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Loading...Thirteen tire inflators, $28 to $152, were put through the four jobs a pump actually gets asked to do: topping a 15-inch car tire from 30 to 36 PSI, filling that same tire from completely flat, adding 10 PSI to a 17-inch load-range E truck tire at 70 PSI, and \u2014 for the three quickest \u2014 taking a flat tire all the way to 80 PSI. Noise at 24 inches, weight as configured, gauge accuracy and air-hose temperature were measured alongside.
The spread is enormous. The fastest pump topped off a tire in 18 seconds; the slowest finisher needed 116, and one never got there at all. Price predicts speed reasonably well, but it predicts noise and heat hardly at all: the loudest pump in the lineup costs $118, and the coolest-running ones are the two most expensive.
Best Performance
Fastest on every timed test
Purchased for: $139
Fastest pump in every timed test: 18 seconds to add 6 PSI, 2:31 on a completely flat tire, 1:40 from 70 to 80 PSI and just over 12 minutes to take a flat tire all the way to 80 PSI. It is also the heaviest at 8.68 lb, and the coolest-running at 117°F.
18 seconds to add 6 PSI, 2:31 from flat to 36 PSI, and 1:40 from 70 to 80 PSI \u2014 roughly twice the pace of the next-quickest pump, with the coolest hose in the test at 117\u00b0F.
Best Value
Strong all-rounder at $48
Purchased for: $48
Sold as a bare tool for the 24-volt Kobalt platform, with a 20-inch hose and a 3-minute auto shut-off. Fast for the money at 57 seconds on the top-off and 4:47 at high pressure, with an accurate gauge and a relatively cool 160°F hose.
57 seconds on the top-off and 4:47 at truck pressure for around a third of the price of the fast cordless units, with a gauge that landed on 36 PSI exactly.
Best Value Alternative
Harbor Freight pump at $50
Purchased for: $50
Harbor Freight 20-volt inflator that also runs off a 12-volt outlet and includes a high-volume inflator/deflator for large inflatables. Topped off in 63 seconds, ran 4:55 at high pressure, and kept the hose to 158°F — the coolest of the mid-price pumps.
Within six seconds of the Kobalt on the top-off and eight seconds behind it at high pressure, with the coolest hose of any mid-price pump at 158\u00b0F plus a high-volume inflator/deflator.
Best Compact
1.82 lb with a built-in battery
Purchased for: $62
Made In: China
Compact 1.82 lb pump with a 7,500 mAh battery, 160 PSI rating and power-bank output. Punches above its size at 75 seconds on the top-off and 8:50 on a completely flat tire, though the hose reached 195°F doing it.
Filled a completely flat car tire in 8:50 and made 80 PSI on a truck tire in 7 minutes \u2014 remarkable work from a pump small enough to live in a door pocket.
Check out these related product tests
| Name | Purchased for ($) | Link | Made In | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Novsight | $28.00 | Search on Amazon | China | |
The lightest unit here at 1.18 lb, with a built-in 6,000 mAh battery that doubles as a phone power bank and an auto-stop rated to 150 PSI. It struggled with full-size car tires, powering itself down at 15 PSI after ten minutes with the air hose above 200°F. | ||||
| Dnyker | $40.00 | Search on Amazon | China | |
Budget 20-volt pump that ships with a 2 Ah battery, charger, flashlight and mattress nozzle. Added 6 PSI in 93 seconds, ran the 70-to-80 PSI truck-tire test in 6:13, and shut off exactly on target at 36 PSI. | ||||
| Kobalt | $48.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Sold as a bare tool for the 24-volt Kobalt platform, with a 20-inch hose and a 3-minute auto shut-off. Fast for the money at 57 seconds on the top-off and 4:47 at high pressure, with an accurate gauge and a relatively cool 160°F hose. | ||||
| DC15 | $50.00 | Search on Amazon | China | |
Pocketable 1.55 lb pump with a 7,800 mAh built-in battery, preset shut-off, flashlight and power-bank output. The quietest but one at 85.6 dB, it finished a completely flat tire on target and needed just over 13 minutes to add 10 PSI at truck pressure. | ||||
| Bauer | $50.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Harbor Freight 20-volt inflator that also runs off a 12-volt outlet and includes a high-volume inflator/deflator for large inflatables. Topped off in 63 seconds, ran 4:55 at high pressure, and kept the hose to 158°F — the coolest of the mid-price pumps. | ||||
| GooLoo | $62.00 | Search on Amazon | China | |
Compact 1.82 lb pump with a 7,500 mAh battery, 160 PSI rating and power-bank output. Punches above its size at 75 seconds on the top-off and 8:50 on a completely flat tire, though the hose reached 195°F doing it. | ||||
