With the pesky low tire pressure light coming on every so often, I am looking into buying a tire inflator. The ones I have had in the past have all been plastic junk. Any good ones out there?

 

here's a first search attempt. might be bs who knows lol
http://www.findgascards.com/blog/top...on-the-market/

 

I have the 2nd one on the list above, Slime COMP06 Pro Power Heavy-Duty Tire Inflator. I've had it for a few years now and it's still working good.
I only wish it had a plug for the house too.

 

I have a very small 12v (plastic) one in my ATV basically for it's size (it's about the size of two cigarette packs placed back-to-back). Don't need anything big for tires that run at about 4 PSI. I wanna say it's a Coleman I paid about $12 for maybe six years ago.

I keep a slightly larger one in my truck toolbox, still a relatively cheap plastic Campbell/Hausfeld I gave maybe $20 for about ten years ago. I beat this thing to death, the plastic casing is cracked in about four places and still pumps air like the day it was purchased. In my Jeep, I keep a jump box with an inflator built into it.

I have air compressors out the butt, besides those three I have a Coleman 110v Powermate stand-alone that I use to keep air in a couple of portable tanks mainly for off-roading, a 110v Husky 30 gallon in the garage at the house and an Ingersall/Rand 230v 60 gallon in the barn up at the farm...

 

If I you want a really good one check into Viair... spendy but dang good. I had an OBA setup on my jeep like that, and loved it. If you get one big enough you can run some power tools on it too!

http://www.viaircorp.com/

 

This brings up another point. Do I want a tire inflator or an air compressor? I don't need portability much. If I have a flat tire on the road, a tire inflator is not going to solve my problem. A good inflator is as much as a compressor.

 

If portability doesn't matter, and perhaps space, but money does.. a 6-10 gal air tank and just keep it full. 6 gal 120psi could fully fill 2-3 tires to 32psi.

 

Personally I went the compressor route. This way if you ever need to you can power air tools like a Nail Gun, Impact Wrench, Paint/oil sprayer, Staple Gun... oh the fun. Typically these tools require ~90 PSI however they also need a volume of air which is where the compressor wins the match over an inflater. Plus if it's just a one time project you can just rent the tool (like a roofing nailer).

On the flip side you won't be tempted to buy Air tools if you only have an inflater...

If you go compressor, don't forget to drain the air when you are done using it so it doesn't rust from the inside out due to the condensation.

 

Have been looking at air tanks too. To top "top off" tires, how big an air tank? 5 or 10 gallons?

 

As I stated, I have two either 5 or 6 gallon tanks I'll carry when I know I'm going to be off-road way in the outback hunting or fishing, haven't needed to use one yet and I'm not sure how much one tank would do on 35" tires, but I've had both tanks for years, might as well carry both.

I've had this "portable" compressor for probably 18 years or so, still works every time I plug it in - it's a 110v though. I remember buying it at an Ace Hardware store on sale, I'm thinking I paid like $49.95 for it back then...

IMG111.jpg

I use this one a lot camping, makes short work of air mattresses and such. If there is no A/C where I'm camping (and there almost never is at the places I like to camp), but it will run fine off of my 1850 watt generator. My 1500 watt inverter doesn't like it though, it will trip it as soon as I turn it on (have no clue to watt it's draw is, but I would imagine it's power on spike is what's getting the inverter...