MAC5200 3.0 HP* Big Bore™ Air Compressor

I needed a compressor for my small workshop for air tools, nailers, blowoff, tire inflation and spray painting. I've had oil-less compressors in the past and although I liked their lower prices, I absolutely hated the terrible, high pitched screams they emitted when running. After looking around, I settled on a Makita, but I needed to choose between the Makita MAC700 Big Bore 2.0 HP Air Compressor , Makita MAC2400 Big Bore 2.5 HP Air Compressor and MAC5200. I decided that the MAC700 was too small for my needs. The MAC2400 was interesting, and I saw that a number of people had built carts to move it around and store hoses and miscellaneous parts. Then it struck me that for only $25 more, I could get the MAC5200, which came with more air, wheels and storage for hose and other bits. I've had the MAC5200 for about a month. It arrived well packaged and in perfect condition; none of the scratches and bent parts that some reviewers have noted. I was immediately impressed with the build quality. The collapsible handle is very heavy duty and the wheels are decent. After unpacking, I added the oil and did the 30 minute break-in with the tank valve open. The compressor is not what I would call quiet, but it makes far less noise than the oil-less compressors, and the pitch is lower. I am fortunate that I can put the compressor in a small room off my workshop. With the door closed, the compressor sound is muffled and I don't need hearing protection. If I were working in the same room with the compressor, I would use hearing protection. This is a heavy machine and it would be difficult to move around without the attached wheels and handles. For this reason alone, I am glad I went for the MAC5200 over the MAC2400. The MAC5200 puts out a decent amount of air. It takes 1 minute and 17 seconds to charge the tank to 120 PSI and an attached 3/8" X 50' hose to 90 PSI. Using an air gun with 3 1/2" nails, I can fire 15 - 20 shots before the compressor needs to recharge. So far, I've had enough air to do anything I wanted to do. I got a couple of accessories for the MAC5200. I needed some quick connects and bought the Milton M-Style Air Coupler and Plug Set - 1/4in. NPT, 7-Pcs., Model# S-212 . These quick connects are well made, sturdy and work well. I also got a Campbell Hausfeld MP5143 Pistol Grip Blowgun and think it's great value for money. I'll update the review in the future, when I've had more time on it.

I was stunned to see the UPS man at my door at 10:15 am today (Monday morning) already delivering my MAC5200. WTF? I just ordered it what seemed like a few hours ago (Saturday evening). Talk about fast shipping. I wondered how they got it here so quickly, so I checked the tracking info and noticed it was shipped from MD, only one state away from me here in VA. In any event, I'm blown (no pun intended) away at the speed in which Amazon completed and delivered my order. Right after ordering, it basically went straight onto a UPS truck. That's pretty impressive considering the size and weight of this thing. I was a bit worried at first because the box had arrived a little beat up and torn. However, after a thorough inspection, there appears to be no damage anywhere to the unit. My one gripe is that they need to work on the sturdiness of the box. Also, the box would have been more manageable if there were heavy-duty handle cut-outs. I didn't see how the guy managed to carry it to my front porch, but I did notice the box was starting to fall apart. Anyway, I have yet to run and break the unit in, but judging by the quality craftsmanship, it appears that this machine will last me a lifetime (knock on wood). This is probably more compressor than I'll ever need, but I wanted to be sure I'd have something powerful enough to allow me to winterize my underground sprinkler system each year, which incidentally costs me about $50 per year to have someone else do. Therefore, after seven winterizations this beast will have paid for itself. Other than that, I really only plan to use it for air in the tires and small projects around the house. My compressor came with what appear to be some fairly heavy-duty and solid rubber wheels. At first glance, it looks like there's still a tiny bit more room for improvement with the wheels, as they seem to be just slightly out of alignment when wheeling it around (no biggie). After beating my head against the wall in deliberation, in the end, I elected to step up to the MAC5200 over it's little brother, the MAC2400. What put me over the edge was the wheels (greater portability), more HP & CFM, a bigger tank, and a folding handle. For me, it was well worth spending the extra fifty bucks or so to upgrade from the MAC2400 to the MAC5200. I'm really impressed with the look and feel; it's solid and heavy-duty, and built like a freaking tank. Even though I have yet to use it, I'm confident this compressor will surpass my needs and expectations. UPDATE I: I just added 21 photos to the gallery. Enjoy! UPDATE II: I broke the machine in and successfully winterized my underground (well-water) sprinkler system with no problems whatsoever. I bought this hose: GoodYear 045 3/8-Inch-by-50-Feet Safety Yellow Rubber Hose 3/8 -Inch by 50-Feet 250 PSI With 1/4-Inch Ends and this tire gauge: Milton S506 Dual Head Inflator Gauge with 12" Air Hose and couldn't be happier.

