[encantotom]

just an opinion, but i think we overvalue brand names sometimes. i know i have. if i needed to replace something i would always try to find what was the original and put it in. there was a reason our coaches were so expensive. newell used the best of the best. that is great and i get it and love it.

but, in things like the compressor, i find it hard to justify spending 2-5x the cost to get a brand name that has almost the same specs. in our case, so what if something has an expected life of 5k hours instead of 10k. we will never use it that much. for us, i think moisture is the main culprit and that will cause issues for any compressor etc. since most of ours are in compartments that are vented to the outside, they are subject to much more moisture than the same pump would be in a dental office or woodworkers shop.

the rolair looks to have almost the identical compressor that larry bought only a 1hp version with higher cfm (which you need for air nailers)

my guess is their is probably one chinese knockoff of the thomas that all these guys use and relabel.

my two cents worth.

tom