Aftermarket hardware for cars involves more than spoilers and LED underbody lighting kits. It includes very useful accessories from dash cams and sat navs to portable jump starters and tyre inflators. Irrespective of whatever piece of kit you need, it’s hard to establish what’s worth your valuable pounds and what isn’t. This is certainly true with tyre inflators, which is what we’re focusing on in this test.
An easy way to immediately filter tyre inflators to consider from those you shouldn’t is to spend a little time doing some research to familiarise yourself with the established brands in that particular market. These manufacturers have made names for themselves because of the thorough research and development they undertake as part of their product production.
Generic and often cheap competitors found exclusively online lack the depth of thought that those from established brands have. Consequently, the products from trustworthy names have much better longevity, sustained performance, and usability compared to the unknown and under-engineered competitors.
Parkers’ tyre inflator triple test
Even when you have filtered products in line with our advice above, you are still presented with a large range of candidates, with the playing field being far from level. To help you along, we’ve gathered three small tyre inflators from reputable brands and tested them against one another to establish a winner.
The brands in question are:
Sealey: a very well-known name in tools, producing a vast range of common and niche tools for DIYers and professionals alike.
Ring Automotive: a heavyweight in the automotive aftermarket world. Like Sealey, Ring Automotive caters to the wider public and specialists with a wide product range that includes car light bulbs, battery chargers, inspection lamps and many other things besides.
Worx: producer of power tools and garden tools aimed at domestic use and light trade use with warranties to reflect that. Like other power tool brands such as Ryobi and Bosch, Worx produces a big range of tools powered by its own 18V batteries.
Candidates
Sealey CTI120 Compact Rechargeable Tyre Inflator
Max PSI: 120
Weight: 0.46kg
Adaptors included: Four
Price: £54.32 | VIEW OFFER
Ring RTC2000 Cordless Handheld Tyre Inflator
Max PSI: 120
Weight: 0.485kg
Adaptors included: Two
Price: £36.99 | VIEW OFFER
Worx WX092 Inflator
Max PSI: 150
Weight: 0.95kg (without battery)
Adaptors included: Two
Price (tool only): £69.99 | VIEW OFFER
Price (with battery and charger): £119.99 | VIEW OFFER
Build quality and design
For tools that share the same fundamental job, these little tyre inflators all look quite different. Thanks to their dedicated handles, the Sealey and Worx are the most ergonomic, with the Worx sitting at the very top.
All three are very compact and light and no one would have any qualms with any of them in that department. So while the Worx is the largest and heaviest, it still only weighs about one kilogram and will hide almost anywhere except the glovebox. Being able to fit in the glovebox is perhaps where the Sealey and Ring models have a slight advantage.
In terms of useability, all three are the same. They each have a similar and simple means of setting pressure and changing the unit of measurement. However, the Sealey’s buttons lag marginally behind those on the Ring and Worx and don’t click as assuredly.
Where the Worx has an issue is with its hose clamp and air chuck design. The quality is great but it’s harder to fit onto a tyre valve than the others because you must push it on and due to the design, is uncomfortable to do so, whereas the others use an easier threaded clamp.
Performance
The Worx shines ahead of the others here. It’s noticeably more powerful and has a longer run time, even with the smallest Worx battery (2.0Ah). Certainly, you can happily use it for full reinflation of car tyres if you need it to. It’ll fully reinflate a car tyre in about three to five minutes, depending on the size.
The Sealey and Ring inflators are better suited for topping up car and motorbike tyres, but are perfectly adept at managing bicycle tyres and other smaller tasks.
All three come with lights and again, the Worx is the most powerful. Those on the Sealey and Ring models are there to illuminate the tyre valve when it’s dark, but the work light on the Worx has a two-stage 150/300-lumen brightness with a red SOS mode too.
What major advantage the Sealey and Ring inflators have over the Worx is the ability to act as a power bank. Like its inflating abilities, the Sealey’s 2000mAh battery is also best for topping up. However, the RTC2000 has a much bigger 5200mAh capacity, which is more than enough for a full recharge of a smartphone, for example.
Value
It’s important to note that the Sealey and Ring can both be recharged via USB. The Worx, being part of the Worx 18V PowerShare range, needs a Worx 18V battery and charger. This has a considerable impact on cost. If you’ve already got Worx batteries and a charger that’s fine, you can buy the WX092 as a tool only. But if you don’t, you’ll need to buy the WX092 kit that includes a battery and charger, which is a lot more.
The Ring is certainly the best value, not only nominally but in real terms too. It’s of similar performance to the Sealey yet costs far less and has a much larger battery capacity for charging devices. It’s outperformed by the Worx but is perfectly happy topping up car tyres, which is what most of us do, and the build quality sits at a similarly high level.
Verdict
If you’re wanting a tyre inflator that can cope with any domestic task from fully inflating rugby balls to car tyres, the Worx is the best of the three. Though it is the most expensive and becomes quite an investment if you need the battery and charger kit. That being said, it gives you access to the excellent world of Worx PowerShare.
The Ring is the best value and great in most scenarios. Its decent battery capacity makes it a great emergency power bank too.
The Sealey is a good little tool but a bit expensive to justify, especially compared to the performance of the Worx and the value of the Ring.
First place: Ring Automotive RTC2000
Quality 5/5 | Performance 3/5 | Features 4/5 | Value 5/5 | Useability 5/5
Score 88%
Pros: 5200mAh power bank, easy valve attachment, best value, comes with a bike bracket
Cons: Can only top up car tyres
Price: £36.99 | VIEW OFFER
Second place: Worx WX092
Quality 5/5 | Performance 5/5 | Features 4/5 | Value 3/5 | Useability 4/5
Score 84%
Pros: Most powerful, best run time, most powerful light
Cons: Not a power bank, valve attachment could be easier to use
Price (tool only): £69.99 | VIEW OFFER
Price (with battery and charger): £119.99 | VIEW OFFER
Third place: Sealey CTI120
Quality 4/5 | Performance 4/5 | Features 4/5 | Value 3/5 | Useability 4/5
Score 76%
Pros: 2000mAh power bank, easy to use, very compact
Cons: Ring has a larger battery, same performance as Ring but is more expensive
Price: £54.32 | VIEW OFFER
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