I’m testing 8 portable electric tyre inflators that will quickly and easily pump up your car, motorbike and bicycle tyres. They mostly have digital pressure gauge displays, so they’re not only useful for roadside emergencies, they’re also convenient for keeping your tyres at the correct pressure.
Overview
Budget Aliexpress Tyre Inflator
Let’s start with the cheapest unbranded pump, which I bought for Aliexpress for under £10! It’s currently £14 ($14) including VAT and there’s free delivery.
In the box you get the pump, an 18cm air hose with a Schrader quick release, a USB-A to USB-C charging adapter and nozzles for balls and inflatables. There’s also an English user manual. There’s no Presta adapter included, which is the most popular bicycle valve type. Cars use the fatter Schrader valve.
The build quality is as you’d expect for the price – very plasticky, but the display is large and clear and it has four pressure presets that you can set from 3 to 150 PSI.
The inflator weighs 406g (14.32 oz) with the hose, and measures 127mm x 85mm x 52mm (5 x 3.35 x 2.05”). It can charge via the included USB cable but also via USB-C to USB-C which I’m happy to see. It has a white LED. It’s not particularly bright, but would be good enough in an emergency to find your valve.
The Cycplus A8 pump cost only £25 ($25) from Aliexpress – it’s far more expensive on Amazon or direct from Cycplus. It’s very nicely made, with an aluminium finish. It comes with a 27cm hose with a screw Schrader adapter. There’s a Presta and needle valve adapter. And there’s a soft pouch and an English user manual.
There’s again 4 pressure presets between 3 and 150 PSI, which are stored in memory and you can change between PSI and BAR with a long press of the mode button.
The inflator weighs 488g (17.21 oz) with its hose and measures 172mm x 65mm x 36mm (6.77 x 2.56 x 1.42”).
It also charges via USB-C with the included cable and a USB-C to USB-C cable and has an emergency LED.
The last Aliexpress offering is this tiny pump from Cyclami. I’m testing the A3 model which currently costs £31 ($31) but I also have the similar A2 model, very slightly lighter but doesn’t come with the extra accessories. They’ve also changed the design with the A3.
It’s fitted with a Presta adapter but there’s a Schrader adapter if you prefer. It also comes with a Schrader extension hose with a Presta and needle valve adapter. There’s also a USB-A to USB-C cable, an English user manual, a strap and a silicon sleeve – these things can get hot. You need to use the extension hose for latex tubes, otherwise you risk melting the valve stems.
This inflator is small enough to carry with you on your bike. It’s similar in size and weight to two CO2 cartridges. It weighs just 126g (4.44 oz) with the preinstalled presta adapter. It measures 69mm x 42mm x 29mm (2.72 x 1.65 x 1.14”), the screw in valve protrudes 11mm. The optional silicon sleeve weighs an extra 22g.
I’ve been carrying the even lighter and fractionally smaller A2 version that only weighs 113g instead of CO2 cartridges for the last couple of months. This is an emergency pump really intended for bikes, but I will test it on a car tyre. There’s no pressure gauge, so you’ll have to go by feel or carry a digital gauge separately. Neither of these pumps will charge off a USB-C to USB-C cable.
The AstroAI tyre inflator retails at £37 ($37) on Amazon but is often reduced – I paid just £24. It again has the 4 presets which you can set between 3 and 150 PSI.
Holding the mode button changes units. The build quality is not great – and mine arrived with a rattle which sounded like some of the cheap plastic it’s manufactured from had broken off inside. It comes with a 20cm hose, a USB-C to USB-A cable and the Presta, needle and inflatable adapters are stored inside the casing. It’s a shame there’s nowhere to store the hose.
It’s got a USB-C port for charging but disappointingly like the two cheap mini pumps it won’t change off a USB-C to USB-C cable. It does have a basic emergency LED and there’s also a 5V 1.5A USB-A output so you can use it as a basic power bank. It weighs 520g (18.34 oz) and measures 230mm x 56mm x 56mm (9.06 x 2.20 x 2.20”).
Ugreen is a brand that makes some decent portable chargers. Their tyre inflator retails at £60 but is currently £40 ($40). It has a matte black finish and feels decent quality. It comes with a short integrated hose that stores in its casing, a Presta, needle and inflatable nozzle, a USB-C to USB-A cable, a soft pouch and an instruction manual. It charges off its USB-C port and supports charging via a USB-C to USB-C cable too.
There’s an emergency 2 colour LED that you can cycle between solid white, and flashing red modes.
There’s again 4 modes and holding down the mode button changes units. The default mode can be set between 3 and 150 PSI, but the presets have limited pressure ranges. For example the bike preset can’t be set higher than 65 PSI bizarrely and the car preset maxes out at 47.5 PSI. I set my road bike tyres to 70 PSI and my van tyres need 58 PSI at the front. So I only use the default mode with no icon – the presets aren’t particularly useful – to me at least. It weighs 489g (17.25 oz) and measures 137mm x 79mm x 49mm (5.39 x 3.11 x 1.93”).