| Ryobi | $62.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Bare-tool 18-volt inflator with auto-fill shut-off and a high-volume mattress mode — the quickest of the four mattress pumps at 57 seconds. Loudest of the mid-price group at 93.4 dB, and its gauge stopped a pound high at 37 PSI. | ||||
| WORX | $70.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
The surprise of the mid-price bracket: 52 seconds on the top-off, 5:52 on a completely flat tire and 3:30 at truck pressure, all quicker than the Kobalt and Bauer that cost less. A 150-200 lumen work light is built in. | ||||
| DriveMo | $80.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Touchscreen 12,000 mAh unit with a carry case, rated to 150 PSI. The quietest pump in the test at 82.4 dB, but the slowest of the finishers at 116 seconds to add 6 PSI, and its hose ran the hottest at 215°F with the gauge reading about 1-2 PSI high. | ||||
| Ridgid | $118.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Marketed as the fastest inflator on the market and backed by a lifetime warranty, it finished third on the top-off at 36 seconds and second at high pressure at 2:12. The catch is noise: 96.7 dB, the loudest here by more than three decibels. | ||||
| DeWalt | $129.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Runs on a 20-volt battery, 12-volt DC or 110-volt AC, and adds high-volume inflation and deflation. Middle of the field on the light-duty tests but strong under load at 3:45 for the 70-to-80 PSI fill, and quiet for its size at 86.2 dB. | ||||
| Milwaukee | $139.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
Fastest pump in every timed test: 18 seconds to add 6 PSI, 2:31 on a completely flat tire, 1:40 from 70 to 80 PSI and just over 12 minutes to take a flat tire all the way to 80 PSI. It is also the heaviest at 8.68 lb, and the coolest-running at 117°F. | ||||
| Makita | $152.00 | Search on Amazon | ||
The priciest unit here, with three speed settings, a 160 PSI rating and 18-volt LXT power. Consistently a half-step behind the Ridgid — 29 seconds on the top-off, 2:15 at high pressure — but it ran far cooler at 121°F, and it overshot the 36 PSI target by about 4 PSI. | ||||
Lower is better
Prices are from the time of testing (USD). The Kobalt, Bauer, Ryobi, WORX, Ridgid, DeWalt, Milwaukee and Makita prices are for the bare tool, without battery or charger.
15-inch car tire — lower is faster
Both the Ridgid and the Milwaukee are marketed as the fastest 18-volt tire pump, and the Milwaukee settled it by finishing in half the Ridgid's time. The more interesting result is further down: the $70 WORX beat the $48 Kobalt, the $50 Bauer and the $129 DeWalt, all of which landed within seven seconds of each other.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee | 18 |
| 2 | Makita | 29 |
| 3 | Ridgid | 36 |
| 4 | WORX | 52 |
| 5 | Kobalt | 57 |
| 6 | Bauer | 63 |
| 7 | DeWalt | 64 |
| 8 | Ryobi | 67 |
| 9 | GooLoo | 75 |
| 10 | Dnyker | 93 |
| 11 | DriveMo | 116 |
Same 15-inch car tire, starting from zero — lower is faster
Filling from empty separates the high-volume pumps from the rest: the Milwaukee needed two and a half minutes where the Ridgid and Makita took around four, and everything else four to ten. Note how well the compact GooLoo holds up at 8:50 — slower than the cordless tool-battery pumps, but it finished the job a full-size tire is supposed to defeat a palm-sized pump with.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee | 2.52 |
| 2 | Ridgid | 4 |
| 3 | Makita | 4.07 |
| 4 | WORX | 5.87 |
| 5 | DeWalt | 6.50 |
| 6 | Kobalt | 7.17 |
| 7 | Ryobi | 7.35 |
| 8 | GooLoo | 8.83 |
| 9 | DriveMo | 10 |
17-inch load-range E truck tire — lower is faster
High pressure is where cheap pumps go to die, and the ranking barely shuffles: Milwaukee, Ridgid and Makita again fill the podium, with the Ridgid and Makita three seconds apart. The DeWalt gains ground here, beating the Kobalt it lost to at low pressure, and even the pocket-sized DC15 survived a thirteen-minute grind to add its 10 PSI.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee | 1.67 |
| 2 | Ridgid | 2.20 |
| 3 | Makita | 2.25 |
| 4 | WORX | 3.50 |
| 5 | DeWalt | 3.75 |
| 6 | Kobalt | 4.78 |
| 7 | Bauer | 4.92 |
| 8 | Ryobi | 5.35 |
| 9 | Dnyker | 6.22 |
| 10 | GooLoo | 7 |
| 11 | DC15 | 13 |
Endurance run for the three fastest pumps — lower is faster
The hardest test in the comparison: high volume and high pressure demanded back to back for a quarter of an hour. The Milwaukee finished five minutes ahead of the other two while running its hose at 150°F against the Ridgid's 210°F. Sustained heat like that is what shortens a compressor's life, and it is the clearest argument for the Milwaukee's price.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee | 12 |
