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On-board Air Compressors...is it really worth it?

Dewyaw

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I’m looking for air compressors, and obviously ARB is the brand most guys seem to use. I’m not seeing any Black Friday specials on them though, which brings me to my question:

Why on earth would someone pay $250-$500 for an ARB compressor when a cursory search on Amazon for auto air compressors yields tons of results for $35-$60???

What the heck is so special about the ARB compressors that makes them cost 10x more?!
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Dewyaw

Dewyaw

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I’m looking for air compressors, and obviously ARB is the brand most guys seem to use. I’m not seeing any Black Friday specials on them though, which brings me to my question:

Why on earth would someone pay $250-$500 for an ARB compressor when a cursory search on Amazon for auto air compressors yields tons of results for $35-$60???

What the heck is so special about the ARB compressors that makes them cost 10x more?!
to be honest it’s all budget. We carry two ways of doing air , CO2 and under seat ARB both work great one is a backup. If you spend the money for the ARB you will be happy with the quality. We have the under seat one and it’s been great , fills all tires at the same time in like 8 mins. The cheap ones you see on Amazon may not be able to run 100% of the time , you may have to wait for it to cool down to finish filling
 

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I will eventually be going on board for the fact of air lockers.

You will find if you take a large volume tire way way down in psi that your little portable units need to cool down every 1-2 tires. Between not putting out a ton of volume to begin with, and having to go through cooling cycles, it can take an extraordinarily long time to air up.
 

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Dewyaw

Dewyaw

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I will eventually be going on board for the fact of air lockers.

You will find if you take a large volume tire way way down in psi that your little portable units need to cool down every 1-2 tires. Between not putting out a ton of volume to begin with, and having to go through cooling cycles, it can take an extraordinarily long time to air up.
Yeah, if you have air lockers it’s a no-brainer.

I can talk myself into paying 2-3 times more for better quality and convenience, but 10x more it gets difficult to justify that.

Yeah, for most of us, it’s always about budget. Because there are no deals to be found on these on-board compressors, it makes it easier to wait.

What I’ll probably do is go the inexpensive route and see if I can deal with the inconvenience the first time I’m out there. That way I’ll prove to myself either way which way to go.
 

GoVR46

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I’m looking for air compressors, and obviously ARB is the brand most guys seem to use. I’m not seeing any Black Friday specials on them though, which brings me to my question:

Why on earth would someone pay $250-$500 for an ARB compressor when a cursory search on Amazon for auto air compressors yields tons of results for $35-$60???

What the heck is so special about the ARB compressors that makes them cost 10x more?!
As said before, Duty Cycle is a big one, if you wanted to add aftermarket air lockers is another. I installed my ARB compressor and added a 1 gallon air tank to run air tools.
I tried using a cheap Amazon compressor before to air up after wheeling. Burned my frickin hand moving the compressor to the third tire. Cheap pump gets super hot. Beware.
 

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"Never judge a taco by its' price" Oscar Acosta

Not the case here. Spend the money once, and be done with it. Otherwise, you are adding a $100 mistake to the price you will most likely pay in the future.
 

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$50 compressors are designed to fill a tire that you notice is low once in a while. They are designed to "top up" tires. And most are designed with regular sized tires in mind.

They were not designed to fill up a 37 inch wide off road tire from 7 psi back up to 28 psi 4 times in quick succession.

They are also not designed to be used much at all. Their duty cycle is in the hours before they go belly up.

The arb (or any other) compressor designed to be used in the course of the day as part of your "journey" as a tool on an ongoing and consistent basis is a totally different duty cycle. These are much higher quality with all metal components. Probably lubricated internals as well. Highly reliable with a high duty cycle.

Expensive and required/worth it If your use case dictates it.

If ya wanna top up a low tire at Starbucks you need the $50 thing. If ya wanna go "of roading" where it "matters" to a place where getting home is important to life and limb the 10x price starts making more sense.
 
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Dewyaw

Dewyaw

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Thanks for all the feedback...exactly why I asked. Y’all are starting to convince me.

So I know it’s good to air down when rock crawling, but I will have a Mojave, and will be doing trail riding rather than rock crawling.

First trip will be to Big Bend in the spring, which has many miles of desert trails. Should I air down for desert running?
 

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Thanks for all the feedback...exactly why I asked. Y’all are starting to convince me.

So I know it’s good to air down when rock crawling, but I will have a Mojave, and will be doing trail riding rather than rock crawling.

First trip will be to Big Bend in the spring, which has many miles of desert trails. Should I air down for desert running?
I live in the desert and air down almost always. It's especially helpful in deep sand as the lower tire pressure will expand your footprint and allow you to "float" over the sand.

To your earlier question about on board air vs portable, keep in mind there are higher end portables like the Viair 400 or 440 that are plenty capable and will save you a few bucks over an ARB on board, particularly when you factor in brackets/mounts you may also need. Something to consider.
 

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I live in the desert and air down almost always. It's especially helpful in deep sand as the lower tire pressure will expand your footprint and allow you to "float" over the sand.

To your earlier question about on board air vs portable, keep in mind there are higher end portables like the Viair 400 or 440 that are plenty capable and will save you a few bucks over an ARB on board, particularly when you factor in brackets/mounts you may also need. Something to consider.
Depending on how you off-road, a CO2 system might work for you; it is cheaper than ARB - and much faster when airing up. The downside, of course, is that you can run out of CO2. When my off-roading was mostly going to the beach, airing down to head over-sand and then airing back up to head home - CO2 was better. It was fast, and I wasn't in situations where I needed to air up and down repeatedly without having access to a CO2 refill station. If you are heading out into the wilderness for longer adventures, and won't be near a refill station, an on-board compressor is much better. If you want it to actually fill four oversize tires without overheating and/or failing, don't waste your time with a cheap compressor. I'm very happy with my ARB twin compressor - its built like a little tank, and it can fill eight 35-inch tires in a row (haven't tried to do more).
 

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This

I will eventually be going on board for the fact of air lockers.

You will find if you take a large volume tire way way down in psi that your little portable units need to cool down every 1-2 tires. Between not putting out a ton of volume to begin with, and having to go through cooling cycles, it can take an extraordinarily long time to air up.
 

Orange01z28

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Yeah, if you have air lockers it’s a no-brainer.

I can talk myself into paying 2-3 times more for better quality and convenience, but 10x more it gets difficult to justify that.

Yeah, for most of us, it’s always about budget. Because there are no deals to be found on these on-board compressors, it makes it easier to wait.

What I’ll probably do is go the inexpensive route and see if I can deal with the inconvenience the first time I’m out there. That way I’ll prove to myself either way which way to go.
Just make sure you don't go super cheap and that the compressor is rated for whatever tire size you're running

This thing stays cool enough to pick up with out gloves (although I still wear them) and fills up each tire back to 40psi from 18psi in like 2 minutes per tire

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004K25GMG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
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