically the same so 0.2 horsepower engine, 47 decibels for noise level, 57 PSI and a weight of 9.5 pounds but the tank size on this particular model is 0.8 gallons but it takes I would say probably a minute or so for the tank itself to fill up. For $139 you can get started with airbrushing and this is definitely the one that I would recommend. There's a couple different brands out there. I'm gonna go over three of them and that is Makita, California Air Tools and Fortress and these are kind of the three that kept coming up in my research of other people's testimonies and videos as well as availability on sites such as Home Depot and Amazon. These are kind of the three brands that I would recommend to you if you're gonna go this route. I firstly went with the Makita because I live in Canada and that was the most economical and easiest to obtain and I personally went with the three-gallon tank so that I have the most air whereas if I went with a one gallon that machine is gonna run a lot more than the three gallons so that was my personal preference. The bigger the tank the less the compressor itself has to run so that being said I would highly recommend any of these three Makita compressors themselves so I'll just run over the specs of the three of them the MAC 100Q. It runs at a price point of $189. The engine is 0.5 horsepower with a one gallon tank. The sound level on this guy is 58 decibels. It has a PSI capacity of 135. It weighs 30 pounds and has a full refill time of 66 seconds. So spraying at 60 PSI is about half of the capacity of that machine. That just really helps with the consistency of the air because you're not at the like max level that the machine can go. So then the two-gallon Makita is about the same. It's just a little bit larger so as you go up the machine itself gets a little more powerful and a little bit heavier. So the MAC 210Q is the two-gallon version. It runs at a price of $229. Has a one horsepower engine and a noise level of 60 decibels. The same PSI level at 135. It weighs 48 pounds and has a refill time of only 51 seconds so that's pretty quick. Then the three-gallon version is the MAC 320Q and it runs at a price point of $299. It has a 1.5 horsepower engine and a three-gallon tank. The noise is 60 decibels or a PSI of 135. It weighs 55 pounds and has a refill time of 53 seconds. So for two seconds more you get an extra gallon of air which is pretty impressive. But the weight on these guys is quite notable from 30 to 55 pounds. It's not super important for airbrushing because we're not moving the compressors around but something to take into consideration. So then I have compared some of these California air tools compressors and these guys are good options as well. They're very affordable for you people in the US. Some of the reviews were a little spotty. Their quality is just not as nice. They're still great machines and they will run for you and they have different size options and I believe that they are quieter than the Makita. So the one gallon is the CAT 1P10605. It is at a price point of $150. It has a 0.6 horsepower engine, one gallon tank and runs at 56 decibels for sound. It has a PSI capacity of 120, weighs 34 pounds and has a refill time of 50 seconds. All of the California air tools compressors have a really fast refill time which is desirable. They also make a two gallon version which is 2010A at a price of $200, runs at one horsepower with a two gallon tank, 60 decibel sound level the same as the Makita, 120 PSI. It weighs 35 pounds and has a 50 second tank refill time. They also make an eight gallon option which is a really great option at a really great price point. So if you really want to maximize your pressurized air this would be a great option and I'm kind of bummed that this option isn't available for me in Canada. It was going to be way too much money but they make an eight gallon version in steel and aluminum. So the product number is the 8010 or the 8010A and the steel or aluminum is changes the weight significantly. I'm not sure about the longevity or like what that means in compressor terms but is that a price point of $250? A one horsepower machine, eight gallon tank at 60 decibel sound level. It operates at 120 PSI. The steel one is 48 pounds and the aluminum one is 37 pounds and it has a fill time of 165 seconds which is two minutes and 45 seconds. So almost three minutes to fill up an eight gallon tank but I can assure you that that is not bad for that much air and then I believe the replenishing fill time on all of the California air tool compressors is very fast as well. That's what the company kind of prides themselves on. So any of these models would be really great and the price point is pretty good so you really can't beat that. The last comparable brand is the Fortress brand and this was a really high reviewed compressor through some of the other YouTube videos that I saw. So the one gallon one runs at 1.2 horsepower for one gallon tank at 57 decibels for noise. It has a PSI capacity of 135. It weighs 30 pounds and has a refill time of 61 seconds. The two gallon model is at a price point of $189. It runs with an engine of 1.2 horsepower for a two gallon tank. It runs at a sound level of 60 decibels and a PSI of 135. It weighs 45 pounds and has a refill time of 47 seconds. So the more horsepower you have the faster the machine itself will fill up. Fortress also has a 10 gallon option which is really impressive which is 1 minute and 50 seconds. So just under two minutes to fill up completely for 10 gallons of air. So like I said previously all of these are great options and I think you'll have no problem with these and depending on your budget and depending on where you're located and what's available online will depend on which machine you pick because these are all shop compressors they're way overkill for airbrush so they're going to do a great job for you. So I personally purchased the Makita 320Q so that is the three gallon quiet compressor and I've been running it for a couple of weeks now and I've painted a few projects and I can 1000% recommend it. All of my airbrushing issues have gone away. It's amazing. It only takes about a minute for the tank to fill up fully and then I can continuously spray for about four minutes and then it will boot up for about 15 seconds to refill the tank while I'm still spraying at consistent pressure and it will kick off and I will still be able to spray for another four minutes. So because the compressor is so much stronger than my need for air the compressor will never overrun itself. Unlike the hobbyist compressor which was consistently running all of the time the Makita only runs every four minutes and that's at max spray full throttle so if I'm using my micron and doing detail work it's not going to kick in for you know 15 minutes at times so that in itself is worth the money in my opinion and worth the hassle. Because the noise level is a little bit louder I can't have the machine running directly under me. I'm a very jumpy person I get startled really easy so I've had to run a 25 foot hose off of the machine and I stationed it just on the other side of my studio so that when I'm in my painting corner here it's behind me and it's not so loud. I find if it's dead silent in the room and the machine kicks on it kind of jump startles me a little bit not gonna lie but if I'm running music or I'm watching a show or I'm doing anything with other noise I don't notice the compressor at all. It's no louder than my hobbyist one. That being said it is station 25 feet away. I have the capacity and ability to run it across the room but the hobbyist ones are definitely better in that sense that they do tuck under your desk really nice they're not loud they're not going to startle you so depending on your setup in your situation it's totally up to you. I decided to go with Makita because some of the California Air Tools reviews were saying that they were a little cheaper in quality some of them had issues with them arriving broken or having broken parts but the Makita was pretty solid and because of the design of the front of it with the roll cage and everything it's a pretty intense machine and I could also use this to you know do other things in my house not just air brushing so I went with that option just based on quality the Makita brand is kind of well-known and across the board in a lot of the compact compact comparison videos the Makita was outweighing the other compressors. I hope that this was helpful in your journey and thank you so much for watching this video and supporting my channel. I will make another video regarding how to exactly set up the Makita to work for the airbrush station that will explain all of the hookups and different things that you will need to make that work. I will also link the comparison price point and specs document in the YouTube description below as well as links to purchase any of these machines through Amazon and any questions or concerns you can shoot me an email or send me a comment or private message I'm always happy to help this is the best of my knowledge I know I don't always necessarily get all of my facts straight or right but I'm learning just as you are and I feel like this information is helpful and I just condensed my three months of research into one short video so thank you so much for watching and happy airbrushing!