| 2 | Ridgid | 17 |
| 3 | Makita | 17 |
Pumps supplied with a high-volume inflator attachment — lower is faster
Four of the pumps ship with a high-volume nozzle for mattresses and large inflatables, and they finished within ten seconds of each other. Deflation reversed the order: the Dnyker cleared the mattress in 59 seconds, the Bauer in 63, the Ryobi in 66 and the DeWalt in 69. For camping duty, any of the four is quick enough that the difference is not worth choosing on.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ryobi | 57 |
| 2 | Bauer | 59 |
| 3 | DeWalt | 65 |
| 4 | Dnyker | 67 |
Measured at 24 inches — lower is quieter
Decibels are logarithmic, so the 14-point spread here is a much bigger gap than it looks: the Ridgid is several times as loud as the DriveMo. The three quietest pumps all carry built-in batteries, and the $129 DeWalt is the quietest of the tool-battery pumps at 86.2 dB while the $118 Ridgid is the loudest thing in the test.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | DriveMo | 82.40 |
| 2 | DC15 | 85.60 |
| 3 | Novsight | 86.10 |
| 4 | DeWalt | 86.20 |
| 5 | Bauer | 88.10 |
| 6 | WORX | 89.20 |
| 7 | Milwaukee | 89.40 |
| 8 | Makita | 90.40 |
| 9 | GooLoo | 90.80 |
| 10 | Kobalt | 90.90 |
| 11 | Dnyker | 92.20 |
| 12 | Ryobi | 93.40 |
| 13 | Ridgid | 96.70 |
As configured for testing — lower is lighter
The field divides cleanly at about three pounds: four pumps with built-in batteries weigh 1.2 to 2.3 lb, and the tool-battery units weigh 3.5 to 8.7 lb with a battery fitted. Speed costs mass — the fastest pump in the comparison is also the heaviest, at more than seven times the weight of the lightest.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Novsight | 1.18 |
| 2 | DC15 | 1.55 |
| 3 | GooLoo | 1.82 |
| 4 | DriveMo | 2.30 |
| 5 | WORX | 3.51 |
| 6 | Ridgid | 3.84 |
| 7 | Kobalt | 3.99 |
| 8 | Dnyker | 4.25 |
| 9 | Ryobi | 4.57 |
| 10 | Bauer | 5.14 |
| 11 | Makita | 6.02 |
| 12 | DeWalt | 6.91 |
| 13 | Milwaukee | 8.68 |
Measured at the hose after filling from zero to 36 PSI — lower is cooler
Hose heat is a proxy for how hard the compressor is working, and compressors that run hot tend not to last. The two fastest big pumps are also the two coolest — the Milwaukee and Makita finished the job before heat could build — while the pumps that ground away for eight to ten minutes pushed their hoses to 190-215°F on a single car tire.
| Rank | Product | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Milwaukee | 117 |
| 2 | Makita | 121 |
| 3 | Bauer | 158 |
| 4 | Kobalt | 160 |
| 5 | DC15 | 170 |
| 6 | Dnyker | 175 |
| 7 | DeWalt | 180 |
| 8 | WORX | 185 |
| 9 | Ryobi | 190 |
| 10 | Ridgid | 190 |
| 11 | GooLoo | 195 |
| 12 | DriveMo | 215 |
The Milwaukee wins outright and it is not close. It topped off a tire in 18 seconds against 29 for the Makita and 36 for the Ridgid, filled a completely flat car tire in 2:31 where the next quickest needed four minutes, added 10 PSI to a truck tire at 70 PSI in 1:40, and took a flat truck tire all the way to 80 PSI in just over 12 minutes \u2014 five minutes ahead of the Ridgid and Makita, which tied at 17. It did all of that with its hose at 117\u00b0F while the Ridgid's reached 210\u00b0F on the endurance run. The costs are $139 for the bare tool and 8.68 lb in the hand.
For most drivers the value picks are the $48 Kobalt and the $50 Bauer. Both add 6 PSI in around a minute, both handled a flat tire in a little over seven minutes, both ran cool at 158-160\u00b0F, and both stopped on 36 PSI exactly. They are bare tools, so they only make sense on a battery platform you already own. If you want one pump that does everything, the $70 WORX quietly outperformed both on every timed test \u2014 52 seconds, 5:52 and 3:30 \u2014 and the DeWalt is worth its premium mainly for running on 20-volt battery, 12-volt DC or 110-volt AC and for adding high-volume inflation and deflation.
For a pump that lives in the car, the 1.82 lb GooLoo is the standout: it filled a flat car tire in 8:50 and made 80 PSI on a truck tire in 7 minutes, which nothing else its size managed. The DriveMo is the quietest unit here at 82.4 dB but the slowest of the finishers, and its hose ran the hottest in the test at 215\u00b0F. Two other things worth knowing before you buy: gauges drift, with the Makita overshooting its 36 PSI target by about 4 PSI and the Ryobi and DriveMo each off by a pound or so, and noise does not track price \u2014 the $118 Ridgid, at 96.7 dB, is the loudest pump in the lineup by a wide margin.