A couple of Christmases ago I bought some assortments of genuine Milton IM air fittings - one as a stocking stuffer for a friend and one for my air hoses and compressor at home.

They sat in the air tools box for a couple of years. But the other day before pulling out the ugga-dugga gun to swap tires on the trailer, I decided I'd up my game and swap out all of my cheap Hazard Fraught and Tractor Supply IM fittings for the high quality ones (which oddly enough don't seem to cost much more when you buy the $18 kit).

Wow. What a difference. No leaks, and I mean none. I turned off the power to the compressor, left a hose and the ugga-dugga gun hooked up for an hour while I went to Lowes. Came back... pressure on the gauge still at 125 psi. How nice to work in silence and not have a constant hiss in the background and the compressor kicking on regularly.

I mentioned this to Tan and he told me that Parker makes a cool connector that you can connect with one hand. So I ordered one up - they're spendy but to hear him talk abou them they might end up being my new favorite connector - especially on the end of the hose I pull out into the driveway. I'll post a review in a few months.

I'm not throwing away all the old connectors, but I think I'm going to put them in a box labeled "weak and unworthy air connectors" and squirrel it away in case I'm desperate someday.