Black & Decker asi300 Air Station Inflator Review

- Once set, I verified with a digital tire gauge that the built-in pressure gauge is accurate to <1 psi, so you can actually use the auto-shutoff feature to make your life easier.

- It works with both AC and DC power, which makes it useable both around the house and in the car.

- All the wires nicely and completely store inside it for a clean appearance and easy-to-tuck-away form-factor, without need for velcro strips or the like.

- It pumps air quickly for a portable unit. I've had some that simply take forever to inflate a tire.

- It's not too loud for a portable inflator. Many others are deafening by comparison. (More on this in a moment.)

- The build quality is mostly pretty good. In particular, the body is made of a solid, heavy-duty plastic that doesn't feel flexy, and the power switch doesn't feel like it's going to break after five uses.

- The built-in carry handle--which is molded right into the case - nothing to fold out and break off--is handy and works very well.

The weaknesses:

- The AC cord is indeed on the short side. Obviously, it's designed to be set right next to or under an outlet (or used with an extension cord), and I'm fine with that. However, I still wouldn't mind just another three or four inches inches, just to allow a little more wiggle room when plugging directly into an outlet. But, it *is* more than long enough to reach up to the typical wall outlet from the floor, so no biggie.

- The fake plastic bolt heads on top are cheesy and scream "consumer-grade". That said, they're not bad enough that my wife would notice.

- I'd prefer an all-metal air connector. Admittedly, however, I have an old second-hand foot pump whose connector is almost identical, and everything *but* the connector is falling apart on that, so it's probably not nearly as delicate as it might seem. At least it's not the sort of plastic that tends to melt or crumble in our Phoenix summer heat.

- The gauge, though accurate as far as controlling the pump, isn't scaled in a way that makes it accurate to set. I managed to guess correctly on the first try, and then just left it, but you may not be able to do that if the items you're inflating require a variety of inflation pressures. Basically, don't throw out your dedicated gauge just yet. That said, even when you can't use it for final measurement, the built-in gauge will at least prevent you from grossly (and dangerously) over-inflating if you get distracted, and if you estimate high, it lets you use a separate gauge to reach your target by simply bleeding air out, rather than having to add air.

- The length of the DC cord may make things tight if you have a big vehicle and no power plugs toward the rear. When I did the tires in my Dodge Ram 1500 Quad Cab full-size pickup, I was able to get the unit to reach from the plug in the dashboard to the rear tires, but I had little length to spare. If I had the longer Mega Cab version, or the longer bed, I may not have been so lucky. That said, we're talking about the longest standard vehicles here, and their owners expect this sort of issue. If it'll be a problem for you, you probably already expect to need a DC extension cord.

- The power switch's design makes it too easy to flip into AC or DC when you don't intend to. I don't know, however, if this can actually cause harm to the unit. FWIW, I accidentally switched into DC while turning it off on AC, and it seemingly did nothing and worked just fine afterward.

As for the noise, since "loud" means different things to different people, I went ahead and measured it. From a distance of about two feet, using C-weighting, I got about 92 dB; I got about 96 dB at three or four inches. At those levels, if you had to listen to it all day in your workplace, OSHA would require hearing protection, but for just a few minutes while you inflate something, it's not a problem. Put in terms of what may be more familiar to many, it's equivalent to a moderately loud segment of an action movie in a theater.

Finally, a note about wire storage. Some here have complained that it's too hard to pack the wires into the unit. I was able to do so for the first time, on the first try, without any frustration and without having to redo the wires. Basically, a quick, loose loop or two suffices for the AC cord and air line, but the space is small enough that you really need to neatly wrap (but not tie) the DC cord. If you are the sort that does that anyway, as I am, you'll be quite happy with the storage compartment. If you're the sort that would prefer to simply shove the wires in, you'll have a harder time.