Reviews : Gaahleri Gaahleri Turbox Mini Air Compressor

I had a compressor and tank combination that I was very happy with. But I picked this up on recommendation from a friend. I was skeptical; the old advice is that the presence of a tank significantly improves consistent airflow. I had read reports from some people that the little hand-held tankless compressors were actually serviceable for model work. I had a hard time believing it. Then I tried this Turbox Mini and I was impressed. It takes up a fifth the space of my old compressor and is quieter. The way it works is that you can increase or decrease the air pressure with the dial on the box, but you can also press the dial to quickly switch between low/medium/high pressures. Understand that the box will display one pressure in stand-by mode, but once you start spraying it will drop to a working pressure. I did find this confusing at first; it would have been much more intuitive to let you dial in the pressure you're targeting and then have the box just work to deliver that pressure. I know some people gave up on the TurboX Mini because they didn't like this fluctuation on the display. Yet what I found is that if the display is accurate, then I've been shooting paint at higher than necessary pressure in the past. One of the benefits of the TurboX Mini is that it's shown me you can be effective between 8 and 15 psi, where before I'd left my old compressor stuck at 20. I used this with Gaahleri's GHAD-39 airbrush with a .35 needle and it works great. Steady air flow and easy to use. Here are some things to note: - The TurboX Mini is recommended for needle sizes at .5 and below. At larger sizes, the max pressure will be lower. On their own site, Gaahleri shows the .5 Mobius gets 10.5psi. But it can get as high as 20psi when using .2 needles. For most modeling needs, this is fine. But if you run larger needle sizes, you will want a more traditional compressor and tank. - The TurboX Mini lets you choose between psi or bar for the display - The set includes a hose, the compressor, airbrush holder you can mount on the TurboX Mini, and a power cable. Some variants of the set bundle in a GHAD-39 airbrush with the .35 needle, though I believe the one in this listing is just the compressor. In conclusion, I love this little device and it has become my main compressor for model airbrushing. The small size and simple design have reduced clutter under my desk, and since I mainly use .2, .3, and .35 airbrush sizes, the TurboX Mini is sufficient to power all of them. The digital readout is much easier to use than the analog dial on my old compressor, and I love the TurboX Mini's quiet operation.