I normally use a small HF pancake compressor almost exclusively to inflate tires around the farm and house, but it can almost never inflate a tire on one charge and then I have to wait for it to build up to finish, so when my neighbor needed to borrow my compressor, I just told him to keep it, that I was going to get something more feasable. So, I went to HF, since i'd had good service from the compressors I'd got there, I just kept giving them to kids and neighbors, when I spied the Bauer inflator. I'm thinking that the only thing I ever use a compressor for is tires, why not try it. I went online and found an ebay auction for 4 Bauer batteries of different sizes and in good condition, with the charger, so I bought them and went to HF and bought the inflator. It works like a charm. You just set the pressure you want, hook it to a tire and turn it on and in a minute or two, wallah! The good news is, I really didn't care it it was right on with the psi I set, that I could just set it highter and release a pound or two, to get it right, but no need. According to my most used tire gauge, it is dead nuts on, when it stops! It will pump up four low tires, and not even get warm, probably a total of 8 minutes of use or so total. You can feel the hose is warm from compressing the air, but that's it. I was amazed at the quality and how it works, and no need to carry a 20 pound compressor around to each tire, cause this thing weighs like 3 or 4 pounds at most. I looked at similar Dewalt and Ryobi inflators, which the Dewalt was like $200 and the Ryobi was similar in price. If I hadn't found the deal on batteries online, I would have looked to find Ryobi batteries and bought it, but this is how it worked out and I'm more than happy. People can diss HF all they want, but this is not the first thing I've bought there that has been a total satisfaction.
Harbor Freight Bauer 18V inflator
- Thread starter bchannell
- Start date
I have a ridgid inflator that is exactly the same, I love it. I would usually use cigarette lighter adapter inflator but the annoying thing is usually I like to fill air when my tires have sat cold. It got annoying having to start the car as well as run the cable from the cig lighter. Set PSI and forget it.
Huh? The Ryobi equivalent is $79 new, closer to $50 through refurb/gray-market sources.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-O...5-Ah-Battery-and-18V-Charger-P747KN/311788880
The issue I have with these little inflators is not just how long they take, but how few running hours lifespan they typically have. Plus a compressor with a tank is useful to seat the bead on tires even if you don't opt for one powerful enough to keep up with hungrier air tools.
I have an old, little Craftsman cigarette lighter powered inflator. It works fine and since 99% of the time it's inflating car tires, the power source is always nearby and ready 
Can't imagine lugging around and firing up a compressor with a tank around for that job.
I have Makita cordless tools, Amazon wants $90 for the 18v inflator. Not bad.
jeff
Can't imagine lugging around and firing up a compressor with a tank around for that job.I have Makita cordless tools, Amazon wants $90 for the 18v inflator. Not bad.
jeff
I have the Ryobi linked above. I absolutely love it. Set the PSI, turn it on, walk away and do something else. It turns itself off at the correct PSI. I recently got into the Milwaukee 12V battery line and bought the M12 inflator from Milwaukee. It’s higher quality than the Ryobi and I think I like it even more.
I hardly ever use my big compressor any more.
I hardly ever use my big compressor any more.
I had a Masterflow MF-1050 aka Q Industries MV50 which was quite popular 10+ years ago in the off-road crowd, direct connects to the battery to inflate faster than the cigarette lighter powered, or almost (if not) all cordless inflators.I have an old, little Craftsman cigarette lighter powered inflator. It works fine and since 99% of the time it's inflating car tires, the power source is always nearby and ready
I have Makita cordless tools, Amazon wants $90 for the 18v inflator. Not bad.
jeff
It was still too slow for my liking and after repairing it 3 times (over a decade+ of use), replaced it with a small compressor I keep just inside my garage door. No need to lug the compressor around, the hose reaches anywhere in the garage or adjacent vehicles in the driveway. Just turn it on, grab the hose (or swap the inflator tool on if not on it at the time, takes 10 seconds), walk over to the vehicle, and it inflates fast enough that I don't need to find something else to do while waiting, so don't need it to shut itself off at a pressure setting, and will probably have roughly 100X the running hours till failure.
