Air Venturi Nomad II Compressor Review

Several weeks ago I received several new products to field use, one was the new Air Venturi Nomad II compressor. I was excited to unbox the compressor and get it into the field and see how well it worked. I had spent several days prior reading about it, as well as taking down some ideas for my video review of it. The compressor was shipped in a very sturdy box and packed extremely well with plenty of padding on all sides. I knew this would be a fun review because this compressor is something I have wanted for a long time. Over the years I have traveled to many places to hunt, some are extremely remote and required me to bring several tanks. The Nomad II has pretty much been designed to keep guys like me in the field for extended periods of time. Here I will enclose as much information as I can on the Nomad II through my own experience with it.

Air Venturi Nomad II 4500 PSI Portable PCP Compressor

The Nomad II 4500 PSI Compressor can work from home or in the field being able to hook up to your vehicles 12V battery. This is a great way to keep the Airgunner in the field being completely independent with air. The Nomad II plugs into a standard 110V outlet as well as being able to adapt to 220V. Once connected, you can fill PCP guns directly up to 4500 psi with an adjustable cut-off switch.  The compressor includes a hose with female quick disconnect fitting, integrated moisture catch and bleed valve as well as maintenance parts.

• Adjustable auto-shutoff
• Pressures up to 4500 psi
• Integrated LED lights on underside of the unit for low light use
• Capable of running off of a 110V or 220V outlet or 12V car battery
• Power supply for electrical outlet use is built into the unit
• Compressor includes carrying handle
• Fan-Cooled
• External Lubrication Port (Use Silicone Lubricant only)
• Jumper Cables included
• Hose w/ integrated moisture catch and female QD fittings
• Noise level while running is 92 dB.
• Dimensions: 10.6″ L x 8″ W x 7.9″
• Weight: 19.6 lbs
• Ships with travel bag for easy transportation

Please Note: The Nomad II is recommended for filling PCP guns only and is not to be used for breathing air.

The Nomad II comes with a very well made travel bag that holds everything you will need for filling in the field. Here are the contents included:

I read the instructions and to be honest was a little nervous, not because it was difficult, but because it was something new. I figured I would be just about the first one to review this product, so I wanted everything to go perfectly. Over the past year I had read many stories about these small compressors failing, and just not lasting very long before burning out. My first run of the compressor was in my garage, just trying to get familiar with how it worked and that it functioned well enough for field use. My first fill was on my Gen1 .22 Marauder that had been sitting for some time with very little pressure in it, something like 400 psi. The Nomad II is set to run on standard 110V household outlet, but can be configured to run on 220V with a simple procedure explained in the instructions. I plugged in the compressor and the cooling fan immediately comes on. I plugged in the fill whip to the compressor, set the PSI to shut off at 3000 psi. (NOTE) When using the compressor it’s very important to keep the cooling fan open, don’t have anything obstructing it. Place the compressor in an area it will get the most open air.

After setting the compressor to 3000 psi I plugged the fill whip into the Marauder.

Once the fill whip was securely connected I hit the power button on the top of the compressor.

The display on the load indicator will go up, and through my experience to about 20 when filling smaller cylinders such as the Marauder. I kept my eye on the gauge and was surprised how fast it filled to 3000 psi. It took a little over 3 minutes to fill up the Marauder, and the compressor shut off exactly where I had set it to.

After the compressor shut down I turned the pressure release counter clockwise, this knob is located just under where the fill whip attaches to the compressor.

Before I pulled the power cord on the compressor I wanted to check out the light that’s located underneath. This light is a brilliant blue and illuminated my garage quite well, kind of a cool feature that may come in handy for night hunts.

This compressor has very good build quality from what I can see on the outside. The carry handle, feet, light, load indicator and cover look very good. I wanted to go beyond what any other reviewer would do, so I removed the cover to check out what’s under the hood. My main concern was how it was wired as well as the visual quality of the components such as the built in power converter.

Everything was very cleanly wired with good connecters and quality heavy gauge wire. The 25 amp atc fuse located on the exterior of the unit is a good plus to the safety of the components. I like how all the components have a good amount of room to breath as well as being fed by the cooling fan.

The following morning Marley, Terry and I loaded the Jeep and headed into the mountains where we would film this review, and to do a little hunting and shooting. The Nomad II compressor packed very well into the Jeep and took no space at all, leaving plenty of room for all the rest of our gear. The morning was a bit cool with almost no wind, perfect day for filming a review.

We pulled into one of our usual shooting areas that’s next to a large riverbed, Terry wanted to do some target shooting and this spot is excellent. While Terry was setting up his shooting bench I pulled out the Nomad II and prepared it for review. This was the first time I had really tried to film anything like this, so I took my time setting up the camera.

