The GX CS4: Paintball's Best Home Compressor
You might not like it, but this is what peak compressor form looks like
Over the years, I've become a bit of a paintball home compressor connoisseur. Since I make, sell, and tech my own R/T kits for cockers, valves, hammers, and bolts, I tend to need a lot of compressed air at home. I drive a car, not an SUV or truck, which means scuba tanks are an awkward at best option. So instead of going that route, I've instead tried out several of our options for at-home air compressors that can fill to 4500psi. You may have seen my reviews within this site, where I have talked about the virtue of the GX CS3 (my previous favorite) and the Yong Heng. Both can get the job done. That said. the new GX CS4 is better than either. I would actually say it blows both of those out of the water.
So why do I say that? Let me explain
So why do I say that? Let me explain
What's in the box?!?
Unboxing it
I decided to give this a go for several reasons. I have been using my GX CS3, and for the most part I have been pretty happy with it. It' fully electric, which I like, can run for 30 minutes at a time to fill your tanks, and is quiet. I've gotten in the habit of turning it on and letting the machine fill my tanks at night while the wife and kiddo are asleep and I'm watching TV in the other room. The downside is that it takes a few sessions per fill, as it's really made for smaller tanks than most paintballers, including me, use. Don't get me wrong---it can do the job, but it's getting strained a bit. This has also demanded a couple of rebuilds from me, which isn't a problem, but also not ideal.
Th CS GX4 has been advertised as something that is truly designed to take on big tanks. It's actually overpowered to even fill my 124ci, 4500 psi tank that I use for teching---which is a monster tank for most paintballers. While it is an electrical pump, and it does vary from the CS3 in a few big ways (that I'll get into soon), it also seemed to actually improve on a few of the CS3's strengths. It can fill to a higher level and faster (40 bar instead of 30, and to almost 6k psi!!), all while staying very cool in terms of temperature and staying extremely quiet for a pump.
I decided to give this a go for several reasons. I have been using my GX CS3, and for the most part I have been pretty happy with it. It' fully electric, which I like, can run for 30 minutes at a time to fill your tanks, and is quiet. I've gotten in the habit of turning it on and letting the machine fill my tanks at night while the wife and kiddo are asleep and I'm watching TV in the other room. The downside is that it takes a few sessions per fill, as it's really made for smaller tanks than most paintballers, including me, use. Don't get me wrong---it can do the job, but it's getting strained a bit. This has also demanded a couple of rebuilds from me, which isn't a problem, but also not ideal.
Th CS GX4 has been advertised as something that is truly designed to take on big tanks. It's actually overpowered to even fill my 124ci, 4500 psi tank that I use for teching---which is a monster tank for most paintballers. While it is an electrical pump, and it does vary from the CS3 in a few big ways (that I'll get into soon), it also seemed to actually improve on a few of the CS3's strengths. It can fill to a higher level and faster (40 bar instead of 30, and to almost 6k psi!!), all while staying very cool in terms of temperature and staying extremely quiet for a pump.
Gently pulling out of the box
So what do you get when it arrives? Good question. You actually get a nice little set up. When you first open up the box, you'll notice a form fitting styrofoam with a little shelf on top. In that shelf is your hose, connected by quick disconnects (first upgrade over the CS3 I noticed), a tool set and spares (everything you should need to service it), your power cord for using it at home, the power converter, and directions. While that last part may seem like a small deal, it isn't. Directions for a lot of the at-home compressors have left a ton to be desired. This pamphlet is actually useful. It gives you a walk-through on set up, as well as a detailed parts diagram. It's two-sided, both in English and what I would guess is Mandarin.
To help you on your quest
What you may notice, and need to read through, is that there is some set up required beyond what the GX3 required---which was virtually nothing. Instead, you will need to do a thing or two. I cannot stress this enough---read the set up column. It's not idiot-proof, nor would you just guess what you need to do here. So what does this set up require?
Distilled water and Antifreeze. What are you doing with them? Mixing them, ideally to a 7:3 antifreeze to water ratio. Why? This unit is cooled a different way than the CS3. That unit was entirely air cooled. While the CS4 does use fans, it ALSO uses liquid. While each unit is tested before sending it out, they still need to be flushed out and then reset before use. So that's exactly what I did.
