Milwaukee M18 Cordless Inflator Review
As part of The Home Depot’s ProSpective program this quarter, I got to check out the Milwaukee M18 Cordless Inflator, Model # 2848-20
More info on the M18 Inflator here at Home Depot:
https://homedepot.sjv.io/c/1285960/1583161/8154
Quick Overview
M18 battery platform
$179usd bare tool
5 year tool warranty
0-150psi
36” hose
All-brass Schrader chuck
1 inflation needle, 1 inflator nozzle, 1 presta chuck included
Weighs 8.4lbs
13.8” D x 6.4” W X 7.8” H
A lot of tools have a specific audience they’re made for and marketed towards. Whether it be a typical car or home owner, or a trade-specific tool for professionals. However, I think this is the first tool overview I’ve written where I think anyone, literally anyone, could use and benefit from having it.
Most major tool brands have their own inflators by now, and based on my experience with a handful of them, the Milwaukee M18 ranks right up near the top in my opinion.
Just looking at the M18 Inflator, it seems pretty bare bones, but I actually like that about it. Inflating items, like tires for example, doesn’t need to be overly complicated with a ton of extra features.
This inflator’s sole power source is any of Milwaukee’s M18 batteries. I have a couple other inflators that have AC and 12volt plug-in options as well. But honestly, I’ve never once used them. If I’m buying a cordless inflator, it’s because I want and like the fact that it’s cordless and can be used literally anywhere without needing to plug into a power source. So not having additional power adapters to worry about storing here, when I’ll never use them, is a good thing in my opinion.
The inflator has a big battery compartment. It easily fits Milwaukee’s current largest battery, the High Output 12.0, with room to spare for even bigger batteries in the future possibly.
This inflator really isn’t a power-hungry tool though like you might think it would be. I typically just use one of the 5.0 or 6.0 batteries in mine. Here in our cold climate, topping off tires several times throughout the winter is a very common use case for my inflator. I’ll add 5-10psi in all 4 tires, on 2 vehicles, and still read full bars on a 6.0 battery.
For the sake of this overview, I topped off all 4 of my truck tires, but then I decided to go ahead and completely deflate one of them. I went from 0 to 40psi on my 33” tire (as well as normal top-offs on the other tires) and was only down one bar on a 6.0 battery. Really impressive runtime.
I don’t have the means to test and back this up, but Milwaukee claims to be the fastest 18v cordless inflator on the market. When comparing to the other inflators I do have though, it definitely is the fastest by a pretty big margin.
It’ll do typical tire top-offs in a matter of seconds. On my test taking the 33” truck tire from 0 to 40psi, I timed it at 4 minutes 20 seconds. Certainly not as fast as a larger air compressor, but completely inflating truck tires from flat to full isn’t really a normal use case for cordless inflators like this. It can definitely handle it with ease though if needed and you can’t beat the convenience factor.
The M18 Inflator has a nice-sized backlit LCD screen right on top of the tool. Easy to read and very simple to use. Power the unit on, use the - or + to set your desired psi, and walk away. The M18 has TrueFill Technology which features an Auto-Pressure check and Auto Shut-Off to prevent overinflation when your desired psi is reached.
The inflator pressure gauge reads exactly the same as the TPMS on my truck dash. It was 1 psi off from what my digital gauge was reading, but I’m going to go with the M18 inflator and my actual truck reading correctly and my other digital gauge being off. Either way, really good accuracy in terms of pressure.
You can save 4 psi settings on the unit using the Memory button. Just press the bottom to scroll between M1-M4 illustrated at the top of the screen, use the - or + buttons to set your desired psi, and then hold down the Memory button to lock it in and save it. This is really useful to have multiple vehicles or tire sizes saved and ready to select.
The last button on screen is to change the unit of measurement from psi to bar or kpa.
There are really nice and thick anti-vibration feet on the bottom of the unit which helps a lot in terms of noise. The internal bladder of the inflator itself is significantly quieter than my other inflators as well. It has more of a low, deep pitch that is a lot easier on your ears.
The 36” hose has a braided sleeve for extra protection and wraps nicely around the reel on the back of the unit. The inflation needle, inflator nozzle, and presta chuck securely store here as well.
In Summary
Overall, the Milwaukee Inflator has a very simplistic design. Which I like and think is a good thing. It isn’t complicated with a bunch of extra bell-and-whistle features that aren’t often needed. It simply does what it was made to do and does it very, very well.
Check the M18 Inflator here at Home Depot!
https://homedepot.sjv.io/c/1285960/1583161/8154
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