The first thing I did was to hook up the battery cables and connect the red cable to the positive terminal followed by the black to the negative terminal.

I then plugged the yellow plug end into the right side of the compressor, the cooling fan kicks on right away.

(NOTE) Its very important to run the vehicle while the compressor is in use so that it wont drain the battery. The last thing you want in remote areas like this is to get stranded with a dead battery so I kept the Jeep running the entire time the compressor was running. The next step is to set the compressor to the desired fill pressure, I was using the Seneca Double Shot Shotgun that was down to 1000 psi. This rifle has a 244cc Air reservoir and was the perfect test for this type of compressor!

I hooked up the gun and started the Nomad II by hitting the on button, the load indicator will now start going upward.

The load indicator is a very important part of the compressor that shows us how it’s running. The compressor is designed to shut off if the load indicator reaches beyond 29, these numbers are telling us how hard the compressor is working. The Nomad II is not designed to fill large tanks or buddy bottles, it simply does not produce enough volume and would have to run much to long. The Nomad II is made to fill or top off Airguns directly where we are running it for short periods of time. The load indicator can tell us when the compressor needs lubrication or other maintenance. The compressor never went over 20 during any of the times I filled guns with it, chances are as it wears in those numbers may go a little higher.

The compressor shut off exactly where I had set it to, I released the pressure and disconnected the Air Rifle from the fill whip. I now disconnected the power cable from the compressor and then disconnected from the vehicles battery terminals. (Note) The carry bag comes in very handy to keep everything together and clean for storage when in camp. Now we can hit the field for a few hours of hunting, was a nice feeling to know I had all the Air I would need just back at camp. Marley and I hiked around for a bit looking for some birds and rabbits.

The hunting was a bit slow so I did some shooting as well as some filming for the video portion of my review.

After a full day in the field and getting to use the compressor in situations it was intended for I was pretty impressed. I think Air Venturi will sell a ton of these compressors, so far it seems to be the best portable option I have seen. Marley and I spent some time shooting with Terry before packing up and heading back down the mountain towards home.

I had a great time with the Nomad II compressor and found it to function perfectly and just as intended. When I got home I took it into the shop to read over the maintenance procedures that I filmed and photographed for this review.

Maintenance 

The Nomad II is fairly maintenance free but does need to be lubricated every 5 fills, this is very easy to do and is imperative to the health of the machine. To lubricate the compressor we will need to use silicone oil. On the left side of the compressor is a lubrication hole just above the cooling fan.

(NOTE) ONLY USE SILICONE LUBRICANT

The Nomad II comes with an applicator bottle but I found using silicone spray was much easier and less messy. A good rule of thumb is every 5 fills or if the LOAD indicator on the compressor is reaching 28 or higher. When we lubricate the compressor it should be running to properly make way inside the moving components. Two or three drops with applicator or when using spray just one small squirt, wipe off excess. Now is a good time to wipe down the exterior of the compressor and check to make sure no obstructions are in the fans cover. The Nomad II also has a filter that’s located inside the fill whip, this needs to be checked for debris every 2-3 hours of use, I would check it every 10 fills or if we have been using it in dusty areas. To get to the filter simply unscrew the cylindrical collar of the filter housing.

 Inside the housing the filter sits fairly snug, check to make sure it’s clean and free from debris or dark in color. The Nomad II comes with 4 of them that should last for quite a long time! Every 20 fills it’s necessary to purge the lubrication system. The reason we want to do this is to expel excess silicone oil and moisture. This is a very important step and imperative to the performance of the compressor. To purge the compressor is best done while it running, underneath is the moisture release valve, loosen it counter clockwise. Now we want to lubricate the lubrication hole on the side of the compressor. What this does is flushes out all the moisture and junk that may have built up inside the unit. With proper maintenance this compressor should perform well. These small compressors are sometimes used improperly such as trying to fill an SCBA tank, Buddy bottle etc, These are things that will burn it out and cause problems. USE IT AS INTENDED!!

I really enjoyed the time spent with the Air Venturi Nomad II portable compressor, I used it as intended and was very pleased with it’s quality and performance. Enclosed are my thoughts:

         PROS

• Great build quality
• Very nice carry bag that keeps everything neat and clean
• Size, lightweight and compact to save space
• Fill times
• Load indicator (good for checking health of machine)
• LED light for night use
• 4500psi with set shut off
• Easy maintenance (spare parts included)

CONS

• I would have liked to see it with a cigarette lighter adaptor ( It would draw to many amps though)
• Wish cables could be longer

I want to thank Air Venturi and Pyramyd Air for sponsoring us to make this review. Enclosed is the review in video form, hope this may help others interested in this great product.

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