Distilled water and Antifreeze. What are you doing with them? Mixing them, ideally to a 7:3 antifreeze to water ratio. Why? This unit is cooled a different way than the CS3. That unit was entirely air cooled. While the CS4 does use fans, it ALSO uses liquid. While each unit is tested before sending it out, they still need to be flushed out and then reset before use. So that's exactly what I did.
All the tools and seals you need
To get it ready to go, first remove the cap that contains your coolant and add distilled water to the unit until you're above the second (higher) liquid return hole. It's important to use distilled water, as filtered water can still have minerals. And minerals can build up on you.
Once you've added that distilled water, turn on the unit. It's going to suck that added water into the system, and it's going to drop the coolant level a TON. I ran it for a couple moments, and then drained the entire system. Once I had done that, I added the watered-down antifreeze coolant mix in to refill the system (by the way, you're watering it down in order to keep the pH at 7---which was important, per the manufacturer), and turned on the system. Again, that coolant is dropping once it's turned on. Knowing this, I turned it off and gave Jobu a refill. I poured in enough liquid coolant to go above the second return port, and we were set there.
Once you've added that distilled water, turn on the unit. It's going to suck that added water into the system, and it's going to drop the coolant level a TON. I ran it for a couple moments, and then drained the entire system. Once I had done that, I added the watered-down antifreeze coolant mix in to refill the system (by the way, you're watering it down in order to keep the pH at 7---which was important, per the manufacturer), and turned on the system. Again, that coolant is dropping once it's turned on. Knowing this, I turned it off and gave Jobu a refill. I poured in enough liquid coolant to go above the second return port, and we were set there.
The water tank is cleverly labeled 'WATER TANK' to try and idiot-proof this beast
So what else do you need to do to get up and running? Same stuff as the GX CS3, which makes it extremely easy. See that cable spool in the picture above on the side of the unit? Those power cable clamp onto your car battery (if you're going mobile) or onto the power converter (big metal box in the top shelf of the package, which you can see a few pictures back). The red goes to red, and the black goes to the white writing. This isn't complicated. From there, you just plug in the power cord on the converter, and that into the wall. It will also help drastically to use the quick disconnect and connect the air hose to your unit and whatever tank you have.
Wasting zero time with the torture test. BTW, this is how it looks set up.
Work It
So now that it's set up, how does it run? Well that question can mean two things, so I'll explain both. It's incredibly easy to use. First, set your safeties in the gauge. You have your shut off setting, and your don't-you-dare-go-over-this safety setting. Your first setting in the gauge is your auto-shut down. It will turn off the pumping when you hit that pressure. The second setting will shut your unit down should that fail. Because no one wants a boom.
Next, make sure that your bleed is open/unscrewed. It's that black knob that labeled 'Bleed Valve.' Not exactly tricky. Your unit, when plugged in, will have the Off button with the glowing red ring as a default. With the bleed open, press On. A green ring around it will start glowing. Once it's up and going, close the bleed. You're now making pressure.
To see how well this unit can run, I grabbed my largest bottle. It's a 124ci 4500psi Hero 2 tank. It's literally the biggest paintball specific tank on the market, and what I use to tech guns. I hooked up the fill nipple, and threw on a timer to see how long it took to get a full 4500 fill in.
It ran for 65 minutes to get a complete fill. That's actually pretty damn good. The CS3 took several, and I mean several, sessions of 30 minutes to fill that. The Yong Heng even took well over 30 minutes to get there, and it was a lot louder, hotter, and less user friendly in doing so. Also worth noting---the unit wasn't hot at all in doing so. I can show you the scar on my arm from barely accidentally touching a hot tube on my Yong Heng. This thing has nothing, and I mean nothing, remotely approaching that level of heat.
So now that it's set up, how does it run? Well that question can mean two things, so I'll explain both. It's incredibly easy to use. First, set your safeties in the gauge. You have your shut off setting, and your don't-you-dare-go-over-this safety setting. Your first setting in the gauge is your auto-shut down. It will turn off the pumping when you hit that pressure. The second setting will shut your unit down should that fail. Because no one wants a boom.
