I had a Projecta Cyclone compressor which is the smaller brother to the Typhoon - only a single piston job. It worked well for a few years, but always ran very hot. Wasn't the quickest thing, but it got there. Recently the yellow curly hose got very brittle and fell apart - of course I only found this out when I went to use it. Luckily we were at home still, so it wasn't a huge problem, but something to watch out for. I've no idea if the Typhoons use the same hose, I'd guess they possibly do.
I was going to replace the hose and continue using it, but had a chat to my Dad who had a few of them on the work trucks. Seems within a year or two every one of their compressors failed - blown big-end bearing on the piston, and either seized up or flogged out the piston. They use them a lot, but not for super high pressures (pumping up the internal bladder in water pump pressure tanks). Again, no idea if this correlates to the bigger Typhoons - I hope not.
Based on all that, a couple of months ago I took the plunge and grabbed one of the ARB portable ones. It's great. Difference is night and day. At the ARB open day on Saturday, I picked up the air chuck attachment for it, and am now looking for an excuse to pump something up. I grabbed a new ARB catalog at the same time, and they've got a new compressor kit out - basically two of the HO compressors mounted together, with a big air tank connected to them. Might be a good option for people who need a LOT of air. No idea on cost, but if you need that much compressed air, cost is probably a secondary consideration anyway!
The take away thing for me, out of my experience with the Cyclone, is if you're going away, spend the 10 mins to pull the compressor (whatever you have) out of it's bag and give it a test. Better to find a blown air hose or busted whatever in your driveway, compared to 6 hours into the bush. It doesn't take long, and for such an important piece of equipment, it's a good safety check.
Thanks!
Matto