The following review is for a combination of items I purchased the same day. This compressor is built well and is not flimsy. The wheels and frame are solid! After much research I found the following combination of items to meet my needs. I wanted a big enough air compressor to drive an air impact wrench which would take my lug nuts off and be handy for smaller chores. I’m very much satisfied with my purchase. I’ve read horror stories whereby people buy air tools & compressor only to find they need to manually remove lug nuts. I would’ve been extremely disappointed with that kind of investment. With that said, the air impact wrench can easily take off my lug nuts for both my car and SUV. The ratchet works well for smaller jobs such as removing bolts for my brake calipers, shocks and can fit in a reasonable opening. It has some bulk to it but I can find myself using it for many other automotive tasks. The hose I bought works fine. Not sure how to write a review on it as it delivers air to the tools just fine. I bought an attachment to inflate my pool pillows in the fall and pool floats in the spring. Now I can enjoy a beer without getting winded. I bought the air impact sockets from Lowes, since they were cheap enough. By and far, this was a worthwhile investment. I’m looking forward to purchasing other air tools. Here's the list of the stuff purchased on Amazon that met my needs listed above. - Makita MAC5200 Big Bore 3.0 HP Air Compressor - Aircat ACR802R 3/8-Inch Ratchet, Large - AIRCAT 1000-TH 1/2-Inch Composite Air Impact Wrench With Twin Hammer Mechanism - Goodyear EP 46501 3/8-Inch by 25-Feet 250 PSI Rubber Air Hose with 1/4-Inch MNPT Ends

For 28 years I had a cheap little 12 gallon compressor that worked but was loud and I was lucky to get 110 psi out of it. It finally died thank goodness. I was looking for something that I could use with a plasma cutter but didn't want a huge 60 gal shop 220v loud ass compressor. I found this beauty and it's not the perfect compressor for a plasma cutter but it will deliver good working times and is perfect for everything else I need. Smallish and still somewhat portable, this thing is quiet and powerful and very well made. I've had a Makita circular saw that is well used for the last 25 years and it still works like new after I put a new cord on it. Makita stuff is well made.

