Good choice for a PCP Compressor ($399) the ToAuto A3 (Full Review) 12v/110v/220v

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kaylaindy

kaylaindy

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Jun 3, 2017
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Hey guys. This seems like a really nice compressor. This is the ToAuto A3 but they also sell an A2 (smaller). This is half the price of the NOMAD and it's probably a better compressor. This is a quick look and test of this feature rich compressor. Great affordable PCP pump. Thanks for watching! -Nate



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Don,t ask him, he is a great guy with a great compressor. Be he makes a great point also. I thought the same
thing when I first saw this post. He is spot on let’s wait & see. I hope you get years of use from it, but l have yet
to see any compressor in that price range last along time. The one compressor I,m keeping a eye on right now
is the newer Hill compressor I,m hearing good things about. But we are talking $1200 but that beat $2000 to over
$3000.
Fly
 
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smooth.pull said:
Humdinger , what compressor would you recommend ?
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I'd keep my eyes open and scan Craigslist, Ebay, and AGN classifieds for a used Bauer, Alkin, or Coltri MCH-6 from a U.S. seller. If you can afford it, a new Alkin is the best value in a new brand name compressor. I had high hopes for the Hill but learned that it had rubber seals just like the Omegas. I'm not a fan of a $1,000 plus compressor that relies on rubber o-ring seals instead of steel o-rings. Hills and Omegas use them and are overpriced. There is a long overdue air cooled Carette compressor sold on Aliexpress but I've yet to see it.
 
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Bear with me as I'm new to the PCP world...
Question about the sintered brass plug in the upper left front. It was mentioned it was a "moisture catcher". First run of my new ToAuto A3 I noticed that plug bouncing around in the hole- it was connected to nothing.
Is it supposed to be some sort of intake filter or what? Since mine just sits loosely in a hole in the case it does nothing since air is sucked in all over the case bypassing any filtering it would otherwise do.

Is it normal to filter incoming room air to the compressor? Seems like that would be a good idea but I see nothing doing such.

Thanks in advance for any info.!
 
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UPDATE- Had a lot of issues with trying to communicate with the ToAuto contact. Obviously English is not their first language. After mutiple exchanges I finally got the person, Tim, to understand what I was asking about.

I am now told that the sintered brass/bronze plug on the front panel supplies filtered air directly to the cylinder of the compressor.
HOWEVER on my unit it is connected to nothing, and in fact fell out of the hole in the front panel upon first use. Tim was informed of this several times. He just didn't seem to get it.

His latest message to me was as follows>

"This is indeed the air intake of the machine, which is connected to the cylinder of the machine. It cannot be directly opened, otherwise the dust will enter the compressor. If you look closely, you will find that the surface is granular, which has a preliminary filtering effect on the gas. Any problems, please feel free to contact me. Tim"

I suppose I am therefore returning this to Amazon as defective. Whether they are all this way I do not know.
 
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The compressor in the video sort of looks like a cross between an Benjamin Recharge and an Omega Trail Charger knockoff at first glance. For questions about filtering intake air on HPA compressors, particularly entry level compressors, check out the article linked at the end of this post. I believe the primary purpose of filtering intake air is to remove moisture from the ambient air. I think some moisture will still accumulate via condensation from the process of compressing air to the high levels that we use for PCPs. Pre-filtering can be particularly useful for those of us who live in humid regions to protect our airguns from rust and/or corrosion of internal parts when our compressors don’t have great filtration systems (think of the cotton tampon type of filter).

Here’s an article from Hard Air Magazine discussing this very topic of filtration. I’m no expert here, so read the article and heed the advice of members like @Humdinger. I learned a lot from him and as a result I’ve avoided a lot of issues I read about in this forum. I hope this article helps some of you. https://hardairmagazine.com/ham-columns/why-not-pre-dry-high-pressure-air-when-filling-your-pcp/
 
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kaylaindy said:
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Hey guys. This seems like a really nice compressor. This is the ToAuto A3 but they also sell an A2 (smaller). This is half the price of the NOMAD and it's probably a better compressor. This is a quick look and test of this feature rich compressor. Great affordable PCP pump. Thanks for watching! -Nate



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How's it holding up at this point for ya? Also I'm trying to find good specs on this (heard it's a three stage ?).
 
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I picked up one of these for $339 on Amazon Prime day. I like it so far, but only use it to refill an S200 cylinder maybe 4 times a week. It takes less time than I thought it would, and the temp on the display never gets above 79 F. I have not timed it, but it can't be over 2 minutes. My rules are to: never start the compressor under pressure AND right before the auto-off shuts the compressor off, I open the bleed valve, then turn off the compressor. So essentially I never start or stop the compressor under pressure. My room ambient temp. is usually under 70F, and my RH is usually around 30% in the summer, so I am thinking the little white filter is good enough for now. Also, it is smaller than I thought it would be, and my wife says it is quieter than my 150lb shop compressor, which surprised me.
 
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