This is a really nice cordless inflator. I picked it up so that I could have something more mobile with me in my car, as I live on a farm and nails are a common occurrence in tires around here. So being able to just pop this thing out and fill some air in is really nice.
First thing that I absolutely must mention, and this is quite an issue for me, though, not an issue without a pretty easy remedy, but nevertheless, a remedy that shouldn't have to be made by the consumer on a product at such a premium price.. Issue being, even though in order to use this inflator, you set the desired pressure with the + or - buttons, and the inflator stops pumping once the desired pressure is reached, you must hold the inflator, squeezing the trigger down the ENTIRE TIME... Now, that doesn't much make sense to me. Why bother having the main mechanism for inflating be a user set pressure for the pump to automatically cut off at, if they are going to have the thing in their hand the entire time that it's inflating, with the digital readout within easy eyesight? Why not have a simple locking feature on the trigger like plenty of other tools, heck, even tools such as saws have. Where you can squeeze the trigger, and press a secondary button that allows the trigger to hold itself down, so you don't have to sit there crouched over in the dark, 15° F windy weather while your tire inflates from 15 psi up to 34 psi, which even on the strongest of tire inflators, can take a little while. ALL THAT BEING SAID, this issue does seem like it could QUITE easily be remedied by the end user. I haven't done it yet myself, but I'm going to give it a try later today and I'll update the review with how it goes. All someone would need to do is fashion a way to hold down the trigger. I thought about making a sleeve of sorts that could be wrapped around the handle, and when you squeeze the trigger, you could simply slide the sleeve over the trigger, holding it down.. I figure a piece of velcro would be the easiest solution. Not to mention it's a non-permanent modification. I'm sure you could get more technical and really work something up nice, like a 3D printed plastic sleeve that conforms to the handle or some kind of mechanism to lock it once you squeeze it once, but that's a lot of work to put into a $100+ inflator.
As for the other features of the inflator. One of the most important things is how well it does it's job inflating things, and how quickly it does it. I've found that this inflator does quite the amazing job, especially for a cordless inflator. This thing has absolutely no problems inflating a vehicle tire from 15-20 psi up to 34 psi... The pressure increase does seem to slow down once it gets to around 32-34 psi, but that's going to happen with any electric inflator. In fact, this one isn't nearly as bad as other inflators I've used which plug into an AC, 120V outlet even! I'm very pleased with how this light little cordless unit has outpaced any rechargeable, 12V DC plug in or 120V AC plug in inflator I've ever used.. The only way you're going to get more performance and a quicker fill is having a proper air compressor and an air tank, as they already have about 150psi of air in a big ole 5-20 gallon tank in reserve ready to fill your tire.
Battery life seems to be very good, even for the relatively low capacity 1.5Ah battery that comes with the kit. I have used the inflator multiple times, filling tires from nearly flat to full and haven't had to charge it yet. Still going strong. That being said, if you're going to rely on this for more emergency situations, I would pick up a 4.0Ah or 5.0Ah Makita battery from wherever, or if you have other Makita LXT tools like I do, use one of those. I haven't used my 4.0Ah Makita batteries in this thing yet because honestly, I haven't even had to. It's suiting my purposes just fine. But if you're going to be doing a lot of inflation, somewhere like a construction site, or if you're a tow truck driver or in any profession that requires you to have one of these, a police officer maybe even, i would just go ahead and splash the cash for the 4.0 or 5.0Ah battery just for the extra peice of mine. In that case, you could probably just purchase the bare tool, the inflator by itself without the charger or battery, and pick up the charger and battery separately. Don't know if that would be more expensive or less, but batteries can be pricey.
The only criticism that I can give this thing, besides the boneheaded decision to not have a trigger lock on this thing would be the length of the hose, ESPECIALLY considering that you have to hold the inflator and keep the trigger squeezed down the entire time... I'm 6'0" and I'm crouching severely to do this. Someone of any height would need to crouch to use this. If you're going to be made to hold the trigger, they could have gave it a longer hose and provided a way to wrap it around the inflator so it wouldn't get in the way when storing it. So if you have back problems, or you're elderly, or just lazy like me, I would definitely mod yourself a way of allowing the trigger to stay held down... Also, on some valve stems, pulling chuck off once you're done inflating can be a little frustrating. It's kind of a precise fit on some valve stems.. Doesn't seem to be a problem getting it on, but taking it off CAN be finicky, sometimes, but rarely. Just know that it can be an issue.
All in all, great inflator, give it a shot you wont be disappointed.
R Dub
joebee
H