The Cycplus AS2 Pro only just arrived in time for this roundup. It’s another mini pump like the Aliexpress ones, but has an integrated PSI gauge which is super useful, and it does support charging off a USB-C to USB-C cable. Unfortunately it currently retails at £88 ($88) which is far too expensive – I imagine this will quickly come down in price after it’s been out a while.
You can set the pressure from 3-120 PSI, and change the units by pressing the plus and minus buttons together. It comes with a fitted compact Presta valve, an extension hose with a Schrader valve, a Presta and needle adapter for this hose, a compact Shrader nozzle, and a plastic zip-lock bag and a USB-C to USB-C cable.
It weighs just 117g (4.13 oz) with the compact Presta nozzle and measures 71 x 49 x 28mm (2.80 x 1.93 x 1.10”). The silicon sleeve weighs an additional 19g.
I’ve also included these two tyre inflators that run off Milwaukee batteries. Similar offerings are available for the other big battery brands. They only really make sense if you already own these batteries and they’re a fair bit larger than the other inflators – especially the Milwaukee M18 tyre inflator.
The Meliff tyre inflator is reasonably priced at £40 ($40), but that’s without a battery. It comes with a 540mm integrated quick release Schader hose and a user manual. The hose stores in the top of the inflator where there’s also the usual Presta, needle and inflator nozzle.
The backlit display is very disappointing on the Mellif. It’s tiny, has no presets and doesn’t even remember your last setting after you turn it off. You can set the pressure from 3 to 160 PSI. You can cycle the units with the power button.
The build doesn’t feel as premium as the Mellif air duster I reviewed recently but it’s fine for the price. There’s an emergency LED that comes on with power.
With a 5Ah battery fitted it weighs 1480g (52.21 oz) and measures roughly 280mm x 180mm x 80mm (11.02 x 7.09 x 3.15”).
The Milwaukee M18 is significantly more expensive than everything else I’m testing here at around £137 ($137). But it’s useful as a comparison as it’s one of the best portable tyre inflators out there. Its hose is just under one metre long but there’s no quick release – only a Schrader screw fitting. And the usual Presta, needle and inflator nozzles. The hose and nozzle all store in the unit.
The large display lets you set the pressure from 10 to 150 PSI. There are four presets and a dedicated button to change units.
The Milwaukee has their usual build quality but the large backlit display does seem quite vulnerable. It weighs a hefty 3935g (138.80 oz) with a 5Ah battery fitted. It measures approximately 350 x 190 x 180mm (13.78 x 7.48 x 7.09”).
Accuracy
I started off measuring how accurate the pressure gauges are. This is important since they also use this gauge to auto shut off the pump. Only the cheaper mini-pump don’t have a digital display.
I pumped a bicycle tyre to 70 PSI with each pump, waited a few seconds to see if the display still read 70 PSI. If it dropped, I over inflated it slightly and let out a little air with the release button on the valve adapter so it read exactly 70 PSI. I released the valve and measured the pressure with a Topeak digital pressure gauge. I was expecting many of these gauges to be off – but they all measured 68 or 69 PSI, apart from the AstroAI which read 67 PSI. Considering I was losing around 1 PSI just from the act of measuring pressure, I’d say all of these pumps are plenty accurate for most purposes. The Milwaukee actually self calibrates its pressure gauge so it’s a good cross reference for the accuracy of the Topeak.
Speed – Bicycle
I then measured how long it took each inflator to pump up a 32mm bicycle tyre from completely flat to 70 PSI. Obviously a narrower tyre will inflate faster. Excluding the inflators running off Milwaukee batteries, the budget Aliexpress, Ugreen and surprisingly the tiny AS2 Pro were the quickest at 1 minute 20 seconds. The Mellif took 39 seconds and the Milwaukee took 15 seconds. Although the Milwaukee is not ideal for bicycle tyres. It’s a little too powerful and tends to overshoot. And after it reaches the desired pressure it waits a second to check, and then goes again if the initial pressure is a little off. Milwaukee recommends not using the auto mode with bicycle tyres and just holding down the inflator button until you get to your desired pressure which is how I use it.
Speed – Car
Next I used all the inflators to inflate a car tyre from 45-50 PSI. Unless it’s an emergency, I’d only recommend using the Milwaukee and perhaps the Mellif to inflate a tyre from flat in most cases. But they’re very useful for the more common task of just topping up the air pressure. The Milwaukee was the quickest at 18 seconds, then the Mellif at 51 seconds.
Surprisingly the cheapest inflator, costing £10 from Aliexpress was the next quickest at 1 minute 33 seconds, with the Ugreen close behind at 1 minute 44 seconds. The slowest was the Cycplus A8 which took almost 3 minutes. A car tyre has a lot more volume than a bicycle tyre, so the pumps that can move the most air work best here. All these pumps are pretty noisy. But the slowest pumps were also the quietest.
