REVIEW – I have been looking for a little travel air pump for a while so when HOTO asked me to try their new Air Pump Master I couldn’t wait to try it out. Let’s see how it performs.
What is it?
The HOTO Air Pump Master is a corded (12V) or cordless pump with a 7,500mAh battery and USB-C charging. With nine pump settings and a plethora of attachments it could possibly replace all your other inflation/deflation pumps.
What’s included?
- 1 x Air Pump Master
- 5 x High volume nozzle adapters
- 3 x High pressure nozzle adapters
- 2 x Air hoses
- 2 x Power cables
- 1 x Storage bag
Tech Specs
Click to expand Tech Specs
- Length: 7.68” (195mm)
- Width: 2.96” (75mm)
- Height: 6.14” (156mm)
- Weight: 3.6 lbs
- High Flow Pump: 350L/min
- Inflation Pressure: 0-150 psi
- Charging Parameters: 5V=2A, 9V=2A
- Cigarette Lighter Input: 12V=10A max
- Batteries: 3 x 2,500mAh lithium ion
- Charging Time: 210 minutes using a 20W charger
- Noise Level: 85dB at a distance of one meter
- Length of High Pressure Tube: 2.3ft or 0.7m
- Length of High Volume Tube: 3.2ft or 1m
- Length of 12V Plug Cable: 9.8ft or 3m
Design and features
There’s a short video here that shows you how to use the HOTO Air Pump Master. The power button is located on the top and one long press will turn it on and off. A short press turns on the little LED light. Once on just spin the dial to the desired pump setting, push the display in to select it, spin again to the desired PSI, then push in again to start. That’s really all there is to it.
The HOTO Air Pump Master comes with high volume and high pressure hoses, five high volume nozzle adapters, three high pressure nozzle adapters, a super long 9.8ft 12V power cable, and a convenient storage bag.
With the power on you can hold the main screen down for more than five seconds to calibrate the pressure if you ever think it is off. During testing I found the pressure to be spot on and used three different pressure gauges to check it.
Performance
I must admit I have an electric 4 gallon air compressor but it’s pretty loud and it’s a bit inconvenient to set it up and get out the hoses just to pump up one tire so usually I’ll just use my bike pump. It might take 20 pumps to raise my car tire pressure a couple PSI but it’s usually just easier and I get an arm workout in at the same time. The HOTO Air Pump Master is super convenient for those seasonal tire pressure checks and I also found it super handy when just pumping up bike tires, a blowup kid pool, an air mattress, and a couple basketballs and soccer balls.
I basically went around the house and pumped up everything I could find. The best feature of the HOTO Air Pump Master is that it automatically turns off once the selected PSI is reached so I can put it on, let it go, and know it’s done when it stops.
One weird feature is that the HOTO Air Pump Master only charges via the USB-C input. When connected to a 12V power source it will power directly but will not charge. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation having to do with the circuitry but it would have been more convenient if it could charge both ways. It also charges pretty slowly. Using a 20W charger it still takes 210 minutes to fully charge. The batteries do last a while so for most things battery life won’t be an issue. The OLED screen and spin knob is easy to see even in bright sunlight and is easy to use. Just spin the outer dial to select your setting and then push in. The screen was working fine, my camera just didn’t pick up some of the pixels.
Trying it out on a standup paddleboard it took 24 minutes to reach 15psi on battery only. It also pretty much drained the battery so when pumping up a SUP or other large volume high psi item I would recommend plugging it into a 12V power source. When plugged in it took 15 minutes so on par with a couple other SUP specific pumps I have tried.
For everything else even low pressure air mattresses going cordless worked great. All the nozzle adapters were plastic but felt quite solid and should hold up to long term use.
What I like about the HOTO Air Pump Master
- Cordless air anywhere
- Not very loud
- Accurate psi
What needs to be improved?
- Charges super slow even with 20W USB-C charger
- Cannot charge from 12V source
Final thoughts
The HOTO Air Pump Master has become my go to air pump now for everything. It’s so easy to use, accurate, and easy to take anywhere in the included storage bag that I found myself pumping up everyone’s tires at work. I can use it for my bikes, SUP, car, and everything else so at $129.99 for a corded or cordless pump capable of up to 150 psi I think it’s a pretty good deal. The HOTO Air Pump Master has proven to be super handy and if you are looking for a cordless or corded air pump you should definitely check out the HOTO Air Pump Master.
Price: $169.99 or $129.99 after $40 coupon on Amazon
Where to buy: HOTO website or Amazon
Source: The sample for this review was provided by HOTO Tools. HOTO Tools did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