I've had this compressor for about three months and have had no problems. I bought it because I needed a compressor with a higher CFM output than the little Ridgid one I already have. I needed a compressor with a minimum of 4.5 CFM to operate a Porta-nail flooring nailer. Most portable compressors have outputs in the 2 to 3 SCFM range. I definitely did not want a huge shop compressor as I have a small garage and don't have use for compressed air all that often. The Makita line of air compressors are some of the few portable compressors with CFM outputs above 5 CFM. The compressor arrived via Fedex unscathed. The box had a small hole but no damage to the machine. Makita has changed the wheel design. Everything you read about the crappy wheels no longer applies. They are now pneumatic with a steel center. The folding handle is a nice touch. This unit folds small enough to put in a SUV, wagon, or car trunk. It is heavy at 88 lbs, but a quality compressor will be heavy. I wish the storage compartment on top were larger. There is barely enough room for a few pneumatic fittings. I also find the when tipping the unit backward to roll it, it is a little front-heavy (meaning the center of gravity is located more toward the front of the compressor. This makes it a little awkward to tip it back. It comes with two male 1/4" thread and 1/4" barb quick connects. I wanted to use 3/8" hose and fittings as recommended by the Porta-nail manual, so I swapped one of the quick connects out for a 3/8" female (with a 1/4" male thread). Overall, very satisfied... ****Update**** - October 2011: Well after we just got 5 inches of snow for the first time in October since 1869, I used my Makita compressor to blow out my lawn sprinklers. I figured I'd update my review to let you know that it can supply sufficient volume to blow out the system. You have to do it one zone at a time, start each zone with a full tank of air and blow each zone out twice, but it works beautifully. I ran air through each zone for about 2 minutes at a time (until there was almost no water/mist coming out of the sprinkler heads. I hooked the air to the sprinkler by putting together a male pneumatic fitting with threaded male end together with some fittings form the plumbing aisle at HD. I was able to make the other end of the pneumatic fitting a brass 3/4" male thread with screws right into the female copper fitting right below the backflow preventer. I mention all this because many portable compressors can't supply enough volume to blow out a sprinkler system. They wind up leaving enough water in the line that may crack it when it freezes. This Makita MAC5200 doesn't get every last drop out either, but that's not necessary. Bottom line is that it does the job and saves me the $100 every year that I would have to pay to have a irrigation company come with their tow-behind compressor to shut down the system. I have used the Makita for this 2 years now so next fall, it will have basically paid for itself.

The unit is very nice. Remarkably quiet when compared to other compressors which do not even compete on the same level as this unit. The unit is rather cumbersome and heavy. Loading it in and out of the bed of a truck could take some to task. Once on the ground the wheels provide adequate portability, and the collapsing handle is nice for storage purposes when not in use. As a whole the cage around the unit appears quite beefy and seems like it could take a decent beating and everyday usage. The big bore aspect and 6.8cfm makes this unit replenish the tank to 140 psi quickly. My only complaint is the right wheel on this unit was extremely bent upon delivery, but that is due to rough handling on FedEx part, not seller or Amazon. I will have to remove the wheel and replace or fix the issue myself with a trusty vice and some cold rolled steel. Waited long enough for its arrival and needed the compressor for a job to want to send it back for replacement all because of the bent wheel. I would recommend this unit to anyone needing to run a framing nailer driving 3 1/2” nails. Runs to guns quite nicely in moderate use situations. Haven’t stressed it with two guns used for roofing job where you might be popping guns rapidly, so I can’t speak to how it may handle that. If your looking for something to air up tires with around the house, it’s overkill. Yes I would recommend this unit to anyone who knows why and for what they need it.

I bought the Makita, MAC5200 Air Compressor in May, 2012. I bought it so I could use it with an Eastwood Versa-Cut plasma cutter. (requires 5-7 CFM @85 PSI). I'd hoped to get a compressor for around $100. There are a lot out there at that price, but none of them could handle the requirements of the smallest plasma cutters. This one does the job perfectly. This is oil lubricated, which makes for quieter operation, and I am led to believe a more efficient and longer lasting compressor. I spent just about as much on the compressor as I did on the plasma cutter, but I'm very pleased with the way the equipment works together. Considering that I have a really nice compressor and an excellent plasma cutter including all necessary accessories for both, all for under $900 delivered . . . I'm a pretty happy guy. It arrived in short order, quicker than expected. Easy to get from the box to running order. I bought the 50 ft. air hose and a small accessory kit. I did have to use the plumbers tape provided in the tool kit at the connectors. Still need to do a little adjusting in that area, but it works really well. The compressor is easy to roll from one location to the other, and it looks really nice, which makes no significant difference in purchasing it, but it's a nice bonus. I've used it in the garage at times, with the door open of course. It's not terribly noisy, but not my favorite way to use it. Mostly I run it off an outside outlet about 30 feet from where I do my cutting and welding. It makes noise, to be sure, but not terrible and none of my neighbors have complained. I live in a suburban neighborhood.

