I agree with David Gagnard. I have owned an Ingersoll-Rand 60 gal. upright, two-stage, 5 horsepower compressor for 4 years. Its awesome. Recovery time is fairly fast when using air-hungry tools. This is an advantage of the two-stage. Have plenty of muscle with you when handling it. Mine weighs about 400 pounds.
One of these will sting the pocket-book, but once its in your garage, wired and plumbed in, you'll love it. Mine is plumbed into a LEGACY 50' recoiling hose unit suspended from the ceiling. Its proven to be a nice combination.
I used to have a 20-gal. Sears unit. It served its purpose but I am so glad its gone, especially the screaming noise it made.
Also, it was advertised to be 120v or 240v. It would never completely fill when plugged into a 120v source. I had to use 240v.
As Ron61 says below, make your purchase based on your anticipated needs. Airing tires and such definitely will not warrant the expense of a large unit. But, if you consider grinding, cutting, polishing, buffing etc., the bigger machines are the ONLY way to go. I have a 7" dia. DA buffer that can almost keep my Ingersoll-Rand in recovery mode the entire time I use the buffer.
David