Portable battery powered air compressor?

[jpaul]

If I bought a new compressor I want one where you can engage/disengage with the valve more easily
- the thumb catches often seems stiff and you loose some air when you disengage, and you also have to attach at a good angle to give thumb space, against wheel.

have a pcl digital gauge, always keep an old foot pump one in the car too.

 

[Rroff]

My point is no one pumps up their tyres away from home unless you got a flat which is when you stick the spare wheel on.

The portable ones are also inherently inaccurate with their readings compared to a compressor.

IMO you are looking at that very much from your personal circumstances. Hard learned experience on my part from doing a lot of driving, often in rural or more remote than average parts, often at night, it is not entirely rare to pump tyres up away from home - for example I've had instances where I've been away from home for a few days and there has been a significant change in temperature (usually a drop) and driving quite a bit at night compounds that so useful to be able to put another couple of PSI in, etc. and a bit more of an exception but with my pickup sometimes it is desirable to air up or down though that is another story really but illustrates that people's circumstances can be quite varied.

I've picked up slow punctures before where it isn't bad enough to be worth the hassle of changing the wheel but a few days before I can realistically get the tyre changed unless it was an emergency.

The portable ones generally are not that accurate but surprisingly as mentioned above the generic brand one I picked up recently was as accurate as anything I've ever used, unfortunately disappeared from sale as I wanted to get another 1-2.

Personally I always keep a 12V wired one in my vehicles as a primary but like to keep the battery powered portable in there as well as in the eventuality you might need to pump up in an emergency it is more convenient and I'm of the "two is one, one is none" kind of mentality.