I measured around 74dB for the AstroAI and Cycplus A8 pumps, one metre away with a decibel meter. The Mellif and Milwaukee were the loudest at around 86dB.
Battery Capacity
Another important factor with these portable tyre inflators is battery capacity measured in Wh. The tiny pumps have very small batteries – the AS2 Pro has a 3.1Wh battery and the A3 has a 2.6Wh battery. In contrast, even running the Milwaukee inflators off a 5Ah battery – that’s equivalent to 90Wh – and Milwaukee’s 12Ah battery has a whopping 216Wh of capacity.
The mid-range units have from 14.8Wh for the budget Aliexpress to 19.2Wh for the A8, with the Ugreen just a little less. I had to take the budget Aliexpress inflator apart to determine its capacity – there’s no information in the manual or on the listing. It is quite interesting seeing what’s inside – and it wouldn’t be too difficult to replace these batteries if they eventually died, or you wanted to upgrade it. Although the listing says there’s a German double pump in these units, which there isn’t – just a single pump!
The AS2 Pro could inflate the bike tyre from empty to 70 PSI 3 times before cutting off. The A3 took 2 minutes 30 seconds to get the tyre to 70 PSI. After another minute or so it was dead.
The mid-range units all filled the tyre 5 times without their battery status display dropping. Unsurprisingly I couldn’t get the Milwaukee batteries to show any measurable drop either.
Personally I always recharge the tiny pumps after any sort of use on the road, and the mid-range pumps after significant use. For the inflators running off the Milwaukee batteries, I just go by the battery status LED’s, but they last for a long time in normal use.
Temperatures
I measured the temperatures of the units after these 5 inflations. They do get pretty warm around the air outlet, typically up to around 80°C although the AstroAI got up to over 100°C!
And that’s not continuous use – the pumps got to rest for a minute or so between each inflation. Not all the pumps provide a duty cycle, but none of them are intended to run continuously for very long. Even the Milwaukee M18 inflator intended for more professional use has a 50% duty cycle – they recommend a 10 minute break after 10 minutes of use.
90 PSI Test
I didn’t test them up to their maximum PSI, but did try inflating a 25mm tyre to 90 PSI, which they all managed ok, even the tiny pumps – the A3 which took just over 2 and a half minutes.
Conclusions
If you’re after a mini pump and don’t want to spend much, you can’t go wrong with the cheap Cyclami pumps off Aliexpress. I would also carry a small manual pump too – I wouldn’t want to rely solely on one of these electric pumps at the roadside and none of these pumps have any waterproof ratings, but they are just so convenient.
I used one recently, together with a DynaPlug to fix a hole in my tubeless issue in a couple of minutes! For longer rides you might want to carry a small portable charger to top it up – their batteries don’t last long, but then they only take around 20 minutes to charge.
The AS2 Pro is faster, has proper support for USB-C charging and I love the digital display – it’s useful even for checking your tyre pressure.
But I think the price is just too high at the moment. I’ll be looking out for a cheaper alternative with similar specs and will update my written article if I find one.
My pick of the general purpose pumps would be the Ugreen. It’s pretty quick, nicely made and I like that it comes for a company who knows about batteries. The hose is a little short, and the presets are rather limited but it’s perfect for the glove box of the car, and I found it useful on a recent cycling trip in lieu of a much larger track pump.
I’m not sure how long it’ll last – but I was pleasantly surprised by the cheap Aliexpress pump. It was one of the quicker pumps and even has a quick release Schrader adapter. The Cycplus A8 pump is also a great price, direct from China at least, and has the nicest build quality. It’s just a little slow.
For any of the larger pumps I’d invest in one of these cheap quick release adapters off Aliexpress – I’ll include a link down below. They’re so much easier to use and work with both Schrader and Presta valves. I have one permanently fitted to my Milwaukee inflator.
Don’t forget to take a look at my YouTube video at the top of the page, and again please subscribe to my YouTube channel where I’m releasing videos every week on the latest technology and how to get the most out of it. If you tap the bell icon when you subscribe you’ll get a notification as soon as I release a video, and there’ll be a link to my site here for the written article. YouTube is also the best place to leave a comment. I read all of them and respond to as many as I can!
As an Amazon and Aliexpress affiliate, I get a tiny commission from purchases made via any Amazon or Aliexpress links, but it costs you nothing extra:
Budget Aliexpress Tyre Inflator: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DmPfpSr
Cycplus A8 Tyre Inflator: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DchvDQP
Cyclami A3 Tyre Inflator: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DEa7pC3
AstroAI Tyre Inflator: https://amzn.to/44RJZCp
Ugreen Tyre Inflator: https://amzn.to/3QX7aFJ
Cycplus AS2 Pro Tyre Inflator: https://amzn.to/3QX7aFJ
Mellif Tyre Inflator: https://amzn.to/3WVk0rQ
Milwaukee Tyre Inflator: https://amzn.to/4azRvCY
Aliexpress dual adapter quick release nozzle: https://s.click.aliexpress.com/e/_DBdOyfz
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