Does anyone have their own? I am getting tired of driving round numerous garages to find one that has an air machine that works. Not sure how reliable / powerful the ones you can buy from halfords are? Any suggestions?
Thanks
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I got mine as a freebie for subscribing to a car mag.
It's noisy and not particularly quick but it take the effort out of it compared to using an old fashioned foot pump. More fiddly though as you have to route the wire back to the cig lighter for power.
I'd be tempted to buy a double barreled foot pump (especially if you hav flat feet - sorry!)
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I use an old fashioned footpump and a trusted pressure gauge.
I am usually finished checking all 5 tyres in the time my neighbours have got the compressor working for the first tyre.
It is kept in the corner of the spare wheel well wrapped in a car blanket to stop it rattling around.
StarGazer
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Ditto- got a cheapie compressor couple of years back and used it once on bike tyres. Since then has always been the double barrelled foot pump.
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I purchased a double barrelled brass halfords footpump, and it's great. Faster than my father's electric tyre pump, and without the hassle of uncoiling, and recoiling, yards of flex.
The only downside is that in shifting large quantities of air within a few strokes, at 74Kg I am only just heavy enough to use it efficiently!
Good piece of kit though.
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I bought a 1.5HP compressor and car kit from Aldi for 60 quid a few months back. It's fantasic, will inflate a flat tyre in about 20 seconds, and will pump to 70PSI.
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I bought an electric compressor recently. Totally useless design as there is no on/off switch anywhere near the tyre end of things. You can only switch it on and off by unplugging it from the cigarette lighter so it becomes almost a 2 person job. Meanwhile it falls over and cuts off when you actually try and pump a tyre up if the valve is not at the bottom of the wheel.
I have gone back to using my halford dual barrelled foot pump which is quicker and easier. Luckily the electric one was only a fiver otherwise I would have been annoyed!
teabelly
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I got one from Halfords last summer, its neat, useful and comes in its own "bag". Only ever used it to inflate slightly underinflated tyres (touch wood!) and does the job fine. It cost about £20 I think. Would recommend.
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The one I got from Halfords cost £14.99 and does the job required i.e. if only one or tyres require topping up it saves a three mile round trip to Tesco.
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What\'s for you won\'t pass you by
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I used to have an oscillating diagphram type one which plugs into the cigar lighter, it was too slow and packed up after about 18 months of minimal use.
I was recently givin a small Clarke air compressor (as sold by machine mart) and bought a tyre inflator guage/nozzle as part of a set of air tools for about £10. This is far better, you can literally see a flat tyre blow up and lift the car, and topping up takes seconds. It is also useful with the tools I got in the set for using as a high pressure air duster, great for computer insides, you can spray paraffin to clean an engine, and spray paint. I think they are about £100?
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One great advantage of this HJ site is it helps avoid one of life's lessons, that 'you only learn what you should bought after you have done so'.
I bought an Italian made mains powered compressor from the H. . . store/s for something like £180 - £200 to replace a good own built 4 cu ft /minute one that worked OK but was a bit big and had a bit of a Heath Robinson look about it. Biiiggg mistake.
The new one has two wheels at the back and a pickup handle at front. But the wheels have been welded on too far in from back end. Pick up the front handle to wheel it somewhere, by more than 6 inches or so, and it topples over backwards taking the handle out of your hand, due to the weight of the compressor above, and it breaks things when it does.
As for noise, it would be OK as bird scarer but my neighbours don't need the scaring.
If you are temped to buy a mains compressor, insist on hearing it running first. I have a friend who says he builds an occasional one using a refrigerator compressor and that they are almost silent. A lesson here somewhere, me thinks.
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I bought one more than five years ago from one of those "contains everything you didn't realize you didn't need" catalogues that fall out of the newspaper. It cost £30 and is still working fine off the cigarette lighter socket. It is a bit slow, but that's not a great problem. I don't know the brand name, but it's black and about 8" by 6"; unlike some rivals (I was given one), the gauge is easy to read and pretty accurate too.
Ah, I've still got the instruction sheet and it can be obtained from:
tinyurl.com/4p8cl
Still can't see a brand name.
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The gauges on the cheaper models are the weak point. The firm I do some sales work for sell them and loads come back with faulty gauges after only a few uses. I would not like to vow for the accuracy of the gauge either, in my experience that is where the cost cutting is done on cheaper pumps, whether foot or electric.
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I've got the Halfords automatic, which was the best buy in Auto Express a couple of years ago. It's a bit of a pain unrollong the flex and getting the air hose out, as well as putting it all back. However, it's very efficient and the flex is quite long. Much better to use than my old brass footpump, which I've had since I was about eighteen or nineteen.
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IMO one of the great advantages of having your own pump is that you can check and top up your tyres when they are stone cold.
I used to have a single barrel foot pump but using them can be tricky on uneven or soft surfaces. So a few years ago I bought a small 12V electric compressor which doubles as a lantern/torch/warning beacon (so its good to keep in the boot permanently) for around £15.
Its slow and noisy but does the job without too much effort and will inflate a flat tyre in around 5 minutes.
Chad.
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I've got a couple of the air compressors that plug into the cigarette lighter.
The first one I "bought" with Esso tiger tokens (200, I think) several years ago and is still going strong. Similar models at the time were going for £20. Gauge is accurate, but I still use a digital tyre pressure gauge to check afterwards. Also has a worklight on it that doubles up as a hazzard light.
The second one I bought in this years January sales for £6. Little dinky thing, that's no bigger than the palm of your hand, and works equally as well as the Esso one, but the gauge is totally inaccurate. However it sits quite nicely in the boot next to the space saver spare tyre and was really only bought because of it's size and emergencies.
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"I got one from Halfords last summer, its neat, useful and comes in its own "bag". Only ever used it to inflate slightly underinflated tyres (touch wood!) and does the job fine. It cost about £20 I think. Would recommend."
Same here, what's more the digital gauge is spot on (according to a mate with a garage who had just had his pump calibrated)
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