Product Recommendations Sought - Tire Pressure Gauge and Inflator

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MJR Pilot

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MJR Pilot
Hi all - I have a Piper Arrow II and am looking to purchase a tire pressure gauge and inflator (preferably one instrument with both functions). The items shown on Sportys, MyPilotStore etc all have little/no reviews. Am just looking for something simple, reliable and preferably under $100. Would appreciate any specific product recommendations from fellow pilots. Thanks in advance.
 
I bought a Ryobi 18V inflator. I like the cordless inflator part, but the built in gauge is worse than a wild ass guess.
In order to bring my car tires up to 35#, I have to pump till the gauge on the inflator says 47. But I can't rely on a 12# difference at different pressures. So I always use a separate gauge to measure pressure. But just the act of using a separate pressure gauge releases a certain but measurable amount of air. I'd love to have an inflator with an accurate built in pressure gauge.
 
I got a cheap rechargeable inflator off of Amazon, similar to the one linked above. Works fine, just need to check the charge now and then. If you have access to a real compressor, this holds enough air for multiple tire fills and surprisingly holds air nearly indefinitely. (if you disconnect any hoses and tools) https://www.lowes.com/pd/Kobalt-Multi-Purpose-Air-Tank/50126548 I have a real compressor in my hangar and fill this and bring it back to my house to keep the cars filled.
 
I use a DeWalt DCC020I. It runs on both 110v, 12v, and DeWalt 20v batteries. Just set the pressure and walk-away. It will run up to 160psi. It can also be used to inflate or deflate air-mattresses or other such things. I got it mainly for trailer tires, but it works well on a/c tires and the little 10psi tug tires. If you are already into the DeWalt 20v tools, it is a good option as it's $99 as a bare tool without the battery.
I have used it a lot and find that the auto-shut-off pressure is accurate.

Tony T.
 
I bought one of these from my local Sam's Club to put in the wife's car. I've used it a good bit and it works well and the pressure it gives seems to be accurate according to my most trusted air pressure gauges:

0084017010060_I


https://www.samsclub.com/p/michelin...c-wi_BQ2zhTj7kVu3BxO2fVw&pubNAME=Connexity+US
 
I have a Viair 12V (plug in the cigarette lighter) compressor that's an order of magnitude better than the cheapo compressors I've owned in the past. It has a built in gauge, but you're always going to want a simple pressure gauge as well, why pull out the compressor just to check the pressure?
 
You can get a good cigar lighter powered air compressor for under $10. It's light and good for up to 150 psi. Spend a little more and get one good for 300+ psi. I used one like that to top up the oleo struts on my old Cherokee, but you had to lift the wing to help it. It did tires great though.
 
MJR Pilot said:
Hi all - I have a Piper Arrow II and am looking to purchase a tire pressure gauge and inflator (preferably one instrument with both functions). The items shown on Sportys, MyPilotStore etc all have little/no reviews. Am just looking for something simple, reliable and preferably under $100. Would appreciate any specific product recommendations from fellow pilots. Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Are you looking for a source of air (compressor) or just a tool to connect to the tire to deliver the air and tell you the pressure?

If the latter;

https://www.amazon.com/EXELAIR-EX05...ocphy=9028661&hvtargid=pla-491581373443&psc=1

inflator.jpg
 
Edit to my post above; I am not recommending the depicted inflator, just used it to figure out what you want. In fact, I recently bought a fitting which has the clip like that one, to keep the chuck on the valve stem and it is too bulky for several tires on my mowers & trucks so I am ripping the clip off.

Another aside to airing up tires; (I am good at this part in fact>>) I found a new way to take out an eye and now wear safety goggles any time I work around them. I used a pencil gauge this summer to check a truck tire which had 32psi in it. When applying the pencil gauge to the valve stem, the core of the gauge shot out, flying at high speed across the carport. Could easily have hit me. I threw all of that brand away and now only use a pencil gauge when applying fastidious muzzle control with it.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
Another aside to airing up tires; (I am good at this part in fact) I found a new way to take out an eye and now wear safety goggles any time I work around them. I used a pencil gauge this summer to check a truck tire which had 32psi in it. When applying the pencil gauge to the valve stem, the core of the gauge shot out, flying at high speed across the carport. Could easily have hit me. I threw all of that brand away and now only use a pencil gauge when applying fastidious muzzle control with it.
Click to expand...

That's a new one. I've used some pretty crappy tire gauges and haven't seen that failure mode yet.

It's hard to go wrong with a Milton pencil gauge.
https://www.amazon.com/Milton-S-925...ocphy=9022226&hvtargid=pla-760289615912&psc=1
Less than $7 and will last a lifetime. Cheap enough to go buy one to put in each car and your flight bag.

For inflation almost anything will work. I got a small nitrogen cylinder and regulator and use that for tires & struts. Probably overkill for our little planes.
 
Jim K said:
That's a new one. I've used some pretty crappy tire gauges and haven't seen that failure mode yet.

It's hard to go wrong with a Milton pencil gauge.
https://www.amazon.com/Milton-S-925...ocphy=9022226&hvtargid=pla-760289615912&psc=1
Less than $7 and will last a lifetime. Cheap enough to go buy one to put in each car and your flight bag.

For inflation almost anything will work. I got a small nitrogen cylinder and regulator and use that for tires & struts. Probably overkill for our little planes.
Click to expand...
I agree^^^^^
A Milton pencil air pressure gauge is the most reliable, accurate and inexpensive. Sometimes inexpensive is devising and IMO in this case is best.

I also have a small nitrogen tank, have had one for many years long before aviation. It is portable and always works and has not wore out in 30 years. I use the same air chuck that I use on big trucks, reaches through the doors on my wheel pants perfect.

I have a short transfer hose and refill the nitrogen tank off of large tanks we use at my work.


I know this is very controversial but I have found nitrogen to leak out slower. Flame away....lol
 
If you have an available source of compressed air, I really like this inflator - I have bought 3 so far (one for home and 2 for work), and when I checked the gauges against a master pressure gauge at work they were all <0.1 psi. Plus it seems to have decent flow rates in both directions - a bigger deal on automotive tires than airplane tires... https://www.amazon.com/Astro-3018-P...less/dp/B002PUTC0M?ref_=ast_sto_dp&th=1&psc=1
 
I have a Milwaukee M12 inflater and I’m very pleased with it. It has an onboard pressure gauge that is easily calibrated. It also has auto-shutoff for designated PSI. I already had the required batteries and charger, the the cost was lower than it could’ve been. Although, I did buy the larger capacity M12 battery. The battery life has been good. The only thing that made it better was purchasing an adapter that converted it from a screw on air hose to a thumb lock.
Inflator: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Specialty-Tools/2475-21XC

The adapter:
Slime 20332 Inflator Hose Adapter https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MY55BT...abc_1GSPV2R9WG6JZVZX5BP0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
 
I use this unit:
https://shop.snapon.com/product/Inflators/Tire-Gauge-and-Inflator-(Blue-Point)/TPGIF1600A

I see some here are recommending an electric unit and that's something to consider. I suppose it would be good to ask: do you have compressed air available or are you limited to an electric unit? Really any commercially available plug-in deal would work. A rechargable battery-powered deal would be nice. Your pressures aren't so high as to be out of reach for most of these portable things
 
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