You are right, I shouldn't have used air nailers as an example, since they dont' require much air. I was talking more about pneumatic tools in general. i tend to reserve the effort to pull out the compressor and set it up only for larger jobs. Air nailers are probably ideal suited for pancake compressors, since their use is intermittant.

Regardless of the what type you choose, the most important adviceis to look at what you might want to use a compressor for, and find one with the right CFM to handle the job. Ignore Hp ratings, a lot of them are meaningless anyway, CFM@specified pressure is what you really need to compare. Of course, this is assuming that eventually you might use air tools in the future, this could be a wrong assumption.