Review: This portable tire inflator may be my favorite car accessory of 2023
A quick note: This review originally focused on the VacLife VL768, a product that was originally available from Amazon but has been out of stock for months. It no longer appears on the VacLife website, either. Consequently, I've swapped it for a very similar inflator, which I also reviewed and found to be just as good.
If you know me personally, stop reading right now — because I'm gifting this product to you on the next suitable occasion (birthday, holiday, etc.) and don't want to spoil the surprise. The Zgzuxo Tire Inflator is not only one of the coolest and most practical products I've tried in recent memory, it's also a killer gift item. For $80 (less if you wait for a sale), you get a compact, powerful air compressor that's also a flashlight and mobile charger. Here's my Zgzuxo Tire Inflator review.
PROS: Compact, lightweight, battery-powered and easy to use
CONS: Screen a bit difficult to read under bright sun; connector sometimes needs re-tightening
VERDICT: This cool, compact, affordable air compressor is small enough to fit in a glove compartment but powerful enough to inflate truck tires, car tires, bicycle tires and playground balls. It also doubles as a backup charger for your phone. What's not to like?
This handsome little monolith is black with orange accents. It weighs about 1.3 pounds and can easily fit in a glove compartment, backpack or the like. A drawstring carrying case keeps everything together.
The device runs on a 7,800-mAh rechargeable battery that Zgzuxo says can fully inflate up to four car tires. To recharge it, you'll need to plug the included USB cord into a not-included USB AC adapter, one with a Type-A port.
Using this thing is a snap: You just connect the little hose, turn on the power, choose your mode and desired PSI, then press a button to start inflating. Feel free to do something else while it's running, because it'll automatically stop once it hits the set PSI. (That's a huge plus, and one reason I prefer this to inflators with gauges you have to monitor manually.)
I especially like the large, easy-to-read display that shows your selected mode (car, bike, motorcycle, ball or custom), desired PSI setting (up to 150) and current PSI of whatever the inflator is connected to. A longer button press toggles between PSI, BAR, KPA and Kg/cm2 modes as well.
I tested this first with a pair of e-bike tires that needed to be inflated to 20 PSI. One was already at 16.5; it took all of about 10 seconds to get it topped off. The other one started at 10 PSI; the compressor fully inflated it in maybe 30 seconds — impressive given how small this thing is.
Car tires are a different story, of course, as they're considerably larger. It's hard to say how long it would take to fully inflate a flat or nearly flat tube. For the record, I inflated one from 32 to 36 PSI and the job took almost two minutes exactly.
In addition to a needle attachment for inflating basketballs and the like, the inflator comes with a couple different plastic air nozzles (presumably for small inflatables such as beach balls) as well as a Presta valve. It's also designed to help out in emergencies: There's a small but reasonably bright LED flashlight you can toggle on for working in the dark, and it has a red SOS mode as well. And if your phone needs charging, just plug it into either the USB Type-A or USB-C port; the CZK-3691 doubles as a power bank.
Is there anything here I don't like? Not really. Sure, it's a little noisy, but all tire inflators are. The screen is a little hard to make out under direct sun. Mostly I'm enamored with the stylish looks, compact design, useful features and affordable price (which often drops considerably, so wait for a sale). At a minimum, you should definitely "gift" one to yourself.
This cool, compact, affordable air compressor is small enough to fit in a glove compartment but powerful enough to inflate truck tires, car tires, bicycle tires and playground balls. It also doubles as a backup charger for your phone. What's not to like?