Which Tire Inflators Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 13 tire inflators options head to head. Milwaukee came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video.
Milwaukee
Price shown in test: $139, stated as tool only, not including battery and charger; the closing summary separately rounds this to around $150
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Kobalt and Bauer (tied, narrator recommends both at around $50)
Price shown in test: $48, stated as inflator only, not including battery and charger
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“The Milwaukee is definitely the fastest tire pump, but it's very expensive at around $150”
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Claimed specs
- 1Milwaukee
claims to be the fastest 18V cordless tire inflator, tops off a 33 inch light truck tire in under 1 minute, rated 150 PSI max
- 2Makita
powerful high volume air pump for faster inflation, powered by Makita 18V LXT battery, delivers up to 160 PSI, auto stop function, three speed settings
- 3RIDGID
claims to be the fastest inflator on the market, lifetime warranty, 20 inch air hose, includes a 12V vehicle power cord, up to 150 PSI, programmable dial
- 4WORX
claims to inflate a tire from 0 to 36 PSI in 4 minutes, automatic shutoff at set pressure, LED delivering 150 to 200 lumens
- 5Kobalt
settable pressure up to 120 PSI, includes a 20 inch air hose with quick connect adapter, uses a 24V Kobalt battery, automatically turns off after 3 minutes
- 6Bauer
includes a high volume inflator and deflator for large inflatables, claims to inflate most car tires in 2 minutes, usable with a 20V battery or a 12V car DC outlet, up to 160 PSI
- 7DeWalt
can be powered by 20V battery, 12V DC, or 110V AC (power cord sold separately), high pressure inflation with automatic shutoff, programmable dial, also includes high volume inflation and deflation
- 8Ryobi ONE+
claims to inflate up to 10 car tires per charge, uses an 18V battery, claims to inflate twin air mattresses in 30 seconds, auto fill shutoff
- 9Gooloo GT160
built-in 7,500 mAh battery, max pressure 160 PSI, claims continuous inflation for up to 45 minutes on one charge, usable as a phone power bank
- 10Dnyker2 amp
hour 20V rechargeable lithium ion battery, claims to pump up to 4 tires on one charge up to 160 PSI, includes a flashlight and an air mattress inflator attachment
- 11DriveMo
includes a carrying case, up to 150 PSI, 12V DC two way power supply, built-in 12,000 mAh battery, includes a 7.4 inch touchscreen
- 12TC15
claims full inflation from 0 to 36 PSI in 5 minutes, built-in 7,800 mAh rechargeable battery, claims 4 car tires per charge, usable as a phone power bank, includes a flashlight
- 13NOVSIGHT
auto stop design, built-in 6,000 mAh battery usable as a phone power bank, handles up to 150 PSI
Weight
- 1Milwaukee8.68 lb
heaviest of all 13 inflators tested
- 2Makita6.02 lb
- 3RIDGID3.84 lb
- 4WORX3.51 lb
with battery
- 5Kobalt3.99 lb
- 6Bauer5.14 lb
including the 5 amp hour battery
- 7DeWalt6.91 lb
by far the heaviest yet at the point it was introduced
- 8Ryobi ONE+4.57 lb
with the 4 amp hour battery
- 9Gooloo GT1601.82 lb
very light
- 10Dnyker4.25 lb
- 11DriveMo2.3 lb
- 12TC151.55 lb
very light and compact
- 13NOVSIGHT1.18 lb
very light
Noise level
- 1Milwaukee89.4 decibels
- 2Makita90.4 decibels
- 3RIDGID96.7 decibels
by far the loudest of all 13 inflators tested
- 4WORX89.2 decibels
- 5Kobalt90.9 decibels
- 6Bauer88.1 decibels
- 7DeWalt86.2 decibels
less noisy than average
- 8Ryobi ONE+93.4 decibels
loudest yet at the point it was tested
- 9Gooloo GT16090.8 decibels
- 10Dnyker92.2 decibels
- 11DriveMo82.4 decibels
