I’ve seen articles and mentions about Amazon’s Black Friday Sale, and how the popular Milwaukee M18 cordless inflator is “discounted from $310 to $139” right not.
While Amazon’s price of $139 – through 3rd party sellers – is pretty good, they’re not an authorized retailer, which could put your warranty coverage at risk.
Luckily, Home Depot has a great deal on the inflator right now, and one I feel is better than Amazon’s.
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The M18 battery-powered inflator is useful for filling tires and all kinds of other air-filled things.
It operates at 0 to 150 PSI and features an auto-shut off, digital display, 36″ hose, and 4-setting memory.
The inflator also comes with a sports needle, nozzle attachment, and Presta bicycle tire chuck. There’s a standard all-brass Schrader chuck built into the hose end.
At Home Depot, you can get the Milwaukee M18 inflator plus a 2-battery starter kit for $199.
This bundle gives you the inflator, 2x 5Ah batteries, and a standard M18/M12 multi-voltage charger.
Savvier deal-hunters will know that the inflator bundle is part of Home Depot’s popular “free tool or battery” offer right now.
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There are plenty of other tools to choose from as well.
Liam
the standalone ryobi pump is only $50 at HomeDepot. Does the Milwaukee have better specs?
Stuart
Depends on what you’re looking for.
Very infrequent use or lighter tasks? You can get the Ryobi for $99 with 2 batteries and a charger.
I can’t find anything about Ryobi’s duty cycle, but I’d bet it’s lower.
Robm11b
It’s in the owners manual, thankfully Home Depot usually has it list with all their product listings.
“ The inflator is not designed for continuous use. For every ten minutes of inflator use, ten minutes of cool down time is required”
https://images.thdstatic.com/catalog/pdfImages/74/748c2f96-dfbe-4172-bc55-59ef005e5d2e.pdf
Hope this helps
Stuart
Thanks! I checked the user manual but missed that part.
Robm11b
You’re welcome.
It was really hard to find, I was also looking for the Milwaukee manual as well for the same info. But have yet to find the correct manual, But for $50 and how not often I’ll use it I may get the Ryobi.
MichaelT
According to the February 2022 toolguyd https://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-m18-cordless-inflator-2848/ writeup, the duty cycle for the M18 inflator is 33%
Steven+B
The Ryobi inflator gets bad reviews for low quality, like the hose being flimsy…it’s kinda the Ryobi reputation at its worst. Yeah…if you need to save money, it does the job. However, the DeWalt is just awesome. It’s high quality and has accessory storage in-unit and I’ve had it for a few years and had to use it regularly and it’s still good as new.
I was already invested in DeWalt and am not a Milwaukee guy, but I imagine they’re similar quality. When I hold a DeWalt or Milwaukee tool, there’s a tangible difference in quality, thickness of plastic, creak, etc…both inflate your tires, but one is built much better than the other and I view it as money invested in happiness…and since I didn’t already have Ryobi batteries, but own some DeWalt, the price was extremely similar.
To me, it was money well spent, but I’ve got all the tools I need, so I don’t buy them very often…so wasting $50 for traits that aren’t objectively better, but make me happy is just fine…that’s the only way I can fathom how people buy Festool…if you’ve got all you need, maybe dropping 2k for a saw and vacuum is fine…since I bought mine early in the hobby, I opted for a far cheaper solution.
Jerry
I have the Ryobi, the one that has both the high pressure low volume inflator (like for tires) and a low pressure high volume inflator built into the same unit.
I have absolutely zero complaints/concerns/issues with the high pressure side. You set it to the PSI you want in your tire, sip some coffee, and it shuts off at the preset PSI. I is the only thing my wife will use when she has a low tire on something, she likes it so well (and I have an air compressor in the shop plumbed to a hose reel).
Now the low pressure, high volume side, while it works OK, I must say the hose is pretty chintzy. It hasn’t broken or torn yet, but it just ‘feels’ flimsy. It does come with a couple adapters for filling things like beach balls, air mattresses, etc, as well as having a suction feature to pull the air out.
As an aside, I also have the hand-held tire inflator, and while it does work OK, it does not have an automatic feature. It pumps as long as you are holding the trigger, and stops when you let it go. The automatic one is well worth the extra $$$, and I would assume that would carry over to all brands.
OldDominionDIYer
Way way way better, not even close actually, check out some of the youtube reviews, it kills all the competition.
Jason
Since the Depot one is separate item numbers and not all bundled in one package, I’m assuming this is where Amazon resellers are getting their inventory. Selling the inflator and starter kits separately
Stuart
Yes, and it can also be older inventory.
My understanding is that when you buy from an authorized dealer, the warranty starts at the time of purchase. When you buy from an unauthorized seller, they go by manufacturing age.
I don’t encourage it, but the return “hack” seems like a better option than buying from resellers. https://toolguyd.com/home-depot-cordless-power-tool-deal-hack-explained/
In that case, the starter kit would have a return value of $104.76, and the inflator $94.24.
Ruslan
So far this is the best battery operated tire inflator. However, if you have a smaller wheels, just a regular compact car, Ridgid inflator will be just fine.
Mike+I
Agree, this is the best inflator on the market. Use mine all the time.
Steve
Definitely a must have tool. One of their best products. I wouldn’t be without one…
Mike
The only cool thing about the Ryobi is it also has a low-pressure high-volume side. Got my dad one last year and he loves it. I was thinking about jumping on this deal, been wanting one for a while, and looks like the time is now…..and I of course couldn’t have any green tools in the garage, yuck. JK I have a few, and all are fairly decent for low-use stuff.