For the price of this compressor it should’ve been a great working machine. But right out of the box the check valve didn’t work. I had to take it apart and clean it out as it had a bunch of debris keeping it from holding the back pressure. Then after four days of use, it would run for a little while and then kick the internal breaker off, it’s really loud and got really hot. It had great pressure, but with all the other issues, I returned it and went to Harbor Freight and bought a better one along with a ton of accessories for less than this one was. I’ve been using the Harbor Freight one for two months now every single day up to 12 hours a day and it hasn’t given me a bit of trouble.

Es un poco ruidoso, pero su trabajo es exelente

I've had the MAC5200 for about 2 years now and have used it on many projects around the house. It has enough power to drive roof and frame nailers as well as drive an impact gun for changing the winter tires on all my family vehicles. Is it loud? Why yes of course it is, it's a big compressor after all. I have to say though that before purchasing this model my wife had bought me a tri stack "contractor grade" model from HD which was noticeably louder. The thing though was that model was oiless. Not only was it louder but it used a larger amount of current just to start because of the higher initial cylinder resistance inherent on such oiless models. I was constantly blowing my poor 15amp garage circuit. Yes I know I should have a dedicated 20amp circuit but I don't and wasn't about to run a new one just to drive an oiless compressor some of the time. I did some reading and discovered that this particular tri stack was known for it's high initial current demand and it also had poor long term reliability. A handyman friend of mine informed me he had gone through 3 of them in a year before he decided to step up and by an oil lube model from the big yellow tool company. This is when I did my research and discovered the MAC5200. I returned the tri stack to HD and ordered the MAC5200 from Amazon. At the time HD had the MAC3200 but it was the same price as Ordering the MAC5200 from Amazon.....including shipping!! When I got the MAC5200 from amazon it came on a large pallet in a heavy grade cardboard box. I had to help the poor delivery guy unload it as it's quite large and heavy when shipped. The first thing that I noticed when I ran it is that it was not as loud as the HD tri Stack and it wasn't blowing my 15amp circuit whenever I turned it on. Despite all of that it actually has a higher CFM rating than the HD tri stack. 6.5 CFM @ 90 psi vs 4.9 CFM @ 90 PSI. It also has a slightly bigger tank. 5.2gallon vs 5gallon. This unit is fantastic for moving around to different locations. It has a built in hand truck, cable wrap and accessory storage. I've rolled it all around the outside of my house for different projects and even across the street to the neighbors to change their tires. It's heavy but yet very portable. It's brilliant! Most of the time I keep mine in the garage and just run a 50' air hose to it so noise doesn't bother me at all. All in all I love my MAC5200 and would highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good all around compressor for personal or professional use.

This is a great compressor! The wheeled frame with flip up handle is perfect for mobility and it also folds down and has grab handles at both ends to load up with two people. At 100+ pounds it is not a toy and it produces a good supply of air. I only received it today but this is at least my 7th compressor in my 56 years so I have some idea of what I'm talking about. As to shipping, it came well packed with the oil in a bottle inside a bag so regardless of how it was tumbled in transport, it came through with flying colours! Time will tell, but this looks to be a well built tool!!

Great compressor but it had trouble keeping up with my 4.5 SCFM paint gun and was pretty much running constantly, although that could have been an inaccurate SCFM rating from the paint gun manufacturer. Otherwise very high quality, as is usually the case with Makita. Works great with my nail guns. Is somewhat loud but still usable indoors. It does not trip my household outlets which are standard 15A fuses.

I had a noisy piece of garbage from Walmart and replaced it with this. You can turn it on empty and start filling a car tire and the pressure will continue to rapidly rise despite filling the tire. This thing exudes quality and takes a bottle of oil (supplied). It reminds me of an old Mercedes - nicely finished and solid metal parts. I expect (and hope) it will last me a lifetime. I ordered a Makita brad nailer to go with it too. The only downside is that it is heavy. I am using it as a stationary compressor. If I ever do any amount of sand blasting, I will get another and parallel them. It isn't continuous duty and Makita says more than 30 minutes of operation per hour is abuse. For most people, that is loads of capacity.