The problem is the lock-on chuck. The size and basic design make it hard (or not possable because of limited access) to use and it does not always lock on well. You spend time getting it on right.
For half the price there is a no-name brand version of this tire filler you can get here at Amazon or from Harbor Freight that has a compact clamp on chuck that is much easier to use and has no access issues. C-H chose the wrong chuck. Campbell Hausfeld MP6000 Tire Inflator with Gauge
This tire inflator is pretty neat. I got this because I had tires on some equipment where I needed a flexable hose to get to. My compressor uses type "M" fittings, so I had to buy a type "M" fitting in order to get it to connect to my compressor quick connects. Be sure you have what is needed before purchasing this item.
This thing was so easy to use, all I had to do is put the chuck on the tire stem and pull the lever on the chuck and I was ready to pump air pressure into the tire. I like the guage on this thing cause it tells me how much pressure is in the tire in real time! The guage will keep the pressure reading if you pull the chuck off the stem so if you want to write the pressure reading down on a piece of paper, then you can press a button on it to reset the guage!
It works really well and I am impressed with it, seems heavy duty and will last a long time! I think it was money well spent, just make sure you have the right fitting to attach it to your air compressor!
The inflator works well - push the chuck firmly onto the tire, and the guage shows the pressure. The trigger and air release buttons make it easy to get the right pressure, and I think that the guage is quite accurate. The only problem is that the spring-loaded clip that holds the chuck onto the valve stem of the tire can interfere with certain rims. The unit I received looks slightly different from the picture here. On mine, the lever for the chuck is mounted inward, that is, on the same side as the chuck air hole. Depending on how cramped the space around the valve stem is, you may not be able to release the lever with the chuck on the valve. To inflate the tires on my VW Passat, I had to flex the valve stem quite a bit to create the necessary clearance. Not a terminal problem, but one that could so easily be avoided by putting the lever on the back of the chuck, or as it is shown in the image here.
The gage could be better but it is OK. When cliped on to the tire stem, it does NOT always open the valve in teh stem all teh way and needs to be pushed on further and held by hand. There should be an adjustment for this but there are no instructions to tell you if or how you can make this adjustment.
Overlall it is OK
The chuck and clip design doesn't work on some of my tires; it won't go deep enough on the tire stem. I saw this mentioned in a few other reviews. Besides that, the spring in the clip slipped out yesterday and keeps popping out even after I disassembled/reassembled the clip - there is no detent to hold the spring's "foot" on the metal base so it slips out repeatedly . I'm going to buy another inflator...
Tire inflator works pretty well. I noticed that my unit was not like the one in the picture; it was the MP6000, not the MP6000AV -- the gauge only goes to 100psi and so it formatted differently than displayed. Not a problem for me as I'm only doing car tires but if you have a semi or RV tire this could be some concern. The gauge is a little hard to interpret since the graduations aren't very instinctive to just glance at. I didn't have any problem whatsoever with the tire clip that some have expressed concern wouldn't fit on smaller car tires; it fit fine on an 06 Chevy Aveo and an older 90s Nissan sentra and I can't see how it would cause problems for any other car as it's very slender. Perhaps I got the improved design? who knows. In any rate, the unit is of high quality, no leaks of any kind. I used to use a 12V cigarette plug inflator but that thing is crazy loud and takes forever just to fill up a few psi so I've happily retired it to just emergency use. Well worth the money to get a good inflator so you can check you tires frequently enough. With the rising cost of gas, even a few psi can make you lose mileage quickly. This unit basically pays for itself.
A breeze to use. The guage was easy to read and the bleed valve works a charm. Take the pain out of filling tires, buy one of these, use a quick-connect fitting and let your compressor go to work for you.
I got this to replace the wand-like inflator that came in a standard Craftsman tire inflation kit. I have used this once on all four tires and found it worked as advertised. It is easier to keep on the tire stem than the wand inflator. The clip didn't get in the way, though it may pull the hose out of alignment when set too far on the stem causing air to leak out of the tire. It is a nice feature, though, I don't have to hold it on the stem. The pressure gauge reading was high (but consistantly high) by about 2 pounds--easy to adjust for. Overall, a major improvement over my old inflator. I recommend it.
Having read the reviews critical of the chuck, I was a bit apprehensive about this unit. At this point I had spent about $400 on various compressors and tire inflators; my way-cool Craftsman rechargeable inflator has a clumsy chuck that loses its hold on the valve stem (and which stopped working after its valve-opening pin broke), so I had to use my larger compressor to inflate some tires for an autocross recently. But the chuck that came with that set-up was totally useless.
Which brings us to the C-H inflator.
I managed to turn the gauge so it's situated athwartships, plumbed on a quick connector, and fired up the compressor. Zip! The chuck slipped onto the first valve and stayed locked in place with no hissing air leaks! A few pulls on the trigger, and the gauge read 40 pounds. My Longacre gauge read 38 psi, which is just fine, since that's what I wanted. So zip, zip, zip, the rest of the tires were
brought up to "C-H 40" and I was good to go.
For thirty bucks (on sale for some reason) and free shipping, I'm more than satisfied. - Air-compressor Accessories - Tire Gauges - Campbell Hausfeld - Tire Pressure Gauges'
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