2023 test13 productsJump Starters & Car Power
Which Tire Inflators Brand Wins?
We compared 13 tire inflators options head to head. Milwaukee came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Winner
Milwaukee
Price shown in test: $139, stated as tool only, not including battery and charger; the closing summary separately rounds this to around $150
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Budget pick
Kobalt and Bauer (tied, narrator recommends both at around $50)
Price shown in test: $48, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Claimed specs | Weight | Noise level | Test 1, topping off a 15 inch tire from 30 to 36 PSI | Test 2, inflating a completely flat tire to 36 PSI | Test 3, load range E tire 70 to 80 PSI | Test 4, flat tire to 80 PSI (top 3 fastest brands only) | Air mattress test, inflate | Air mattress test, deflate |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Milwaukee$139, stated as tool only, not including battery and charger; the closing summary separately rounds this to around $150 | claims to be the fastest 18V cordless tire inflator, tops off a 33 inch light truck tire in under 1 minute, rated 150 PSI max | 8.68 lb, heaviest of all 13 inflators tested | 89.4 decibels | 18 seconds, fastest of all 13, about twice as fast as RIDGID which also claims to be the fastest 18V tire pump | 2 minutes 31 seconds, air hose stayed very cool at 117F, both gauges agreed the result was about 1 PSI over target; by far the fastest of the brands tested in this step | 1 minute 40 seconds, by far the fastest in the lineup at both lower and higher pressure | just over 12 minutes, air hose at 150F (about 60 degrees cooler than RIDGID), 5 minutes faster than RIDGID | not tested | not tested |
| 2Makita$152, stated as the most expensive inflator tested, tool only, not including battery and charger | powerful high volume air pump for faster inflation, powered by Makita 18V LXT battery, delivers up to 160 PSI, auto stop function, three speed settings | 6.02 lb | 90.4 decibels | 29 seconds, second place behind Milwaukee | 4 minutes 4 seconds, air hose stayed cool at 121F, overshot the target pressure by about 4 PSI | 2 minutes 15 seconds, about 3 seconds slower than RIDGID, performed very well | just over 17 minutes, air hose at 160F (about 50 degrees cooler than RIDGID), very close to the same finish time as RIDGID | not tested | not tested |
| 3RIDGID$118, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger | claims to be the fastest inflator on the market, lifetime warranty, 20 inch air hose, includes a 12V vehicle power cord, up to 150 PSI, programmable dial | 3.84 lb | 96.7 decibels, by far the loudest of all 13 inflators tested | 36 seconds, third place, by far the fastest yet at the point it was tested | just under 4 minutes, air hose around 190F, by far the fastest yet at the point it was tested; analog gauge read 37 PSI versus RIDGID's own gauge reading 36 PSI | 2 minutes 12 seconds, very fast | 17 minutes, air hose very hot at around 210F, survived the test | not tested | not tested |
| 4WORX$70, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger; noted as more expensive than WORX brand pumps typically cost | claims to inflate a tire from 0 to 36 PSI in 4 minutes, automatic shutoff at set pressure, LED delivering 150 to 200 lumens | 3.51 lb with battery | 89.2 decibels | 52 seconds, took the lead from Kobalt at the point it was tested | 5 minutes 52 seconds, air hose around 185F, moved into first place among the brands tested to that point, about a minute and a half faster than Kobalt | 3.5 minutes, outperformed Kobalt and Bauer again | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 5Kobalt$48, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger | settable pressure up to 120 PSI, includes a 20 inch air hose with quick connect adapter, uses a 24V Kobalt battery, automatically turns off after 3 minutes | 3.99 lb | 90.9 decibels | 57 seconds, took the lead from Dnyker, about 39 percent faster than Dnyker's 93 seconds | 7 minutes 10 seconds, air hose around 160F (about 15 degrees cooler than Dnyker), 3 of 4 battery bars remaining, both gauges agreed on 36 PSI | 4 minutes 47 seconds, faster than Dnyker again | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 6Bauer$50, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger, sold at Harbor Freight | includes a high volume inflator and deflator for large inflatables, claims to inflate most car tires in 2 minutes, usable with a 20V battery or a 12V car DC outlet, up to 160 PSI | 5.14 lb including the 5 amp hour battery | 88.1 decibels | 1 minute 3 seconds, about 6 seconds slower than Kobalt | about 30 seconds longer than Kobalt's 7 minutes 10 seconds, air hose around 158F, about the same as Kobalt | 4 minutes 55 seconds, second place behind Kobalt, almost as fast | not tested | 59 seconds, 8 seconds faster than Dnyker | 63 seconds |
| 7DeWalt$129, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger | can be powered by 20V battery, 12V DC, or 110V AC (power cord sold separately), high pressure inflation with automatic shutoff, programmable dial, also includes high volume inflation and deflation | 6.91 lb, by far the heaviest yet at the point it was introduced | 86.2 decibels, less noisy than average | 1 minute 4 seconds, about the same as Bauer's 63 seconds | just over 6.5 minutes, air hose coolest yet at 180F, both gauges agreed the pressure was just below 36 PSI | 3 minutes 45 seconds, slower than Kobalt at lower pressure but easily outperformed Kobalt on this test | not tested | 65 seconds, a little slower than Bauer and Ryobi | 69 seconds, slowest of the 4 brands tested in the mattress test |
