Good home air compressor / tire inflator?

The compressors that plug into the wall inflate the tires much faster. I have seen both types, but I have not seen one that will run on Ac or DC.

 

Unless you are running your car powered pump continuously, I can't see how you can "ruin" the battery. Juice is juice; the battery doesn't care where it's going as long as the amperage isn't extreme. I've had mine for several months and have only had to use it three or four times, and then only for about twenty minutes total if that. I got mine at Fred Meyer's in Seattle for ten bucks.....yup, ten bucks. It works fine, although it is slow and I doub't it would reach its stated 250 psi capacity. Takes about five minutes to bring a tire up from 30 to 38 psi. Easy to use and about the size of a portable CD player.
The advantage of the car power is that you can keep the pump in the car and use it while travelling. Fewer and fewer gas stations in Seattle, or anywhere, maintain air pumps and those that do, want 50 cents and some fast dancing on your part, in order to get your tires up to pressure.

 

There was a good thread on compressors a few months ago -- you might want to check it out.

 

Wal-mart has a 2 Gallon 100 psi 110 volt model for about $69.00 that works great. Only takes about 3-4 minutes to get full. Works so well, I fill up my neighbor's portable tank when it's empty, only fair, as I borrowed it a few times before. Don't have to but those cans of air to clean out the computer dust now, so saves $ in the long run.

 

I bought a Craftsman from Sears that has worked for me very well. It has a small 12volt battery and can be used to power other stuff.

 

I bought a tire inflator with a digital pressure gauge and auto shut-off from Sears. It was $29.99 and they had a $3 instant rebate when I bought it a couple days ago. I chose one with a digital gauge so I could get an accurate reading without worring about parallax and stuff reading an analog gauge. The auto shut-off is a nice feature, but since there is a 1-2 psi difference between actual pressure and the measured pressure when the compressor is on (due to backpressure was what the manual said), I just figured out the difference between the actual and measured pressure and handled the on/off switch manually. Just FYI if you are interested.

Craftsman 12v 250psi Tire Inflator with Digital Pressure Gauge

 

I bought one at target that can be plugged into a wall socket and charged as well as plugging into the power socket in the car. It works quite well. I am not at home now so I can't tell you what brand it is.