What Car? test: tyre inflators - 8th Halfords Twin Motor £44.99

Halfords Twin Motor Inflator
RRP £44.99
Best price £44.99 (Halfords.com)
Weight 1.42kg

For Comes with detachable pressure gauge; great for other inflatable items
Against Sluggish inflation; high price; not the simplest to use

Overall


Performance
The second slowest inflator of our test. It took a whopping 11 minutes two seconds to pump up our test tyre. Although the detachable pressure gauge was accurate when used alone, when inflating it read 30 PSI a early – the true pressure was only 29 PSI. That wasn’t far off the mark, but it didn’t make up for the sluggish pumping performance.

Ease of operation
There’s no automatic shut-off, so pumping up a tyre is more of a hassle. There’s no built-in gauge, either, so we had to hold the detachable pressure gauge against a valve on the hose when inflating to check the pressure. There was a handy handle for carrying it around, and a pocket to tuck the power lead away in when we were finished.

Buying
You can only buy the Twin Motor from Halfords, so there’s no scouring the web for a great deal. If you’re blowing up airbeds and inflatable toys on a regular basis the Twin Motor is worth a look. Otherwise, it’s too pricey and too slow at inflating tyres to make it one of our top recommendations.

Quality
The plastic casing felt cheap and brittle, but otherwise the Twin Motor felt solid enough. We liked the screw-on tyre valve connector, which felt like it would last longer than the snap-on connections you get with most inflators. The foam pads on the base were good in theory, but weren’t thick enough to absorb many of the vibrations.

Special features
While it might seem pricey at £45, around £15 of that has gone on the detachable pressure gauge that comes with it. If you’ve got a decent gauge already, then you’re probably better off with a cheaper inflator. You also get two motors – one quickly pumping up airbeds and inflatable toys (adaptors included), and the other tyres.