At-Home Tire Inflation

Cordless inflator or fix the slow leak permanently?
I have one tire that is losing about 2psi a week.
 
Many posts about the cordless tire inflators being slow. It takes a few seconds for the M12 Miuwalkee to add 2 to 3 psi. How much faster do you need?

By the time you have fired up the compressor, the hose and inflator, you would be done with a cordless. And much less to put away.
Try adding 3-5 psi to a larger SUV/Truck tire with the M12 compressor.
 
Try adding 3-5 psi to a larger SUV/Truck tire with the M12 compressor.
Game on Michael!
Stuff: 2001 beater Tundra 4.7, 211K. Bridgestone Dueler H/T P265 R70 17 on FJ Cruiser Alloys
Milton Pencil guage; Miuwalkee M12 with full battery; Slime quick connect extension
I run 36 PSI in the back; this thing has a Lexus ride. Bilsteins make it a little better.
Time using Google Pixel Pro.
Elapsed time: 1min 4 seconds
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I had a little DC inflator, then got a big one, then repaired it a few times, got tired of that and put a little tanked compressor at the corner of the garage near the door with a 50' hose.

It does everything I need, much better than other options for my needs, except that one time my riding mower had a flat and I just pulled the wheel off and took it to the driveway to inflate, needed that done anyway because grass/gunk had gotten into the wheel bead seal area so needed cleaned out before reinflated.
 
Of course. My point is, does it matter? I had M12 tools already. The inflator was dirt cheap on a Home Depot special buy.

It depends on what you're using it for.

I just read a review of a unit with a similar CFM to yours (0.53 instead of 0.63).

It took the reviewer 13 minutes and 20 seconds to fill up a 215/60R16 tire from fully deflated to 34PSI.

If you've got 4 tires, this can be harsh.

At least for me, climate was another reason to upgrade.

1m4s per tire to top it off for 2-3psi isn't too much fun first thing in the morning when it's -4F or colder out. If you can shave that time in half, it's kind of nice.

I think it's cool Milwaukee makes these and I'm glad you got it at a great price.

Hope China brings more of their models with the built in batteries as they're really not that expensive there.
 
VIAIR models are the favorite of the offroad community for airing back up after an outing. Known to last forever. There about 100 bucks but come on sale at Amazon often - likely will be a black Friday thing as they usually are.

Or get a pancake compressor and put it under your workbench - and you can run air tools should you ever need to.
 
Do any of these portables have a water trap?
As in at the bottom of the tank of a portable unit? Type I use which is a rebadged SuperFlow doesn't have any sort of moisture 'catcher' as it's claimed due to the design it's really not needed the way traps are used on a tank type. Surely you could use an inline filter if you want.
 
For interest rather than as a recommendation, I have an old refrigerator compressor that has been adapted as a tyre inflator. It will easily reach common tyre pressure needs, I've used it up to 65 psi with no problem. It runs almost silent and given that it is designed to run for long continuous periods and yet only does a few minutes here and there, is very over-engineered. It's not pretty, nor light, but I have it on a little trolley to wheel it around to where it is needed. It runs on local AC as the original fridge would have.
 
I have the Avid Tire inflator I bought on Amazon. Very quick, comes in a convient zippered bag with the adapters and battery to charge it up.
 
M12 kit at $116.10 or Makita at $89.10?
I have lots of Makita batteries. I feel like it is a tossup.
 
Many posts about the cordless tire inflators being slow. It takes a few seconds for the M12 Miuwalkee to add 2 to 3 psi. How much faster do you need?

By the time you have fired up the compressor, the hose and inflator, you would be done with a cordless. And much less to put away.
I suspect it's the exact opposite. I flip the on lever on my compressor, so it starts working while I grab the air hose (which I leave the air chuck on, until I need to swap on something else) and pull it walking to the vehicle anyway, and have the ability to get all tires done and have the hose back on the reel, before most cordless would have a single tire done, considering you also have to count the time to go grab the cordless as it's not like it appears in your hands by magic every time you see a tire. ;)

Of course the Milwaukee must have a larger compressor in it than many cordless, which it better have at that price, so like all premium tools it works well for its type of tool. Depends on the size of the tire too, I've seen people state it takes about a minute to put 4PSI in a tire with the M12. With a typical 110V tanked compressor, it takes longer to take the valve stem cap off and put it back on, than to put 4PSI in.
 
