Experience with Mini Compressors
 

Anyone who used mini compressors either at home or out on a ride? Been checking them out as in option for tire inflation.

I've used them off and on with my vehicles. A floor pump is quicker and easier than popping the hood of the vehicle, plugging it in, dealing with cords, etc.

However, they can be handy for kid's bikes, MTBs, and etc, all with low pressure. Some are advertised as "high pressure", but do seem to have issues with > 100 PSI, at least with moderate volume.

Have you ever used something like this?
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...cc3669041b.jpg

Oasser Air Compressor Portable Mini Air Inflator Hand Held Tire Pump 2000mAh with Digital LCD LED Light 12V AC DC Lithium Battery 120PSI 20Litres/Min for Car Bicycle Tires and Other Inflatables P1S

Also, what brands have you used? CliffordK

I've used a number of cigarette lighter based pumps. Sorry, I can't say the brands.

I have tried larger battery pack/jump start pumps. They work OK as long as the battery doesn't go dead. Although, perhaps there is a recent shift of technology to Lithium which may be better. :foo:

Nothing as small as you are showing.

I wouldn't plan to carry that on the bike. A standard pump (or CO2) would be lighter and easier to use on the road, but that might be good in the car if you regularly use/charge it.

Gotcha thanks a bunch, these things have been getting smaller these days, and like you said they do seem to have difficulties reaching higher pressures. I might be willing to carry the Xiaomi one with me but it is still poorly designed regarding bicycle use.
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...8f746d73e0.jpg

Hmmm...
So, for Lithium devices, I suppose that brings up the question. If it will pump up a car tire, what is needed for a bike tire.

https://des.gbtcdn.com/uploads/pdm-d...7195321204.jpg

So, that says 5 car tires, 6 motorcycle tires, and 8 bike tires. :foo:
That 5 "car tires" sounds mighty ambitious in relation to 8 bike tires. I suppose it depends on the car. I could imagine doing a bunch of my Fiat 500 tires, but it could struggle with my pickup tires.

Either that, or it has troubles getting up to say 100 to 120 PSI for bikes.

If you can run/charge it off of a car battery, then it could be handy if you are doing park&ride.

It is hard to imagine needing to pump up more than 8 bike tires in a typical day, unless supporting a group of people. However, one of the things I don't like about CO2 is that one shot and one's out. Something goes wrong and one's walking. A bit more flexibility with "8" tires, but if something goes wrong, that 8 quickly becomes 1.

It does appear as if that has replaceable batteries that will account for a bit. :)

Anyway, it would be a choice of 1 battery pump vs taking a spare hand pump.

From what I have seen you can't open it up and replace the batteries, so if one wants to bring it on a ride it better have good capacity. Also it is only 5V with a small piston cylinder as shown in that cross-section picture, so it takes a while to get up to a good pressure.

I suppose like hand pumps size does matter:D.

This Indian guy did a pretty good job reviewing the Xiaomi version:

@CliffordK Would added features such as the compressor doubling as tail light and power bank make it a more viable package for cyclists?

I average one flat a year on a bike. When at home I use a full size home type floor pump, either a Silca or a Joe Blow. If I have that average one flat per year flat away from home, I carry a small muscle powered pump on the bike, usually a Lezyne Micro Floor Drive or a Road Morph G or one if its variants. When bike touring, I do not mind every week or two adding a bit of air to the tires with a hand pump.

I would rather have a pump that I know will work that stays on the bike than carry around an electric pump that may or may not have a charged battery.

For a bike, The few times I need a pump I would feel more confident with a inflator that dosen't depend on a fully charged battery to work when I'm out. At home I use a 12v cigarette lighter unit with a gauge to pump up my bike tires. Works great. I tried 2 hand pumps neither measures up. Not even close.

My first $8 12v compressor (with a gas fillup) was a joke. It was so funny watching this tiny compressor bouncing up and down with pieces flying off as it inflates the tire. My better one for $50 cdn does a fine job.

On the road, those gas charged canister type look like a good idea. I never tried one though. It pays to research these as I believe, like hand and 12v electric pumps, they too vary in quantity.

Yeah, I have seen one of those from SKS I believe. It is pretty big and as the sales person suggested it's for electric bikes.

Here is the the wordpress blog of the concept I am working on and see what you think https://nuovocycling.wordpress.com/.

Edit: I say "concept" but it is pretty doable with internals laid out.

I am not going to donate my time to your project.

Every few months, a newbie would ask on the touring forum what pump to buy. Because of that I wrote up a comparison on the touring forum of the two more popular pumps for bike touring a few years ago. Link is at:
https://www.bikeforums.net/touring/1...l#post18521373

Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.

Another electric option are the Fumpa pumps from Australia. These seem to be bicycle specific, set up for presta valves. They are small and light, look well built but are expensive. More info at their web site fumpapumps dot com
Cycling Tips recently had an updated review. I can’t post a link but you can go to cyclingtips dot com and use the search tool (top left of page) and search for Fumpa

While these certainly look interesting, with all the existing reliable and less expensive options available to inflate bicycle tires, I’m inclined to agree with comments above that these more complex pumps could be a product in search of a problem to solve. That said - they certainly do have a cool factor (especially with a digital pressure gauge).

The fumpa cost $150/200.
fumpapumps.com


While the Xiaomi sells for just $50.
aliexpress.com/item/32999153888.html
gearbest.com/other-accessories/pp_009999621355.html
banggood.com/Xiaomi-5V-150PSI-Bike-Pump-USB-Charging-Electric-Air-Pump-Camping-Cycling-Portable-Basketball-Football-Pump-Tools-p-1451824.html

^this.

I'm going to give one of these a try this year, probably the bigger one. It's small for travel. They also have one that's really small and could be carried on a bike or in a jersey pocket. Looks really promising.

I'm glad I stumbled on this thread. I was looking at a cheaper, portable air compressor that only goes up to about 20psi. I wasn't planning on using it for my bike, but rather I've been biking to a nearby river with an inner tube, inflating the tube, and floating down river a couple of miles. The "inflating the tube" step kind of exhausting, though, since I actually inflate two, large tubes. I can't see myself regularly carrying an air compressor, but for those trips, I could see it carrying that little, Xiaomi one. And it could be handy for setting up tires tubeless at home, or topping off my wife's car tires. We live in an apartment, and getting a "real," plug in air compressor never seemed like a great idea since it would only ever be used for bike tires, but this thing actually solves my tubing problem as well as provides some use around the house. I'd rather have compressor that was separate from a battery (which is like the unit I was looking at) so that the life of the compressor wasn't tied to the life of the battery, but if the numbers match reality, it has more than enough capacity for my use, so even as the battery dies, it should remain serviceable for a good amount of time.

There are some inflaters that use 18V power tool batteries.

Ryobi makes a couple of models that look like drills including a high pressure, low pressure, and tank type compressor, all using their power tool batteries.

Makita & Dewalt also have compressors, more traditional shaped.

Probably not as portable as the one above, but one gets easily replaceable batteries, and should have a lot of power.

Good thoughts. Although for me, I'm interested mainly for the portability, so that Xiaomi one still looks like a reasonable compromise. If I'm running around all day, I often have a battery handy to recharge my phone, so it'd be nice if it could do double duty by running a small compressor, but failing that, the integrated battery approach is workable. Although since I can't use my cache battery for the pump, it'd be nice if I could use the pump battery to recharge my phone. Still, the more I think about it, the more I like this idea.

Has anyone tried this one ?

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001334765226.html?spm=a2g0s.8937460.0.0.37a42e0eJmBnXt