This compressor/inflator is very attractive. It is also lightweight and all the accessories with the exception of the charger store right on the unit.
I have owned compressors and I have owned high volume inflators. However, I have not owned a unit that includes both functions, and none of my units have ever been cordless.
Mounted on the front of the unit are three connectors for inflatables and balls. The high volume hose has a large connector and there is also a high volume adapter for pushing in the internal flap of some inflatables. On the front is an LED light for working in the dark.
The digital dial is bright and easy to read both in daylight and at night, and it has a sleep mode to save battery life.
Right out of the box, I see nothing but perks.
THE OPERATION
Operating the pump was not intuitive. First, I hooked up the pump to the tire and pushed the power button. That is the logical thing to do, and all my previous compressors have worked that way. Nothing happened.
I read the manual and it said first, I need to press the button to choose the compressor function or high volume function. Then, I need to press the "+" or "-" button until the pressure reading flashed "0," and then press the "+" or "-" button until the pressure reading was what I want.
It was a task to have to keep pushing the "+" button down repeatedly, especially when I need to go from "0" to "80." There was no way to advance the reading by using continuous pressure. It was just push-push-push. Then and only then do I push the power button to start the inflation. Once the desired pressure is reached, the power turns off automatically.
The operation is not difficult once I learned the steps, but it is not intuitive. I recommend storing the manual and the compressor together for others to reference, just in case.
BATTERY LIFE AND CAR ADAPTER
For the first run, I charged the battery as instructed for five hours. With that charge, I was able to inflate 1 truck tire, 4 minivan tires, and 4 children's bike tires over the course of three days before the battery died. (Note that none of these were inflated from a fully deflated state.)
Afterwards, I tried using the car adapter. The cord is conveniently wrapped to the bottom of the unit. It was long enough to reach to the back tires of my minivan.
I tried running the unit of off the charger plugged into the outlet, but the unit would not run. If I am not near my car and the unit is out of batteries, I am out of luck.
HIGH PRESSURE
The manual states that for pressures above 100 PSI, the compressor must not be operated for longer than 10 minutes at a time and with 20 minute breaks between usage. I did not find the maximum capacity listed in the manual or on the box.
I did test the unit up to 84 PSI and it functions well. The only problem is it's difficult sometimes to unhook the nozzle from the valve, so I have air escaping. So much air escapes that when I inflate to 84 PSI, by the time the nozzle is unhooked, there is only about 78 PSI left in the tires. To get 36 PSI in my minivan tires, I need to inflate to 38 PSI. The workaround is to over inflate the tires.
The compressor can be used as a pressure gauge. Just hook up the nozzle and the pressure reads on the digital dial.
HIGH VOLUME
I inflated some of my children's inflatables and found high volume inflation to be quick. The inflator also will deflate the toys.
One thing to note is the auto-off feature will not work with the high volume inflation. There is no pressure gauge function when high volume inflation is selected.
LED LIGHT
This is a simple yet useful feature. It is bright enough to help when working in the dark. Its operation, like other functions of this compressor/inflator, is not intuitive. There is no on/off button. I must first select the compressor or high volume mode and then press the power button and then the "+" or "-" button twice.
PROS:
+ convenience of compressor and high volume inflator in one unit
+ cordless
+ has a car adapter with a long cord
+ auto shut-off compressor
+ 4 nozzle adapters included
+ will deflate inflatables
+ LED light
+ easy to read dial
+ unit has a sleep mode
+ can be used as a pressure gauge
CONS:
unintuitive operation
will not operate off of wall outlet
automatic shut-off does not function with high volume setting
short battery life
must overinflate due to loss of pressure when disconnecting nozzle from tire
SUMMARY
This is a great unit. It looks beautiful and performs well. I did not find it any louder than the other compressors I have owned. The only problem is the (lack of) ease of use. The elderly may be easily confused by it -or any young person without a manual for that matter. If you don't mind reading manuals, this unit is wonderful.
UPDATE: Due to a comment on my review, I went back to retry the air station pressure setting. I was incorrect in one of my initial observations. The pressure settings can indeed be set by pressing and holding the "+" or "-" buttons and I do not need to press-press-press my way up to 36 pounds.
