Product Review : Craftsman C3 19.2 Volt Hand Held Inflator

I think I first heard about this tool on the Steve Tilford blog. I guess some of the pro cyclocross team mechanics were using them in the pits at races. We do a lot of event support at the shop and I thought a few of these would be a lot easier than hauling in a compressor or inflating countless tires with a floor pump. One event that came to mind was the Redman triathlon. At 5:00 AM when it's dark and people are lined up to have their tires topped off, some get a little irate when you test the PSI by tire feel.

I've been using this one for a little over a year. No issues so far other than the hose popping out 1 time after the collet came loose. I've even had to use it to inflate a car tire a few times - a little slow, but it works.

The inflator is perfect for dialing in tire pressure on any kind of bicycle tire and can be adjusted in very small increments. I believe the gauge is pretty accurate, but, it's consistent so that's what's important.

 The only modification I made was replacing the stock schreader chuck with a current universal smarthead type chuck. Works much better for a performance bicycle tire application. I just cut the hose below the old chuck, stabbed the new chuck into the hose and secured it with a hose clamp.

The gauge is easy to see,but the best thing is that it's back lit. A super nice feature when you're trying to top off your tires when it's dark like before the HHH road race or a night time crit. The small increment adjust ability makes experimenting with tire pressure easy - especially important for cyclocross tires.

The total package will set you back $110.00 to $150.00 depending on what type batteries you go with. The inflator itself runs $35-40.00 and the ni-cad 2 battery pack W/charger is $76.49 - the lithium-ion battery W/charger is about $120.00. Pretty much the same as a good floor pump.