Best portable air compressor under $100?

Completely reliable. I've aired up multiple trucks after a day on the beach in the freaking hot summer. I'll just leave the truck running so there's airflow and pump me up.

 

That is NOT the one I was talking about for the first pump ($130). But that is still a pretty good one. The "pro" version is 2.5cfm which is pretty quick.

 

Another candidate at $100 is the Puma DC02

Anyone familiar with it?

 

Looks really weak / slow. 3/4 CFM is less than 1/3 of the slime pump I bought. Figure more than 3x longer to inflate a tire than a 2.5 CFM pump

 

Bet the farm and spend a $140 . This is what I've been using for the past 3 years with no complaints.

$150 VIAIR 300P - 30033 Tire Inflator Portable Offroad Air Compressor for Truck & SUV | 12V On/Off Road Tire Pump Air Compressor Portable Heavy Duty 150 PSI, up to 33" Tires, 2.30 CFM, Alligator Clips

https://www.amazon.com/Viair-30033-VIAIR-Portable-Compressor/dp/B000X90YUO/ref=sr_1_2?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1471568843&sr=1-2&keywords=Viair+Portable+Air+Compressor

 

@BaconPower I know you are "not concerned with PSI or other marketing mubo jumbo" but you really need to look at CFM (rate of flow, or how fast your tires will fill, greater CFM is better) at load pressure. Flow at 0psi is not very helpful for tire fill purposes.

The

$133 Smittybilt 2780 2.54 CFM Universal Air Compressor , Black

Smittybilt 2780 is labeled as 2.54cfm but doesn't list at what PSI. From experience I can tell you that it drops below 1cfm at about 80psi. This compressor will fill my 265/75/16 tires from 20psi to 40 psi in 3 minutes per tire.


ARB examples. The

$241 ARB CKSA12 Air Compressor Compact On-Board 12 Volts DC, Designed Exclusively for ARB Air Lockers Locking Differentials

ARB CKSA12 (0.47cfm at 29psi) will take a lot longer to fill a tire than the

$592 CKMTA12 '12V' On-Board Twin High Performance Air Compressor, Ideal for Air Lockers Locking Differentials, Tire Inflator, Air Horn, Air Tools and Pneumatic Tools.

CKMTA12 (4.65cfm at 29psi).

 

Another vote for the

$133 smittybilt 2780 2.54 CFM universal air compressor , black

smittybilt 2780, recently picked one up for a trip to the dunes, aired up 33x12.5's no problem. Just barely fits in the storage area behind the back seat in a DC. Owned the 2781 previously and the case and everything is a lot larger and harder to store. Neither would be the one you would want to mount under the hood permanently.

 

It works fine under the hood. Just needs some modification to be a closed system. Mine runs my ARB locker and fills tires.

 

No doubt that at $170 the ARB is a nice compressor.
According to these practical measurements the $60 SuperFlow mentionned above suplants some ARB compressors.

 

$91 Viair 88p Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88p works good on my 305s. no lets downs so far, got extra fuses in the truck just incase the fuse blows on the compressor.

 

I bought a Harbor Freight pancake compressor some years back for the purpose of airing up tires. It does that OK. Takes 4-5 mins to fill the small 3 gallon tank. For anything other than airing up tires and by that I meaning topping up tire pressure, pancake compressors are not very effective. I bought an air powered brake bleeder. As soon as I hit the trigger, the pressure in the tank dropped like a rock. Knob adjustment proved to be futile.
The bigger the tank - the better.

 

Seems like that would take a longggg time.. and then you look at the specs and, huh not a bad little thing.
PSI - cfm - amps
30 - 1.25 - 18

 

What did you use to power the pancake compressor?

Apparently, the 400w bed AC outlet isn't enough:

 

It's not the fastest but gets the job done. $65.95 & free shipping on Amazon fit my budget. I just roll one up to pass time while airing back up

 

The compressor motor draws a peak current and wattage at startup, then needs less than 400W once it gets going.
It sounds like that compressor lacks a start capacitor. Explanation of start capacitors here. If you think of adding a start capacitor make sure you know what you're doing, they are dangerous.

 

Seems like the 88P, albeit less powerful than the MV50 is much better quality. I'm leaning towards the 88P or the 90P which is similar in price but has metal feet that allows it to be mounted in the engine bay.

 

Just purchased the Viar 88p due to this thread.

 

Did you consider the 90P? It is listed as heavier and drawing more amps than the 88P on Viair's site so it seems a bit more heavy duty for about $10 more.

 

I'm sure it's true for all compressors especially when they get used like we use them, but the

$91 Viair 88p Portable Compressor Kit (12V, 120 Psi, Forup to 33" Tires)

Viair 88p gets effing HOT after about 5 or 6 minutes. Does cool off pretty quickly though. I usually just strap it to my roof rack and let it cool down up there on my way home from the trails.