When you’re getting ready to go for a ride in the car, whether you’re going for work or leisure, there’s nothing more frustrating than discovering that you have a tire with a slow leak, or an all-out flat tire. Instead of calling for help to change a flat tire, you can fix the tire yourself (albeit temporarily) by using an tire inflator.
When you’re going to look for one of these tools to have on hand in the back of your car for emergency situations like this, you’re going to want a good quality air compressor.
However, for those who are sort on cash and aren’t able to spend a lot of money on an air pump that you may not be using often, you may want to consider the EPAuto 12V DC Portable Air Compressor Pump.
In this review, we are going to talk a little more about the features of the tire inflator, but we are also going to give you an overview of what people who have purchased the tire inflator had to say about their overall experience with it. Then, we’re going to give you our recommendation on whether or not this tire inflator is something you should consider purchasing for your own garage!
About The Product
The EPAuto 12V DC Portable Air Compressor Pump is designed to meet all of your inflation needs, from car tires to rafts, to ATV tires and basketballs. This small, but powerful air compressor is able to accommodate multiple needs and it can fit in the trunk of your car without taking up too much precious cargo space. All you need to do to get this unit working is plug it into your car’s cigarette lighter socket and turn it on!
Notable features of the EPAuto 12V DC Portable Air Compressor Pump include:
- Convenience: plug directly into cigarette lighter socket of your vehicle
- 12vdc 10~15 amps, 120~180w (port must support 15 amps)
- Multiple uses: inflate tires on cars, bikes, sedan and midsize SUV
- Adaptors for balls and inflatables included
- Easy to read: 4 display units: PSI, KPA, BAR, KG/CM
- Led flashlight: bright torch
- Prevent over inflation: auto shut off when reaching the desired tire pressure
- Overheat protection shuts off automatically when overloading
When you’re in a bind and you need to inflate a tire (or if your kids are pestering you to inflate some kind of ball for whatever sport they are interested in playing), you’re going to want an air compressor that is going to make short work of inflating. This pump is capable of pumping 10psi per minute and is rated at 1.06 CFM.
The power cord for this is 8.5 feet in length and the hose is 3 feet in length. While it may not have the furthest reach, it will do the job nicely. When you are using this for your car, the car doesn’t need to be on, but you will need an auxiliary jack, as there isn’t a plug for the cigarette lighter.
What Customers Say
When we looked at the user reviews, we saw that 87% had great things to say about the ride on and left 4 or 5-star reviews. Of these reviews, people commented that they were impressed by how quickly the compressor was able to fill a tire. They liked that you could set the air compressor to the desired PSI and when it reached that setting, the compressor stopped pumping air (although the motor continued to run) so it didn’t overfill the tire.
Customers also said that the connection to the tire valve screws on easily and it creates a better seal than a clip on connector. Customers felt that the LCD display was a nice touch and it made the product easier to read.
So what did the remaining 13% of customers who left 3-star or below reviews have to say? The most common complaint customers had was that the air compressor had a tendency to overheat and shut off when trying to fill multiple tires.
Several customers said that their unit didn’t just overheat, it got really hot, almost dangerously hot. Several customers were disappointed that the air compressor doesn’t shut off when it’s reached the designated PSI, although the product is advertised to do that.
One customer mentioned that their particular unit wasn’t able to inflate their tires past 23 PSI, despite the compressor being advertised to reach 100 PSI. A few customers pointed out that there is no warranty with the air compressor, so if you buy it, you’re going to have to deal with it, regardless if it works or not.
Our Recommendation
It isn’t uncommon for tires to lose air pressure over time. Whenever you see that low tire indicator light up on your dash board, you don’t have to rush to the nearest gas station to fill it when you have the portable EPAuto 12V DC Portable Air Compressor Pump tucked away in your trunk.
With an 87% approval rating among customers who have purchased this device, and at just under $40, we feel that this is a pretty good unit to have. It’s lightweight, compact, easy to use, and it prevents over inflation because the air pump shuts off automatically when it reaches the desired PSI. With that, we do want to mention that though the air pump shuts off and it isn’t pumping air, the motor still will run and that will need to be shut off manually.
There have been a few complaints about this, but they did say they didn’t mind having to shut the air compressor manually. The main complaint customers had about the product was that it had a tendency to overheat and shut off, but since there wasn’t an overwhelming amount of people citing this issue, perhaps it is a problem in a few models, and not a general rule.
With these things in mind, we feel that this is worth the reasonable price, but we recommend that you be mindful of how hot the device gets, just for safety’s sake.