I may eventually repair the Masterflow inflator again, especially because last time I did an upgrade that put better clamps and a longer, lower gauge cord on it, but I just haven't had events sufficient to bother. Once since then I had an old, lawn mower tire slowly leaking and didn't notice till it lost the bead seal and went completely flat, but it had grime on the bead so had to be pulled and cleaned before inflation anyway, and was soon thereafter, replaced with a new tire. That little compressor was enough to get the bead to seat on the new tires, (straps didn't help enough) something I doubt any tankless inflator would've been able to do.
Last edited:
I have a Ryobi inflator but a slightly different one than the one that as linked in this post. I love it.
I suggest decide on battery platform first. I have a lot of Milwaukee M18 tools and OPE. I wanted a 10" chain saw and Milwaukee did not have one so I got the Ryobi. And the inflater. But everything else is Milwaukee.
I suggest decide on battery platform first. I have a lot of Milwaukee M18 tools and OPE. I wanted a 10" chain saw and Milwaukee did not have one so I got the Ryobi. And the inflater. But everything else is Milwaukee.
Just wanted to update my thread.
I still have the Bauer inflator and after what will soon be three years of hard use, it's still going strong. I had an old truck on the farm that the tires dry rotted on and it would lose some air just about every month. I used the inflator to pump from roughly 20 psi to 35 psi on all four tires without letting it rest. It got pretty hot sometimes, and a few times I did let it rest, but not many and it just keeps on pounding. This has been the best buy I've made in a while to pump up tires on nearly everything.
I still have the Bauer inflator and after what will soon be three years of hard use, it's still going strong. I had an old truck on the farm that the tires dry rotted on and it would lose some air just about every month. I used the inflator to pump from roughly 20 psi to 35 psi on all four tires without letting it rest. It got pretty hot sometimes, and a few times I did let it rest, but not many and it just keeps on pounding. This has been the best buy I've made in a while to pump up tires on nearly everything.
My own little update, not long after my post the old Craftsman lighter-powered one bit the dust so I got the cordless Makita. It is excellent! Faster than the 12v Craftsman and gets a lot of run time from the typical 4 amp-hr battery. One odd/bad "feature" is that you can't lock the trigger, so while you can set a psi to get to you have to physically hold down the switch while it does it's thing. This is dumb and there are a number of aftermarket doodads on Amazon for a few bucks that will hold it down for you. Pretty stupid to need something like that, but it works and it's nice to use the same batteries.
jeff
jeff
Owen Lucas
$100 Site Donor 2023
- Joined
- Sep 5, 2021
- Messages
- 3,583
Don't buy the Ryobi pistol grip inflator. It lasted a little over 2 years until it released the magic smoke out of the motor just outside of warranty coverage. It was $20 though so not a bad run for 2 years.
As a replacement I bought this auto inflator for $24.99. Very convenient, just set your PSI and it will stop at that pressure. My only issue is it reads 2 - 3 PSI before you even run the pump. Maybe there is a way to calibrate it. I might just exchange it for a replacement at HD.
As a replacement I bought this auto inflator for $24.99. Very convenient, just set your PSI and it will stop at that pressure. My only issue is it reads 2 - 3 PSI before you even run the pump. Maybe there is a way to calibrate it. I might just exchange it for a replacement at HD.
I have the top one of these, and also had the analog gauge predecessor. The first one died after a few years. I think the "connecting rod" came off the "crankshaft." I was able to fix it, but the fix didn't last long. As you stated, they are cheap and I like them to keep one the golf cart at the racetrack for any last-minute pressure adjustments.
I went to HD about a month ago to buy the 2nd one you pictured, but ended up buying the bigger model that will also inflate/deflate air mattresses and pool toys. I have also found that I need to set it 2 psi higher than I really want. Otherwise it repeats really well and I love not needing to sit there holding the trigger or button while it works.
Similar threads