quietest yet at the point it was tested
- 12TC1585.6 decibels
relatively quiet
- 13NOVSIGHT86.1 decibels
Test 1, topping off a 15 inch tire from 30 to 36 PSI
- 1Milwaukee18 seconds
fastest of all 13, about twice as fast as RIDGID which also claims to be the fastest 18V tire pump
- 2Makita29 seconds2nd
second place behind Milwaukee
- 3RIDGID36 seconds3rd
by far the fastest yet at the point it was tested
- 4WORX52 seconds
took the lead from Kobalt at the point it was tested
- 5Kobalt57 seconds
took the lead from Dnyker, about 39 percent faster than Dnyker's 93 seconds
- 6Bauer1 minute 3 seconds
about 6 seconds slower than Kobalt
- 7DeWalt1 minute 4 seconds
about the same as Bauer's 63 seconds
- 8Ryobi ONE+1 minute 7 seconds3rd
a little slower than Kobalt and Bauer
- 9Gooloo GT1601 minute 15 seconds
more than twice as fast as the compact TC15, performed very well given its compact size
- 10Dnyker1 minute 33 seconds
(93 seconds), set as the time to beat for later brands
- 11DriveMo1 minute 56 seconds
the pressure gauge appeared to be off by about 2 PSI
- 12TC15
very close to 3 minutes, described as needing a long time for such a small pump
- 13NOVSIGHT
failed to complete: started normally, then made no progress and began squeaking; the narrator ended the test after about 1 minute
Test 2, inflating a completely flat tire to 36 PSI
- 1Milwaukee2 minutes 31 seconds
air hose stayed very cool at 117F, both gauges agreed the result was about 1 PSI over target; by far the fastest of the brands tested in this step
- 2Makita4 minutes 4 seconds
air hose stayed cool at 121F, overshot the target pressure by about 4 PSI
- 3RIDGIDjust under4 minutes
air hose around 190F, by far the fastest yet at the point it was tested; analog gauge read 37 PSI versus RIDGID's own gauge reading 36 PSI
- 4WORX5 minutes 52 seconds1st
air hose around 185F, moved into first place among the brands tested to that point, about a minute and a half faster than Kobalt
- 5Kobalt7 minutes 10 seconds
air hose around 160F (about 15 degrees cooler than Dnyker), 3 of 4 battery bars remaining, both gauges agreed on 36 PSI
- 6Bauerabout30 seconds
longer than Kobalt's 7 minutes 10 seconds, air hose around 158F, about the same as Kobalt
- 7DeWaltjust over6.5 minutes
air hose coolest yet at 180F, both gauges agreed the pressure was just below 36 PSI
- 8Ryobi ONE+7 minutes 21 seconds
air hose around 190F (about 20 degrees hotter than Bauer and Kobalt), programmed to shut off at 36 PSI but shut off at 37 PSI
- 9Gooloo GT1608 minutes 50 seconds
air hose around 195F (running a little warmer than most), 3 of 4 battery bars remaining, both gauges agreed on 36 PSI
- 10Dnyker
air hose around 175F, shut off at the target 36 PSI matching both gauges, 3 of 4 battery bars remaining; completion time not stated in the transcript
- 11DriveMojust over10 minutes
air hose running very hot at around 215F, inflator indicated 36 PSI but the pressure gauge read 35 PSI
- 12TC15
air hose around 170F (a little hot), automatically shut down at both gauges reading 36 PSI; completion time not stated in the transcript
- 13NOVSIGHT
failed to reach target: air hose became very hot at over 200F, powered itself down at just over 10 minutes having only reached 15 PSI
Test 3, load range E tire 70 to 80 PSI
- 1Milwaukee1 minute 40 seconds
by far the fastest in the lineup at both lower and higher pressure
- 2Makita2 minutes 15 seconds
about 3 seconds slower than RIDGID, performed very well
- 3RIDGID2 minutes 12 seconds
very fast
- 4WORX3.5 minutes
outperformed Kobalt and Bauer again
- 5Kobalt4 minutes 47 seconds
faster than Dnyker again
- 6Bauer4 minutes 55 seconds2nd
