Lidl airtools and PETROL powered compressor this Thursday!

[MikeNash]

Greetings Comrades!

Thought you should know that this Thursday (18th of Sept) Lidl will have these tools and the PETROL ENGINED compressor shown for sale;
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?id=384
The September "Lidl News" describes the compressor as of 2.45 HP which is pretty powerful for only £89.99 but the pressure vessel is only 24 litre, which is a bit small. It also says it comes with 10 metre of pressure hose.
I note that it delivers 113 litres/min (which is 4 cu ft/min) - which seems low. However, it sucks 270 litres/min (which is 9.5 cu ft/min). I suspect that compressor performance is usually gauged on its suck/swept volume; am I right? 270 litres/min would put in line with advertised figures for electrically driven machines, e.g. my SIP which is 2HP and 230 litres/min (8.1 cu ft/min. What do you think?
So far, I've bought all my air-tools from Aldi and never had any faults. I'd expect Lidl to be as good, for I've had no trouble with other Lidl "Parkside" gear I've bought. Think I'll get the needle de-scaler and have a look at the rest. See you at Andover Lidl's at 8 o' clock!

Regards, MikeN.
PS I suppose the Islip Minors, the Philthehills and BMCeccosses and all the other tuners in the Moggiesphere will get out their Vizard's and soon be tuning the compressor engine to give even more power and air supply!

[bmcecosse]

Hah! I'm too busy worrying if I'll still belong to the United Kingdom on Friday....

[MikeNash]

Well Roy, before you vote slip down to Lidl's and buy one to take your mind of it! You know you'd enjoy playing with it! Regards, MikeN.

[bmcecosse]

I would be more inclined to buy a generator - which could power my electric compressor, but would also keep the lights on when the Scottish Electricity supply fails.......due to lack of continuing hot air from the 'YES' brigade...

[MikeNash]

Actually,Roy I saw a load of them for sale about a year ago in Aldi's. Packed to the ceiling they were, in the Howden branch, in the rough end of Newcastle. Next time I see them I'll tell you, MikeN.

[simmitc]

Aldi has been stoking "Yes" brigade members?

[tysonn]

Some good stuff there.My "local" Lidl is 20 miles away and so small that this sort of stuff is usually all gone by lunchtime.Worth a run out though.That looks like an electric motor to me.

[bmcecosse]

Looks electric to me too..... The 'ratchet' gun I have is useless - no real power to it. The hammer gun is excellent!

[MikeNash]

Well, I went along at opening time and found a slight conundrum; the compressor in the picture on the link I gave was not the petrol driven one but electric ( as a couple of you suspected) and rated at 2600 watt i.e. 3.49 HP with a double cylinder V twin compression arrangement, none of which is mentioned in the advert text. It has a 50 litre vessel beneath and sucks 360 litres/min and delivers 170. And I fell in love with it and bought one - at £149. It sounds good and fills fast so I've high hopes of it. Anyone want a SIP 2HP 50 litre compressor in good order?
Slight downside on the deal was although well advertised, the checkout computers didn't recognise any of the air tools or compressors, despite urgent 'phones calls by the management to "head office". So me and another couple of blokes staggering with them have got hand annotated receipts as guarantees!
Regards, MikeN.

[bmcecosse]

Well done -you can easily add on a large 'receiver' (ie calor gas cylinder...) for the air when you want to do any significant spraying. It will be filled by your compressor and therefore protected by it's relief valve. For normal work - just use direct.

[irmscher]

The only reason they are cheap is that they are made cheaply .

[tysonn]

Thats certainly true.If you look at 3hp motors from a recognised manufacturer they're several times the price of that complete compressor.Look at the amount of Ben,Broomwade,Rand etc compressors decades old that are still going strong.Suppose its just like modern cars,can't envisage any run of the mill models still being around 50 years from now.

[irmscher]

Buy once buy wisely forever nothing worse than going to a tool and it breaks down

[MikeNash]

Well, I don't want to stretch this thread any further but Imscher & Tysonn made me think. Of course the Aldi and Lidl stuff is cheap because they're cheaply made - how could it be otherwise? - and one is always well advised to buy the best you can afford. But I can honestly say all Aldi & Lidl tools have given me no trouble and their 3 year guarantee has yet to put to the test.

For the price I assume the compressor is made the Far East although the only address on packaging and paperwork is of Einhell Gernmany AG at Wiesenweg and is advertised by them here http://www.einhell.com/com_en/shop/4862 ... 00-50.html
I'll use it and tell you if I have trouble.
Finally, I looked up some of my older gear and "updated" their costs using http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bill ... -1900.html. This tells me that my little old Clarke Jumbo compressor (3 cu ft/min) used for spraying many cars, motorbikes, fences and dining rooms and which cost £133.89 in 1991 which is the equivalent in today's money is £265.57. My SIP 2HP 50 litre cost £199 in 1999 which in today's money is £394.72. No wonder I didn't get the bigger ones that I really needed! And both of those old compressors were bargains at the time.
We'll see how my £149 bit of kit goes, MikeN.

[tysonn]

I don't doubt for a second that it will give good service Mike.I also buy Aldi stuff( I have several air and power tools still in boxes because I bought one and thought it good enough to buy a spare).I have a 3HP belt drive 150l comp bought maybe 4 years ago from Axminster tools.Can't fault it and it was under £200.Was recently offered a Snap-On comp a few months old with the same spec.Bloke wanted £500 for it as he'd paid just under a grand.I laughed.