Air connectors A vs M

Air compressor - A vrs M connectors (A vs M)

When I built my 5600 sq foot home, I ran air compressor lines to various places in the house, garage and outside. A great idea for doing repairs, filling tires, in part because I have a big air compressor that is easier to work with built in than moving it around.

M is the connector you get if you get a free one with an air tool. M is by far the most common, and as a result, M is almost always the cheapest and it is the one that get the best sales on and big packages at huge discount prices.

Initially I went with the A connector because my brother told me that, with the longer shaft, it would work better, have less leaks etc..,

After he had seen A in action for 14 months - HE plumbed his ending in M! (To save money and it seemed to work better.)

One day, when I was looking at upgrading my system, and planning on buying 4 more M females and a few males, I noticed a package of A on sale. This package had 24 pieces of M for less than $15 (2006 CDN$). As it turned out - buy buying 4 of these packages - I could completely change my whole system over to M for less money than the upgrade sticking with A.

So ... after years of being frustrated that I had a more expensive system that wasn't any better, I switched everything to M.

Now here is the interesting part. When I have my next house built, I'm going back to A. For a simple reason: A has the advantage over M that you can plug an A in "one handed", but M requires 2 hands. One to push the tool in, and one to pull back on the collar.

Update: I ended up not going with A. Maybe I should have.

Both of them require 2 hands to safely remove a tool.

But it is amazing how such a minor inconvenience can be worth something. I've of course kept all my A parts so for me, the cost of switching back to A will not be as expensive. I can't honestly say, when I had less money, if I had known that was the only benefit, whether I would have started with A or M. But probably I would have gone with M.

My current advice:

- If you are short on cash - M is good enough.

- If spending the extra money on A is not a concern to you - A is a little more convenient.