Next, make sure that your bleed is open/unscrewed. It's that black knob that labeled 'Bleed Valve.' Not exactly tricky. Your unit, when plugged in, will have the Off button with the glowing red ring as a default. With the bleed open, press On. A green ring around it will start glowing. Once it's up and going, close the bleed. You're now making pressure.
To see how well this unit can run, I grabbed my largest bottle. It's a 124ci 4500psi Hero 2 tank. It's literally the biggest paintball specific tank on the market, and what I use to tech guns. I hooked up the fill nipple, and threw on a timer to see how long it took to get a full 4500 fill in.
It ran for 65 minutes to get a complete fill. That's actually pretty damn good. The CS3 took several, and I mean several, sessions of 30 minutes to fill that. The Yong Heng even took well over 30 minutes to get there, and it was a lot louder, hotter, and less user friendly in doing so. Also worth noting---the unit wasn't hot at all in doing so. I can show you the scar on my arm from barely accidentally touching a hot tube on my Yong Heng. This thing has nothing, and I mean nothing, remotely approaching that level of heat.
A more standard tank size---80ci 4500psi
After seeing it handle the 124, I figured I would run it back with a normal tank that I use all of the time on the field---an 80ci 4500 tank. These are industry-standard at this point, and what a huge number of paintballers use on a weekly basis. And since it was advertised as being able to run for 5 hours at a time, I figured that I should be good to go. So off we went.
And how did it do? Really well, again. 40 minutes and I had a full tank.
And the unit, again, wasn't hot.
I guess I should also walk through what you need to do when turning off the unit and getting your newly filled bottle free. Once you've caught your limit, so to speak, turn that bleed knob out. You're hear a loud hiss, and see moisture fly out of that little rubber tube sticking out of the unit, and some around the knob. That's completely normal. Water and oil mist are a bi-product of the unit creating that high pressure. The unit has a built in filter, and that hose is the drain for it. It seems to do a pretty good job in filtering. That said, I normally use a second gold filter to stop this from getting in my tank, and I live in Denver (driest air that you'll find about anywhere). With that combination, I haven't found oil or water to be present in my tanks when using this or the CS3.
Once the unit is bled of pressure, all you need to do is disconnect your bottle and press that off button. Once you do that, you'll want to let the unit run a couple more minutes just to give your fans and coolant some time to help dissipate the unit's heat. Then turn that puppy off.
And how did it do? Really well, again. 40 minutes and I had a full tank.
And the unit, again, wasn't hot.
I guess I should also walk through what you need to do when turning off the unit and getting your newly filled bottle free. Once you've caught your limit, so to speak, turn that bleed knob out. You're hear a loud hiss, and see moisture fly out of that little rubber tube sticking out of the unit, and some around the knob. That's completely normal. Water and oil mist are a bi-product of the unit creating that high pressure. The unit has a built in filter, and that hose is the drain for it. It seems to do a pretty good job in filtering. That said, I normally use a second gold filter to stop this from getting in my tank, and I live in Denver (driest air that you'll find about anywhere). With that combination, I haven't found oil or water to be present in my tanks when using this or the CS3.
Once the unit is bled of pressure, all you need to do is disconnect your bottle and press that off button. Once you do that, you'll want to let the unit run a couple more minutes just to give your fans and coolant some time to help dissipate the unit's heat. Then turn that puppy off.
Side by side with the GX CS3 (left) and the GX CS4 (right)
Other things of Note
There are a few things to note when talking about the unit. Physically, they don't have a huge footprint. They're around 6x12x12 or so, which is about 2" taller and longer than the CS3. That makes them a little bigger as a unit than a Yong Heng, however, they have a much, much smaller footprint when you factor in the liquid coolant that you're using. Again, they are much, much quieter than a Yong Heng, and are a lot cooler. They are slightly quieter than the CS3 while also being more powerful.
In terms of maintenance, the GX CS4 will require some work. But really, the least amount of work possible. Once you hit 4-6 work hours, you'll need to turn the grease knob one full turn. It is marked so that you can tell what you're doing. It's really not asking much. That's certainly better than the Yong Heng, which needs a full oil change, which can get messy. And even the CS3 requires greasing, and needs you to take it a bit apart to do so. These units make it about as easy as they can.
