REVIEW – My neighborhood is too small for a good bike ride. When I want to ride, I head out to a good bike trail. The more remote the trail, the smarter it is to have a bike pump handy. I’m looking for a portable, lightweight bike pump that I can easily take with me to a trail and even put into a back pack. I am testing the new AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator to see how it performs.
What is it?
The AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator is a battery-powered air pump for cars, motorcycles, bikes, and balls. It charges via USB-C, has a digital readout, and is only 6.5 inches long.
What’s included?
- AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator
- Storage bag
- Quick connector
- Air nozzles (2)
- Needle valve
- Presta to Schrader adapter
- User manual
- Care card
- USB-C to USB-A cable
Tech Specs
- Displays 4 pressure units, including PSI
- 6600 mAh lithium-ion battery
- 6.5 x 2.75 x 2 inches
- 1.12 pounds
- 3 light modes
Design and features
The AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator looks nothing like the bike pumps of yore. It’s more of a black plastic mini brick with simple controls and an LCD panel on the front and three different ports on the top. It’s a simple, svelte design that I like. Despite the suggestive name, this gadget has nothing to do with AI.
Assembly, installation, and setup
The inflator arrived in a bright orange box, and everything was well-protected inside.
I skim read through the manual, which is well-written and has plenty of guiding illustrations, to see how to operate it. First things first: I used the included USB cable to charge the internal battery via the USB-C port. As this battery is not replaceable, this pump is a disposable device. When fully charged, the battery icon on the display changes from blinking to solid.
I noted that the top of the AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator also has a light, so I can see at night to pump my tires, and a USB-A port, so I can charge my phone in an emergency. These are nice, extra features that could come in handy.
Next, I screwed in the quick connector; it looks and functions like any bike pump connect, ready to connect to a Schrader valve.
The controls on the AstroAI tire inflator are simple. Here are the ones I use most often:
- Press and hold the power button to turn it on or off.
- Press the settings button repeatedly to cycle through the presets until I find the one that I want, usually the one for my bike. This gadget has five presets, one each for a car, a motorcycle, a bike, a ball, and an anything-I-want, though nothing requires me to use them for these purposes.
- Press the plus and minus buttons to set my desired pressure.
- Press the power button to start inflating. The inflator turns off automatically at the desired pressure, but I can press the power button at any time to stop inflating.
The rubber coating on the controls are a dust and lint magnet; I could never get them clean.
If I need the light, I press the light button repeatedly cycles through the three light modes. That’s it. I appreciate how simple it is to use this gadget.
I am concurrently reviewing an ebike from Leoguar, and the pressure in both tires was too low when it arrived. I turned on the inflator, set it to the bike preset, changed the pressure to 45 PSI, connected the adapter to the bike tube, and turned it on.
All I had to do was wait until it was done, at which point it automatically stopped. From 20 to 45 PSI took about 30 seconds. I then tested the pressure with a manual tire gauge; in the all the times that I used this inflator–I deflated and re-inflated it to test various settings–the manual gauge never varied by more than 1 PSI. That’s fabulous!
See it in action
Note: the display in the video does not look that way in real life. The strange behavior is due to lighting and the way the camera captured it.
The AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator has four different nozzles, one for Presta valves, one for balls, and two for air.
It also comes with a handy storage bag.
What I like about the AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator
- Small size
- Simple, intuitive controls
- Fast pump
- So easy to use
What needs to be improved
- Not a thing!
Final thoughts
The AstroAI L4 portable tire Inflator is the perfect complement for any bike. It doesn’t take up much space on the shelf, and it’s small and light enough to be tossed into the car when heading out to a bike trail. It worked great for me in testing as I deflated and inflated my bike tires to try it at various settings. It’s easy to use and fast to pump. If you’re looking for a portable tire inflator, I can recommend the AstroAI portable tire inflator to you.
Price: $129.99 (currently on sale for 50% off)
Where to buy: AstroAI and Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided free of charge by AstroAI. AstroAI did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