UPDATE 3/23/11: Died. Simply won't work anymore. It's been charged, plugged in to the car accessory port, and the thing simply will not turn on. The digital readout just blinks. Very frustrating. So I guess the lesson here is: don't buy! Changed my 3-star review to 1-star to reflect the failure.
Original review 2/2010: For whatever reason, I have amassed several portable air pumps over the years, apparently attempting to get the "best" one. I've decided there simply isn't one. This one is close, but suffers the same problem my other battery-operated pump had: it HAS to be charged for it to work, and for it to be charged, it must be plugged into a wall socket for a number of hours. Adding to this is that the unit comes with a cigarette-adapter plug, which aids in powering the unit while running the unit (the other battery-operated unit need this too.) To fill all four car tires, it's pretty much a necessity to make use of the adapter.
Operation is confused a bit as one must first determine the end pressure, with the unit not connected to whatever you are filling. First you must flip the switch on the right portion of the "U" shape of the unit, push to the right for low pressure items like tires or to the left for high pressure items like soccer balls, etc. Middle is off. Under the digital display in the middle are three buttons, the center one to turn the compressor on, the right one to advance the pressure and the left one to decrease the pressure. I found that once the pressure had been started with either button, holding it down would allow for rapid advancement, making high numbers much faster and easier to reach than pressing the button many times. Once reached, simply let it set a moment, then attach the hose. Only *then* do you hit the power button and it will fill by itself. It seems complicated, but once you've done it a couple times, it's not so bad. (Pro-tip: in dark situations, press one of the pressure buttons and an LED at the front will light up the area a few feet in front of the unit. Handy!)
The unit's biggest downside has been disconnecting the nozzle from tires. I don't know if it's my tires in particular, but the nozzle holds onto the valve stems with a death-grip. It should be simple, just flip the lock up and pull back, but what really happens is you pull the lock up and psssssssshhhhh you've just lost 2-3 pounds of air while fighting with the nozzle. I physically have to brace myself, preparing to flip the lock and pull with all my might to get it off the stem as quickly as possible. Most of the time I find I have to refill my tires a couple of times before I get it off the stem properly. Frustrating, to the say the least.
The digital readout is excellent. The preset pressure is a great way to ensure you get exactly what you want in whatever you're filling. The battery issue is annoying, but livable many other units are just like this. The valve stem problem is just that, however, and it might be a deal breaker if I can't get it worked out. It's really too bad because I like the pump in general.
Buy Black & Decker ASI500 12-Volt Cordless Air Station Inflator Now
I have been using Black & Deckers ASI300 Air Station for over a year and can safely say that the ASI500 is a much better product. The one marked area of improvement is that the ASI500 is cordless. No more need to drag an extension cord around the car. After reading through the manual, and using the ASI500's digital pressure gage, I checked the tire pressure on one tire. After some trial and error, I was able to go through setting the recommended shut off pressure on the digital gage and inflated our van's tires. I was able to test the claim Black & Decker make about being able to fill four tires on one charge. Without charging, and using only the out of the box factory charge, this was accomplish leaving very little power to spare. I'm guessing that after a full charge the claim would be easily achieved. The ASI500 air station is very compact and easy to carry around. It has all the accessories for car, truck, bicycle, air mattress and all the sports balls. The unit comes with a charger as well as an attached 10 foot cord with 12 volt plug in adapter. All the accessories are nicely fitted on the unit for ease of use. One very nice feature is the small yet powerful light on the front of the unit that makes for easy night tire checking and inflating. This would make a great gift for anyone to add to the trunk of their car for road side emergencies. There are a few things to keep in mind with the ASI500. The first is that the air hose adapter is made of hard plastic and could break if forced. The second thing is the need to have a separate air pressure gage to check the tire pressure after inflating. I found that the AI500 was around 2 psi over the setting and I needed to release some of the air out of the tires. However these are quite minor issues. It took me around 15 to 20 minutes to fill all four tires to their proper psi. This was a bit faster than my old ASI300. With gas stations charging around a dollar for air, this is highly recommended for the home garage and those camping, biking, or vacation trips.
Read Best Reviews of Black & Decker ASI500 12-Volt Cordless Air Station Inflator Here
Got my product today, read the instructions, charged it up, unplugged it, and turned it on. LCD displayed ERR. Went to B&D website for support, it told me that division was sold to Baccus Global.. went to their website, only units with jumper cables are listed.. not this unit or anything close to this unit.
