Avid Power Cordless Tire Inflator

Ever try to find an air pump that works at a gas station? When, and if you do, it usually requires $2.00 in quarters or a credit card, and the hose is a pain in the ass to loop around to the far side of your car before your time runs out. Tick-tock, you better hurry up before you need to feed it again... I hate it. That's why this Avid Power Tire Inflator is a must have device.

I have a really nice full sized air compressor; it's an older Sears model with a myriad of attachments that's really been worth its weight in gold over the years. It's just the ticket for running air guns or pneumatic tools, but it's big, heavy, and needs power. You also need to bleed the air tank before you put it away to prevent rust and prolong the life of the tank by removing accumulated moisture. The other drawback to it is that it doesn't have an automatic shutoff at a preset pressure, and that makes it a pain to correctly inflate tires, or anything where precision is important. You constantly need to stop and check the pressure with a tire gauge, and then either bleed or resume pumping. Great tool, but not for every job.

The Avid Power Cordless Tire Inflator is the right tool when you need portable precision. Power it on, preset your desired pressure, lock it onto the valve stem and squeeze the trigger. That's it, it shuts off automatically when the desired pressure is reached, and it's very accurate, I've checked it repeatedly with my tire gauge and it's always right on. It's dual powered as well; it comes with a 20V rechargeable Li-Ion battery and a 12V DC adaptor with a 9.8' cord so you can plug it into your car if its battery dies on you. Nice.

Battery life has been great so far. I bought it back in the spring and have used it on my yard and hose carts, two bikes, three vehicles (topping off all 4 tires on each, and a couple were really low), footballs, basketballs, and a plethora of pool toys, all on the initial 4-hour charge. Even though the battery still read half full, I recharged it this month. You don't want to completely drain Li-Ion batteries if you can help it, best to keep them topped off on a regular basis so they're ready to go when you need them.

But wait, there's more! This bad boy stands on its own, so you don't need to hold it all hunched over while it fills, and it's got an led light so you can easily find those valve stems in the dark. It comes with 3 different nozzles, the rechargeable battery, a battery charger, the 12V adaptor, a clear, concise user manual and a nice case to keep everything together and ready to go. It also comes in a variety of colors, but I like the safety yellow for portable tools from a visibility standpoint, these eyes are getting old lol.

One word of caution when ordering; The link supplied above is for the whole package I've described, and it's very reasonable at $59.99. There are other packages at lower price points, but don't cheap out. You need all the accessories, and the case.

So, pull the trigger, so to speak, and get one of these before the real cold weather sets in. You don't want to be confounded by thermal contraction as a direct consequence of the ideal gas law (PV = nRT). TB12 would be the first to tell you; It's science, man, you can't get around it. That is all.