Paul Meredith - It's not a big deal.. most hobby folks already have a 135 psi compressor.. The shoebox lets you be a lot more self sufficient. You can always take your tank(s) down to your local fill shop, if you have one, and call it a day. Once you really start shooting PCP guns, you'll find out that they are well worth the efforts. Cheers AGW
When you mentioned the drive to the scuba shop, it got me thinking. I live on an island in the Caribbean. there are 35 scuba shops near my house. The farthest one is a 20 minute drive. Why am I still interested in this?????
Good review Rick, but it's out of reach for most budgets. First you buy the Freedom8 for $1,150. Then you buy a shop compressor for about $300. Add the cost of the small (90 cu in) carbon fiber tank for $300, bringing the minimum cost to $1,750, just for the basic setup (not including shipping & sales tax). If you don't already have a PCP rifle, you'll need to buy one. You can get the Benjamin Marauder.25 "Small Game Hunter's Pack" for $615 at the crosman.com website. So you'll be ready to shoot at the low, low cost of $2,365. Full disclosure: I own a Benjamin Marauder .25 and the hand pump. I'll continue to use the hand pump for my Marauder. Better yet, I'll use my 22LR rifles instead.
You can certainly cost yourself that much money if you want to.. But, you can also just by the Shoebox and use a $100 to $150 household compressor, which is really handy to have around the house anyway, add a hose and from there you can just fill your gun directly. Having the pony bottle is not required. In the big picture, this is something for someone that already has all the other gear and wants an easy way to keep everything topped off. I believe that I also recommended that it's a great way for a group of airgunners to share the cost and use it amongst themselves. Certainly something to consider if you have a small airgunning club. As for airguns.. if I only had 1 pcp airgun, I'd probably stick with a pump or a single tank.. but.. I have about half a dozen or more PCP airguns, and there are a lot of guys out there that have more than I do. While this certainly works well for ANY PCP airgun owner, it's certainly better suited for SERIOUS PCP airgun owners, a distinction that I believe I made in the video. Cheers, AGW
You're absolutely right. Don't get me wrong. I do like my Marauder. And, if I were to buy an additional PCP rifle, I might consider the Freedom8. Especially if I could afford a big bore PCP rifle. What I enjoy most about my Marauder is how quiet it is. But I don't shoot it as often as I do my 22LR rifles - at least at this time. Like you say, it's definitely better suited for the more serious PCP owners.
As a Freedom8 owner, I can attest to the quality of the compressor. Great compressor, excellent service. It is extremely important that you use an oilless compressor. Compressors which use crankcase oil should never be used, a reservior or tank explosion could result.
So according to their web site it takes 24 hours to fill a 80cf scuba tank. (not even a carbon fiber tank) I have to grease it ever 2-3 hours (10 times for one fill) and I guess I will be getting up every two hours during the night to do this.....and rebuild after 70 hours? (three full bottles later) Yeah...this is not going on my purchase list.
Please dont get me wrongt, but why i should buy a 1150 $ Shoebox + extra Cash for a Pre-Compressor if i can get a 4500PSI Copmpressor for 800$ from China which fills a 1,1Litre Bottle in 20 Minutes
I find it interesting that of all the detailed shoebox videos on youtube, no one likes to mention/document their "actual" fill times lol which leads me to the conclusion that the $$$ spent on the shoebox (plus the $ spent on the required 1st stage mini-shop compressor) is just not worth it due to such slow fill rates (i.e.with a group of players playing on their own private property for the day, no one is going to wait 30-60-80 + min to fill just one tank...even if everyone had 13ci/3000psi tanks). In its current design the shoebox is just too slow. Seems the high pressure air-rifle crowd might find the shoebox more plausible since they do not shoot off as many rounds & require less air than those who play paintball(?)
The reason "actual" times are not mentioned is because they will vary between each application. If you follow the links on the video to PyramydAir's site, you'll find a very good list of "average actual" fill times. Also, I mentioned plainly how long it takes me to fill my primary pony bottle. The Shoebox is NOT for quick refills on game day, nor was it designed to be. It is meant for topping of tanks during off times. If you want quick, game day fills, then consider the HPA Booster that I've reviewed. That will fill my small 4500 psi tank in just a few minutes and can be rigged with 2 scuba tanks so long you have one regulated down to 100/125 psi. For the hard core hobbyist or small airgun club, the Shoebox is an awesome tool. I find myself shooting more because I'm never concerned about when I'll have to make the next trip to the dive shop to get all my tanks filled. CheersAGW
I just purchased a used Freedom 8 and my shop compressor is only rated to 100 psi while on the webpage they suggest 125psi input. I am guessing it will just fill tanks more slowly ?? Would that be your guess as well ?
hello and good day agw,i do agree with some of the other guys out here for what the shoebox is it is very exspensive,the motors that run the shoebox max cost only 50-60 dollars on ebay the fan is 10-20 dollars.but it is nice to have to top off,i just recently got into pcps,i love that portion,thou I have had air guns my entire life its a fun sport but shouldn't be so exspensive for the Americas best pastime sport,like the increase of price for pellets for 22 cal on up to big bore,lead isn't that exspensive nore the dies I don't know what makes pellets so exspensive,but back to the shoebox,i lve 23 mile from a paintball store that charges $5 to fill a 90/4500 and my gun and then approax 10.00 for gas a roundtrip,so that's 15.00 total if I did that once a week that's 60.00 bucks a month,so I purchased the max in the long run it will pay for itself over time giving me more time to shoot,i just wanted to let these guys know they need to do the math,if they shoot 1 hour a day or once a week then yes the shoebox wouldn't be a good investment,just wanted to put that out there,and be sure to have a roll of Teflon tape on hand lol you have to stop all air leaks from the compressor to the shoebox for it to effectively to pump up your tank or gun I found out I had some leaks after finding all leaks it took the max and hour to fill my tank that had 2000 psi and 3 min to fill marauder with 3000 psihave a nice day we need some more air gun tv shows from you guys,
If your compressor will output to 3000 psi, I do not see why you cannot use it. Just make sure that you have the correct high pressure hoses that will allow you to attach and end that is threaded 1/8 bssp. Cheers, AGW
Can I use an air compressor (that I use to power air tools and fill the tires to my truck) to power a PCP air rifle? Or do I need to buy one of these tanks? Thanks!
Look online and you will find that there are muzzlebrakes for the Hatsan PCP rifles that should quieten them down. Just make sure that you check with whoever sells them and make sure that there are no problems with the pellet clipping. Also, get a vendor that has a good return policy. Cheers, AGW
I started saving my pennies nickels and dimes the second I heard about Shoebox. Then I heard I needed a booster compressor. Then, I might need additional hoses and connectors. Then I hear I need a moisture trap of some kind. Can somebody tell me, after all the stuff is bought to fill one pcp, how shoebox compares, price wise, to the all included in one unit Raptor at $1800.00?
need a compressor, to fill a compressor, to fill a bottle, with in my opinion, very high maintenance time and cost, and not cheap to buy in the first place...... don't think I will bother.... sounds like a lot of bother to me.
All the BS promotion and not one minute showing how to use it. Not even explaining what the controls are used for. One switch and one knob. So difficult to explain. A total advertisement with no educational value.
