Lowes Campbell Hausfeld Compressor – 20 Gallon – HJ300299DI – Review

The sound of air tools, who doesn’t like that?  Sometimes I catch Dan in his shop with his compressor running and an impact in his hand.  He just sits there all day long just pulling the trigger listening to the noise.  Well not all day.  So when he found out we were going to take a look at the Campbell Hausfeld

HJ300299DI

, he was very excited, actually I was also.  This is the largest compressor we have tested so far, so naturally we could not wait to check it out.

Dan told me we were going to look at the Campbell 20 gallon compressor.  He told me the motor was on the bottom of the machine with an upright tank.  At first I couldn’t really picture what he was talking about and just thought he forgot to take his meds.  After he explained it to me so I could get a good picture, I couldn’t figure out why Campbell Hausfeld would do this.  What was the advantage?  My first thought was someone was thinking,  with the motor on the bottom, I would naturally bump into the motor causing damage.

Well the day finally came when the compressor arrived.  As always Dan opened the box like a hungry gorilla opening a case of bananas.  Stuff was everywhere.  The kit comes with a 24 piece automotive set.  Everything was packaged nicely, but after Dan ripped everything open, stuff was everywhere.  For someone like me who is or at least thinks he is organized, I was having a heart attack.  So I started to take things away from Dan so I could put them in my nice organized pile and look through them.  The first thing I pulled aside was the compressor and this is when it dawned on me, I was wrong about the design.  Here I was thinking someone at Campbell Hausfeld wasn’t thinking and in fact they were actually thinking.  They were thinking outside the box.  I noticed when I pulled the compressor, I pulled with a lot more force then necessary as I am use to pushing around compressors with the motor on top.  Right away I noticed how easy this compressor was to move around.  I had control over the compressor and felt very light, even though it weights about the same as other compressors.  The main reason is because the motor is on the bottom, lower center of gravity.  Awesome idea I thought to myself.  I also noticed the motor is in-cased in a hard plastic shell to protect the motor in case you hit it with something.  Again nice thinking, the balance was great.

I guess it would be good to tell you a little bit about the compressor.  As you can probably see by the pictures below this is a 20 gallon, 200 psi compressor, not too shabby.  The SCFM is 3.7 at 90 psi.  According to Campbell Haudfeld, this compressor offers the same power as a 26 gallon compressor, but just in a more compact 20 gallon tank.  The compressor has a one year warranty, but the tank has a 10 year warranty.  If the tank cracks, gets a hole or is ruined, they will replace the tank for free.  The tank is designed for 10 million cycles.

The motor is an oil free pump, so it is a little louder than an oiled pump.  The dial is nice and big, so it is easy to adjust.  The output gauge is also nice and big, which makes it easy to read.  One thing we wish Campbell Hausfeld would have done different is put the tank pressure gauge on top of the panel instead of on the side.  You have to bend over to see the gauge, while the other outlet pressure gauge is very easy to read since it is on the top.  I know I sound like a lazy a** complaining about bending over.

The compressor also comes with a 24 piece auto kit with a nice 3/8″ ratchet, 1/2″ impact wrnech, 3/8″ butterfly impact, spray gun, inflator, 25 ft hose and a bunch of other stuff you can see in the picture below.  Dan or myself are not mechanics, so I am not sure how good the tools are if your an everyday user like a mechanic.  For a home owner they seems great.  They feel like quality and have some weight to them.  We do like the fact that you don’t only get the compressor, but you get everything needed to get started on a project, even the thread tape.  So there is no need to go out and buy anything else.

If you’re a serious DIY’er, we feel this is a great investment.  The compressor is powerful and easy to move around.  The auto kit is a nice benefit to this kit.  The dial and adjustments are all easy to work with.  We really like the bottom mounted motor, great idea.  Overall Campbell Hausfeld has really raised the bar with compressor innovation.  We like out of the box thinking.