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Of course. My point is, does it matter? I had M12 tools already. The inflator was dirt cheap on a Home Depot special buy.
Yes it can "sometimes" matter. Once it gets to the point where the small inflators have to run more than about 5 minutes (+/-, depending on ambient temp), it's best practice to let them cool down before continuing to use them.

Plus, most cordless have a lifespan around tens of hours rather than hundreds (or even thousands for the newer generations of ultra-quiet compressors from California air or Harbor Freight. That's tens of hours if you don't keep using it once it gets hot.

A cordless inflator can have its place but I would only use one when I need the portability, not when the wheel is within reach of my 50' air hose which almost everything is.
 
You need to tell us what you want because there are many options…

Do you want a shop air compressor with a big tank or a home garage unit with a small tank? Or is a Pancake unit what you want?

Are you looking for a 12v unit that can stay in the trunk for topping off or filling?

OR are you looking for a cordless inflator? What size tire are you filling and what it the operational pressure? For example a big tire at 90 PSI isn’t going to happen on a Walmart inflator, but a Honda Accord tore at maybe 35 PSI will top off from maybe 27 PSI in a couple of minutes.

I have ALWAYS had a battery powered inflator since owning my first car in 2002. The first unit was a Walmart special no-brand and it worked great but eventually got to the point it would run slow and struggle to get through a couple tires, and in 2009ish I replaced its internal sealed-lead-acid battery, lol! It works great until 2014 when a friend had an air tank and my dumb self let him fill it. I think it ran 25 minutes straight, was too hot to touch, hose bulging, and stinking of melted plastic. It still worked but was half as fast, and I replaced it wirh a campbell hausfeld unit that looked similar, and it was no faster and the battery life no better than the unit it was replacing. It struggled to top off 4 car ties 30 to 33 psi on a battery…. I thought it was a fluke and bought another one. It was crazy in that I would use 2 or three inflators at a time to top up tires.

Then in 2020 I was at an Aurocross and borrowed and M12 inflator and it ran circles around my setup probably being about twice as fast as the unit I once liked from 2002! so I bought one after watching Project Farm. From about 2018 to 2020, the M12 has been the very best cordless inflator compared against Bauer, Hart, Skill, Kobalt, Greenworks, Makita, a couple Chinese ones, and Dewalt it was MUCH faster than most and best all of those even the 18v and 24v models!

In 2020ish the Ridgid 18v inflater took the win. It was faster than the M12 by maybe 15%, it did good even at relatively high pressure, and Ryobi became just slower than the M12 but at $24 bare tool, if you have Ryobi batteries buy one! It has no auto shutoff but is still right behind M12 beating most $100+ units.

Early this year the M18 inflator came out and it is 1.5 to 2x faster than the M12 inflator. I bought it and it’s crazy fast. I can top up a car tire 27 to 35 in the time it takes me to take off the valuable stem cap on the next tire!

I have an M12 and an M18 inflator, and both are superb. I am probably going to buy the Ryobi at $24 to lend out. At work (I do IT networking), several folks know I have the M12 inflator and it has helped several. They are ALL impressed how effortlessly it takes care of the problem. Last week it took my car from 27 to 35 TPMS all tires, a work van 31 - 46 TPMS all around, a co-worker 29 - 36 TPMS all around Hyundai SUV, and a friend wirh a 2004 Toyota Corolla who came over to exchange some Thanksgiving gifts … it was obvious all tires were practically flat (no TPMS) and she shouldn’t be driving it that way…. That was 18 to 31 on all 4. It’s a workhorse! Yes I charged it somewhere in there, but it has never let me down!

This weekend I got an M18 inflator unit free by purchasing 2 batteries and a charger for $179 or $199 (cannot remember) at Home Depot. That machine is amazing and powerful and currently blows all other cordless units out of the water.

In order (best to worse) I would get these:
1. M18 inflator
2. Ridgid 18v Inflator
3. M12 inflator
4. Ryobi cordless inflator (looks like a drill)

The Ryobi probably won’t last the longest and has about a 5 minute duty cycle and you have to hold the trigger, but it’s 90% as fast as the M12 and about $24 bare tool. In tests it did pump to 90 PSI no problems on YouTube.

I would get the top three if you want years of reliable service…. The Ryobi is the I have a flat, a very low tire, need to fill my spare, my TPMS is on I just want to drive to work I flator

An air compressor is faster, but for convenience a cordless inflator is all you probably need.
 
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