second place behind Kobalt, almost as fast
- 7DeWalt3 minutes 45 seconds
slower than Kobalt at lower pressure but easily outperformed Kobalt on this test
- 8Ryobi ONE+5 minutes 21 seconds
not quite as fast as Kobalt and Bauer
- 9Gooloo GT1607 minutes
survived and performed fairly well for its compact size
- 10Dnyker6 minutes 13 seconds
did fine with the higher pressure
- 12TC15just over13 minutes
narrator was surprised it survived the test without melting down
- 11DriveMonot tested
- 13NOVSIGHTnot tested
Air mattress test, inflate
- 6Bauer59 seconds
8 seconds faster than Dnyker
- 7DeWalt65 seconds
a little slower than Bauer and Ryobi
- 8Ryobi ONE+57 seconds
even faster than Bauer
- 10Dnyker1 minute 7 seconds
- 1Milwaukeenot tested
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3RIDGIDnot tested
- 4WORXnot tested
- 5Kobaltnot tested
- 9Gooloo GT160not tested
- 11DriveMonot tested
- 12TC15not tested
- 13NOVSIGHTnot tested
Air mattress test, deflate
- 6Bauer63 seconds
- 7DeWalt69 seconds
slowest of the 4 brands tested in the mattress test
- 8Ryobi ONE+1 minute 6 seconds
- 10Dnyker59 seconds
- 1Milwaukeenot tested
- 2Makitanot tested
- 3RIDGIDnot tested
- 4WORXnot tested
- 5Kobaltnot tested
- 9Gooloo GT160not tested
- 11DriveMonot tested
- 12TC15not tested
- 13NOVSIGHTnot tested
All measurements (1 more)+
Test 4, flat tire to 80 PSI (top 3 fastest brands only)
- 1Milwaukeejust over12 minutes
air hose at 150F (about 60 degrees cooler than RIDGID), 5 minutes faster than RIDGID
- 2Makitajust over17 minutes
air hose at 160F (about 50 degrees cooler than RIDGID), very close to the same finish time as RIDGID
- 3RIDGID17 minutes
air hose very hot at around 210F, survived the test
- 4WORXnot tested
- 5Kobaltnot tested
- 6Bauernot tested
- 7DeWaltnot tested
- 8Ryobi ONE+not tested
- 9Gooloo GT160not tested
- 10Dnykernot tested
- 11DriveMonot tested
- 12TC15not tested
- 13NOVSIGHTnot tested
How it was tested
- test 1: time to top off a 15 inch car tire from 30 to 36 PSI (add 6 PSI), all 13 brands except where noted as failed
- test 2: time and air hose temperature to inflate a completely flat 15 inch tire to 36 PSI, all 13 brands except where noted as failed or omitted
- air mattress test: time to inflate and time to deflate Cousin Eddie's air mattress, only 4 brands tested (Dnyker, Bauer, Ryobi, DeWalt)
- test 3: time to add 10 PSI to a 17 inch load range E tire, going from 70 to 80 PSI, most brands except NOVSIGHT and DriveMo
- test 4: time and air hose temperature to inflate a completely flat tire all the way to 80 PSI, only the 3 fastest brands from the load range E test (RIDGID, Milwaukee, Makita)
“The Milwaukee is definitely the fastest tire pump, but it's very expensive at around $150”
Brand head-to-head scoreboards featuring this test
Data notes and caveats
Milwaukee is the clear, explicitly declared overall winner, winning every test it was entered in, though the narrator flags its high price. No single runner up is explicitly named: Makita placed second in the low pressure test (29s vs RIDGID's 36s) but RIDGID beat Makita in the load range E high pressure test (132s vs 135s), so runnerUp is left null rather than guessed. The narrator also names Gooloo separately as the pick for buyers who need a very compact pump, a third per-use-case recommendation not captured by the single budgetPick field. Three chapter markers in the metadata (Kobalt $48, WORX $70, DeWalt $129) exactly match the prices stated in the transcript, which cross validates the price extraction for this video. Dnyker's and TC15's completion times for test 2 (flat tire to 36 PSI) are not stated in the transcript and were omitted rather than guessed.