Lastly, I need to bring up company support. These units are made in China. To say most of us in North America wouldn't expect much help would be a pretty massive understatement.
However, I have found the exact opposite to be true in regards to the makers of these compressors. I joined their facebook group in order to troubleshoot one of my GX CS3 compressors when it went down. Not only did they have a company representative help, he went above and beyond what I could reasonably expect of any company. It was some of the very best company support I've experienced from any paintball or machining company at any point as a consumer and user. I couldn't be more impressed. They really stand behind what they make, and are more than willing to help you should you run into a problem. I was extremely pleased.
There are a few things to note when talking about the unit. Physically, they don't have a huge footprint. They're around 6x12x12 or so, which is about 2" taller and longer than the CS3. That makes them a little bigger as a unit than a Yong Heng, however, they have a much, much smaller footprint when you factor in the liquid coolant that you're using. Again, they are much, much quieter than a Yong Heng, and are a lot cooler. They are slightly quieter than the CS3 while also being more powerful.
In terms of maintenance, the GX CS4 will require some work. But really, the least amount of work possible. Once you hit 4-6 work hours, you'll need to turn the grease knob one full turn. It is marked so that you can tell what you're doing. It's really not asking much. That's certainly better than the Yong Heng, which needs a full oil change, which can get messy. And even the CS3 requires greasing, and needs you to take it a bit apart to do so. These units make it about as easy as they can.
Lastly, I need to bring up company support. These units are made in China. To say most of us in North America wouldn't expect much help would be a pretty massive understatement.
However, I have found the exact opposite to be true in regards to the makers of these compressors. I joined their facebook group in order to troubleshoot one of my GX CS3 compressors when it went down. Not only did they have a company representative help, he went above and beyond what I could reasonably expect of any company. It was some of the very best company support I've experienced from any paintball or machining company at any point as a consumer and user. I couldn't be more impressed. They really stand behind what they make, and are more than willing to help you should you run into a problem. I was extremely pleased.
These things are awesome
Summary
So, you can guess my overall impressions here. While they aren't as fast as the Yong Heng, and take just slightly more maintenance and set up work than the CS3, the GX CS4 blows both out of the water for paintballers who want to fill their tanks at home. Frankly, it's not close. They're quieter, less messy, have a smaller footprint, and don't have the heat problems of the Yong Heng. In addition, there's actually customer support, whereas Yong Heng sellers will quite literally tell you that they're designed to have a life span of six months.
The CS4's more a lot more powerful, fill faster, and able to run a LOT longer than the GX CS3's. They're also on-par with them in terms of noise levels, and seem to be be slightly quieter.
These machines are really targeted at filling large bottles, up to pressures that fit paintballers' tanks, and being very user-friendly while doing it. In terms of function, these are close to perfect for paintballers and our needs as players and techs. The downside is that they are more expensive than the mentioned competitors, but if you can afford the extra cost, honestly, they're 100% worth it. They perform very well, and don't have nearly the drawbacks of the other models, and come from a company that actually really stands behind them. I'd absolutely recommend them.
Should you need one, can pick one up here.
So, you can guess my overall impressions here. While they aren't as fast as the Yong Heng, and take just slightly more maintenance and set up work than the CS3, the GX CS4 blows both out of the water for paintballers who want to fill their tanks at home. Frankly, it's not close. They're quieter, less messy, have a smaller footprint, and don't have the heat problems of the Yong Heng. In addition, there's actually customer support, whereas Yong Heng sellers will quite literally tell you that they're designed to have a life span of six months.
The CS4's more a lot more powerful, fill faster, and able to run a LOT longer than the GX CS3's. They're also on-par with them in terms of noise levels, and seem to be be slightly quieter.
These machines are really targeted at filling large bottles, up to pressures that fit paintballers' tanks, and being very user-friendly while doing it. In terms of function, these are close to perfect for paintballers and our needs as players and techs. The downside is that they are more expensive than the mentioned competitors, but if you can afford the extra cost, honestly, they're 100% worth it. They perform very well, and don't have nearly the drawbacks of the other models, and come from a company that actually really stands behind them. I'd absolutely recommend them.
Should you need one, can pick one up here.