So, I called Black and Decker. They first asked if I turned it on when it was plugged in. I don't think I did, but it would be a rather simple mistake. She acted like I might have killed with such a simple action. I said 'no'. She said that it can't be fixed and I had to take to the local authorized service center for a replacement. That service center was 25 miles out of my way. I called the service center, they told me they would replace my hours old product with a refurb.. and by they way, they don't stock them so it may take 4-8 weeks.
I fiddled with the compressor and re-read both the paper instructions and the instructions at blackanddecker.com. Note: they were different (whatever that means). The on-line version indicates you can inflate a tire without setting a max pressure whereas the printed manual didn't.
Regardless, I actually managed to get a non 'ERR' screen, and actually managed to get it in PSI instead of KpA. I inflated exactly one motorcycle tire, and it worked flawlessly. However, the battery, which did charge for 4-5 hours, was flashing that it was nearly dead after only one motorcycle tire.
I plugged it in (making sure the unit was turned off first so I didn't destroy it) and walked away. Unplugged it, turned it on to see how it was, etc. I got the infamous 'ERR' on the screen. I turned it off and on several times until finally I did not get the 'ERR' display. Cool... that's not that bad. A little inconvenient, but hey, I can turn it off an on 10 times. I hooked it up to a tire to get a reading and it read something like 700 KpA I Don't deal with metric KpA, so I tried to switch to PSI. No luck. I followed the instructions to the letter and hit the + and keys at the same time. I tried hitting them many times, holding them down for a while.... no luck. Seems stuck in KPA forever.
I disconnected from the tire. Turned the unit off, walked away for a while. Unit is charged up, not plugged in, and not connected to a tire at this point. Turn it back on, and it is taking a pressure reading of my garage of 770 KpA.
Bottom line: This unit seems flaky (at best), and I'm at my wits end. There is a 1 year warranty on the product from B&D, but I have decided to return the product and go with a simpler battery inflator with less bells and whistles. I'd hate to think that if I hit the off/on button (not the compressor run button) while plugged in that I might freak this unit out. I just get the feeling that if I got a new unit, and it worked perfectly, that it would flake out after 13 months.
Thanks to Amazon for treating customers better than the manufacturers do. I have purchased hundreds of items at Amazon, and I believe this is my first return. After dealing with B&D, I don't know if I'll ever buy a B&D product again.
One more thing: If the air hose was 6 inches longer (like my old inflator), it would be much more useable (if you get one that's not flaky). To get to a motorcycle tire over exhaust pipes, I had to hold the inflator in the air as the cord would not allow the unit to sit on the ground.
Sorry for such a long and 'sob story' review. This has got to be my longest review yet.
Want Black & Decker ASI500 12-Volt Cordless Air Station Inflator Discount?
I really love this air inflator/high volume pump. It's cordless and very powerful.
It can be used to inflate pretty much anything including automobile tires, bike tires, beach balls, rafts and so much more. I own another air inflator that you have to plug into the cigarette adapter in your car and it's a pain and it doesn't have the power to inflate automobile tires unlike this air inflator. This air inflator has plenty of power. It quickly inflated my car tires to 35 PSI and the manual claims that it has the ability to inflate up to 100 PSI, which is much more pressure than I will ever need to utilize.
The air inflator will take about 4 hours to fully charge the first time but then it's so convenient to carry around and not worry about pesky wires. The power cord has a light on it that will be red while charging and will turn green once fully charged. It also has sleep mode that it will go into if it's not used within two minutes. This helps to preserve the life of the rechargeable battery. It also has a built-in 12-volt vehicle charging cord that plugs into the cigarette adapter in your automobile. This allows you to recharge the battery while on the road. There is a blue LCD panel on the top of the inflator. First you set the desired PSI and then begin inflating. It will monitor the PSI and automatically stop when you have reached the chosen level. You lose a small amount of pressure while removing the inflator hose so I normally inflate an extra 1 or 2 PSI due to that fact.
The air inflator also has a built-in LED flashlight that comes in handy when working outside in the dark or in a dark garage. It also has built-in nozzles and hoses that are used to inflate other things
I love this air inflator & I would recommend it to all.
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Had a small problem at first, Talked with company and they took care of me. Would defiantly use them again. They back their products.