| 8Ryobi ONE+$62, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger, noted as around $12 to $14 more than Kobalt and Bauer | claims to inflate up to 10 car tires per charge, uses an 18V battery, claims to inflate twin air mattresses in 30 seconds, auto fill shutoff | 4.57 lb with the 4 amp hour battery | 93.4 decibels, loudest yet at the point it was tested | 1 minute 7 seconds, third place, a little slower than Kobalt and Bauer | 7 minutes 21 seconds, air hose around 190F (about 20 degrees hotter than Bauer and Kobalt), programmed to shut off at 36 PSI but shut off at 37 PSI | 5 minutes 21 seconds, not quite as fast as Kobalt and Bauer | not tested | 57 seconds, even faster than Bauer | 1 minute 6 seconds |
| 9Gooloo GT160$62 | built-in 7,500 mAh battery, max pressure 160 PSI, claims continuous inflation for up to 45 minutes on one charge, usable as a phone power bank | 1.82 lb, very light | 90.8 decibels | 1 minute 15 seconds, more than twice as fast as the compact TC15, performed very well given its compact size | 8 minutes 50 seconds, air hose around 195F (running a little warmer than most), 3 of 4 battery bars remaining, both gauges agreed on 36 PSI | 7 minutes, survived and performed fairly well for its compact size | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 10Dnyker$40 | 2 amp hour 20V rechargeable lithium ion battery, claims to pump up to 4 tires on one charge up to 160 PSI, includes a flashlight and an air mattress inflator attachment | 4.25 lb | 92.2 decibels | 1 minute 33 seconds (93 seconds), set as the time to beat for later brands | air hose around 175F, shut off at the target 36 PSI matching both gauges, 3 of 4 battery bars remaining; completion time not stated in the transcript | 6 minutes 13 seconds, did fine with the higher pressure | not tested | 1 minute 7 seconds | 59 seconds |
| 11DriveMo$80, noted as $20 more than Gooloo | includes a carrying case, up to 150 PSI, 12V DC two way power supply, built-in 12,000 mAh battery, includes a 7.4 inch touchscreen | 2.3 lb | 82.4 decibels, quietest yet at the point it was tested | 1 minute 56 seconds; the pressure gauge appeared to be off by about 2 PSI | just over 10 minutes, air hose running very hot at around 215F, inflator indicated 36 PSI but the pressure gauge read 35 PSI | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 12TC15$50 | claims full inflation from 0 to 36 PSI in 5 minutes, built-in 7,800 mAh rechargeable battery, claims 4 car tires per charge, usable as a phone power bank, includes a flashlight | 1.55 lb, very light and compact | 85.6 decibels, relatively quiet | very close to 3 minutes, described as needing a long time for such a small pump | air hose around 170F (a little hot), automatically shut down at both gauges reading 36 PSI; completion time not stated in the transcript | just over 13 minutes, narrator was surprised it survived the test without melting down | not tested | not tested | not tested |
| 13NOVSIGHT$28, stated as the least expensive tire inflator tested | auto stop design, built-in 6,000 mAh battery usable as a phone power bank, handles up to 150 PSI | 1.18 lb, very light | 86.1 decibels | failed to complete: started normally, then made no progress and began squeaking; the narrator ended the test after about 1 minute | failed to reach target: air hose became very hot at over 200F, powered itself down at just over 10 minutes having only reached 15 PSI | not tested | not tested | not tested | not tested |
How it was tested
- test 1: time to top off a 15 inch car tire from 30 to 36 PSI (add 6 PSI), all 13 brands except where noted as failed
- test 2: time and air hose temperature to inflate a completely flat 15 inch tire to 36 PSI, all 13 brands except where noted as failed or omitted
- air mattress test: time to inflate and time to deflate Cousin Eddie's air mattress, only 4 brands tested (Dnyker, Bauer, Ryobi, DeWalt)
- test 3: time to add 10 PSI to a 17 inch load range E tire, going from 70 to 80 PSI, most brands except NOVSIGHT and DriveMo
- test 4: time and air hose temperature to inflate a completely flat tire all the way to 80 PSI, only the 3 fastest brands from the load range E test (RIDGID, Milwaukee, Makita)
“The Milwaukee is definitely the fastest tire pump, but it's very expensive at around $150”
Data notes and caveats
Milwaukee is the clear, explicitly declared overall winner, winning every test it was entered in, though the narrator flags its high price. No single runner up is explicitly named: Makita placed second in the low pressure test (29s vs RIDGID's 36s) but RIDGID beat Makita in the load range E high pressure test (132s vs 135s), so runnerUp is left null rather than guessed. The narrator also names Gooloo separately as the pick for buyers who need a very compact pump, a third per-use-case recommendation not captured by the single budgetPick field. Three chapter markers in the metadata (Kobalt $48, WORX $70, DeWalt $129) exactly match the prices stated in the transcript, which cross validates the price extraction for this video. Dnyker's and TC15's completion times for test 2 (flat tire to 36 PSI) are not stated in the transcript and were omitted rather than guessed.