Eric N. said:
wow man, so you're spending money twice for the same thing.. ouch.. even a CB setup is going to cost you 100 - 200 bucks depending.. If you're not going to stick with it then ya man, get the quality up front and just buy it once. Hell, the PT-10 setup with a tank boot was only $311 to my door so it wasn't that much more then the money your going to shell out..
Eric, FWIW - my 20-lb setup cost me ~$160, that includes the 20-lb tank (from the swap meet), near-most-expensive high-flow regulator with gauges, 20 ft of 3/8" hose (not the nice'n'shiny coiled deal), and a handful of quick disconnects of all sorts. The swap meet tank lived happily for four years, after which its testing certificate expired - and the welding shop charged me $40 replacement fee and gave me a brand new bottle.
Since then, I've seen the price of a used 20-lb CO2 tank drop to $30.
The only drawback is - a full 20-lb tank weighs 46 lb, quite a heavy mofo. So, if I don't plan on running air tools or seating beads on the trail, I can do away with 5-lb bottle (which I bought new for about $80 or so).
Freezing the regulator - never happened to me in any circumstances, including seating beads and inflating multiple 35x12.5 tires.
Kyle - sure'nuff, but out of my five trucks the only one does not leak air from its tires - that would be the '68 Wag. All others leak. Also, every now and then one may need to undo that trailing arm or diff yoke nut - a handful without the impact gun.