Lidl offer

[AlasdairGF]

Lidl are selling a cheap AB from Monday 24th - my wife spotted this in their bumph that came through the door today,and murmured that this might be a good birthday prezzie... but I'm a little dubious, and asked her to hold off until I've checked with some folk who know... i.e. you lot!

Here's the ad:

View attachment 79497


I also had half an eye on getting one of the ubiquitous 'starter' AB kits on ebay - you know the ones, the AS 186 (e.g. www.ebay.co.uk/itm/200600974912):

View attachment 79498


The difference is about £15 in price... how much better would the non-Lidl one be?

Please feel free to talk to me like a complete know-nothing newbie in this matter!!!

 

[Adrian "Marvel" Reynolds]

I bought one of the starter kits off eBay three years ago and the compressor is still going strong, I swapped out the air brush for an Iwata one though.

Adrian

 

[Ian M]

I would go for the E-bay one, if the choice was mine.

The lidl one is only single action AB and has a lot of tingle tangle with it.

As Adrian points out if the compressor holds its own you can always buy a better ab later.

Ian M

 

[monica]

hi Alasdair, how sweet off her, for the sake off 15pond, i would go for the starter compressor off horrablebay, as when i was looking into getting one

most off the lads said with the tank is better,

just read that it is an oil free one would be the most important think o_O

as Adrian, said swap out the AB for a gravitate feed one , and maybe able to pickup a cheap one as well, off horrablebay :rolleyes:

 

[fuma]

I have that exact compressor still going strong after four years! Airbrush is good for entry level and if you stick with it you will want to upgrade at a later date although as a note of warning try not to drop the airbrush, it can be fragile, I found out the hard-way and had to replace it.

I've had some experience with kits similar to the Lidl offering. depending on what you get the trigger can sometimes stick. I've encountered a bent needle and the compressor is bit noisy for indoor use for my liking, unless you have a sound proof shed at the bottom of twenty foot garden I would personally avoid them.

Seeing as it could be a gift from your partner remember its the thought that counts...!!!!!!

Hope that it is of some help

 

[dubster72]

I'd definitely avoid the Lidl one, even though its cheap. The tank on the eBay offering will prevent lot's of problems associated with pulsing & the Lidl AB is very poor considering you can get a gravity double action one for under £11!

Cheers

Patrick

 

[PaulTRose]

go for the ebay one!

i bought almost the same setup in 2007......it was the version with out the resavoir,............the suction feed ab is rubbish (although if i still had i would now hav a use for it! :rolleyes: ) but i still use the gravity feed one for some things.

the compressor gave me 4 years of hard use (and abuse) before it died so i thought i had good value from it

i bought the one like in the picture with a resavoir as a replacement and sometimes wish i hadnt, sometimes can be annoying waiting for it to 'fill up' before actually being able to spray

it was a great set up to start with and learn, ive since bought a cheap iwata

 

[Harry Labanville]

My experience with cheap compressors is the pressure switch fails. And so does the regulator.

Go for the Sparmax ,expensive but durable.

I am actually in the process of waiting for a pressure switch from Germany to try and fix my one if it doesn't work I've wasted £14, I could have put to a decent compressor.:mad:

 

[AlasdairGF]

Thanks everyone for the advice - much appreciated.