The Best and Worst Thing About Pneumatic Equipment

there would be more responses to this question, if it were less general. maybe it could be narrowed down a bit to

control systems instrumentation tools or power transmission

The question is very broad and the answer would take up many pages of comments, so basically you have to narrow it down to some specific equipment or activity

I love this question. In my humble opinion the worst thing about using pneumatic equipment is that air can be compressed causing the device to be springy, spongy, bouncy etc. I also believe that the greatest thing about pneumatic equipment is exactly what I said above. Used properly the springyness can be a definate positive in certain applications where you need a soft extend, stop or retract. If a solid start-stop condition is needed the, "air over oil" method can be used. When the compressed air is readily available and the power required is not too extensive, pneumatics can be less expensive as compaired to hydraulics. Pnuematics tend to provide more speed than hydraulics. Both pnuematics and hydraulics have their advantages and disadvantages. Thoughtful application is all that is required.