Michael It's estimated that twice a year, one of our cars runs a flat tire. Typically, a nail or a screw is stuck in it, causing the air to escape rather slowly, so we often don't notice anything for days. But suddenly, the sensor on the dashboard sounds an alarm due to the low pressure. Changing to the spare tire to drive to the tire repair shop is cumbersome, so I'm glad to have a tire pump that allows me to quickly inflate the tire and slowly drive about a mile to the tire shop "Larkin Bros." where expert staff take care of the problem for $35. The man at the reception once assured me that people like me keep his shop running.

Such a traditional tire inflator draws its power from the car's cigarette lighter and makes a hell of a noise while it breathes new life into the tire. Using the pump stations at gas stations at exorbitant prices has never been my thing. That's why I've had such a pump in the trunk for 20 years, for emergencies, and also to pump a few huffs into the tires for maintenance every few months.

However, connecting the electric cable from the cigarette lighter to the pump next to the tire is somewhat labor-intensive, and so I was surprised to learn that nowadays there are mini pumps with such brutally enduring batteries that they make the power cable unnecessary. When I saw the Fanttik pump at my favorite supermarket, Costco, for $39.99, I first thought, "Ah, I'll wait until the price goes down," but suddenly this miracle product of Chinese manufacturing was no longer in stock. Grudgingly I bought a similar model on Amazon and must say: inflating tires with these battery pumps is a lot of fun, they delight the child in the man.

Since I've had the Fanttik device, it has happened that I go down to the garage just for fun of checking the tire pressure of our two cars, even though it rarely strays outside the tolerance range within just one week since the last check.

The operation is incredibly simple: you screw the air nozzle at the end of the device's hose onto the tire valve, use the arrow keys to set the desired pressure (for example, 35 PSI for the front tires of the Integra), press the middle button, and the Fanttik gets to work, pumping air into the tire until the target pressure is reached, then it stops. Foolproof. The charge of the built-in lithium-ion battery still showed all three bars after I had inflated 8 car tires by one or two PSIs. I would estimate that you could inflate several tires from empty to full before needing to recharge it via its USB-C port.

In America, pressure is measured in PSI (pounds per square inch). In Europe, "bar" is common. The conversion factor is 0.0689, so 35 PSI is approximately 2.41 bar. The pump can not only inflate car tires but also effortlessly fill bicycle tires. Mountain bikes need about 35 PSI. The pump even provides the nearly 100 PSI required by a Tour de France rider's racing bike tire. Valves for soccer balls and similar sports equipment are also included. Just set it to 3 or 4 PSI and you're good to go, no problem. Top product! However, the price on Amazon has skyrocketed in the meantime; currently, the Costco deal is the better one, as the item has come back in stock.

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