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An accurate tire gauge?

Ratbert

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It's not often that someone does a comparison of something like tire gauges, but this guy tested a slew of them. The one I put inline with my Kraken / dual ARB is about 1.5 PSI high when airing up, so based on this guy's testing I went with the Jaco 100 PSI digital in hopes that it'll be a bit more accurate and precise. https://a.co/d/5YbTjFG

Yeah, his voice and style can quickly grate on your nerves, but there's some good details in there.

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Valpo Jeep

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I bought this off Amazon.

https://a.co/d/5Twl5GA

It’s close enough for my aspects. I get it close then make slight adjustments comparing to the dash readout. I like the bleed button so I can monitor easily how much pressure I am dropping out incrementally. We all know that with the stock Jeep you have to inflate to 36 lbs to reset a TPMS but ours handles much better at 33 PSI cold.
 

dsgrey

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I have an 8yo Slime digital gauge I bought off Amazon for probably $10. It's as accurate as my two inflators and matches the accuracy of both vehicle's readouts.
 

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I use Apex rapid tire deflator valve stems, and a Titan Tools Vaper digital tire gauge. Put the gauge on the valve stem, flip the lever on the Apex tire deflator and watch the pressure as the tire deflates. Push the lever back down when the desired pressure is reached, and you're done. It is very fast and will air down a 40" tire from 30 PSI to 10 PSI in 5 seconds.

The Titan Tools Vaper digital tire gauge is certified accurate and comes with the dated certificate and the pressures it was tested at. For example:
12/15/23
Actual Pressure 29.0 psi Display Pressure 29.2 psi
Actual Pressure 58.0 psi Display Pressure 58.7 psi
Actual Pressure 87.0 psi Display Pressure 86.2 psi
etc.

It will measure from 0 to 174 psi

Linky:
Amazon.com: Titan Tools Vaper 19357 Digital Tire Inflator : Sports & Outdoors
 

JeepinPete

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The accuracy of gauges is generally rated at their max reading. Accuracy therefore gets worse as you move away from the max reading. Typically +/-0.5% FS (full scale). So for a 174 psi gauge, you are looking at an accuracy of +/-0.9psi which isn't that great at 30 psi. So a gauge intended for big rig tires isn't going to be accurate for passenger car tires.

With that in mind I had bought a Jaco 0-30 psi digital gauge some time back. With a full scale accuracy of 0.5%, it was accurate to 0.1psi. It worked quite well until I misplaced it.

Pete
 

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NWJeepr

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Sensationalist youtube videos... I can't!! Ratbert, seriously? lol

The best I've found is Milton. They used to manufacture their stuff in the US (still might?). I keep one of these in my glove box.

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Ratbert

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Sensationalist youtube videos... I can't!! Ratbert, seriously? lol

The best I've found is Milton. They used to manufacture their stuff in the US (still might?). I keep one of these in my glove box.

Amazon
Sorry, how is a boring / repetitive test of a crapload of tire gauges sensationalist?

How did you know that Milton was the best?
 

NWJeepr

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Sorry, how is a boring / repetitive test of a crapload of tire gauges sensationalist?

How did you know that Milton was the best?
Bruh, lighten up :D The shocking truth about tire pressure gauges probably isn't shocking or fully truthful, tbh.

How do I know Milton is the best? I bought it, and like it, that's how I know it is the best! That's what we do in these threads, right?

But for real, part of it is the quality, it's well made and has stood up to 10+ years of abuse. I've found it to be very precise compared to other, lesser, gauges. Accuracy, I'm not sure, but it does typically match all TPMS readings spot-on, and reads identically to some water-filled gauges which I assume are higher quality.
 

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I didn't watch the video, so it may have been addressed, but for purposes of setting tire pressure for our Jeeps (cars, bikes, etc.), accuracy is less important than consistency.

Once you find the right pressure for the set of tires on your Jeep on the conditions you are driving, it doesn't matter so much that the gauge reads 30 psi when it's actually 28 psi, so long as the actual pressure is always the same when the gauge reads 30 psi.

Typically a highly accurate gauge will also be a consistent gauge just because of the quality of construction, but the point is not to get too hung up on a gauge not reading the same as another gauge.
 

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The accuracy of gauges is generally rated at their max reading. Accuracy therefore gets worse as you move away from the max reading. Typically +/-0.5% FS (full scale). So for a 174 psi gauge, you are looking at an accuracy of +/-0.9psi which isn't that great at 30 psi. So a gauge intended for big rig tires isn't going to be accurate for passenger car tires.

With that in mind I had bought a Jaco 0-30 psi digital gauge some time back. With a full scale accuracy of 0.5%, it was accurate to 0.1psi. It worked quite well until I misplaced it.

Pete
The gauge I posted is just the opposite of what you describe. I didn't post all of the pressures it was tested at for the certification. It was closest at 30 psi (0.2 psi off), and least accurate at 167 psi (1.6 psi off). The higher the pressure the less accurate it was.
 
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Ratbert

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Bruh, lighten up :D The shocking truth about tire pressure gauges probably isn't shocking or fully truthful, tbh.

How do I know Milton is the best? I bought it, and like it, that's how I know it is the best! That's what we do in these threads, right?

But for real, part of it is the quality, it's well made and has stood up to 10+ years of abuse. I've found it to be very precise compared to other, lesser, gauges. Accuracy, I'm not sure, but it does typically match all TPMS readings spot-on, and reads identically to some water-filled gauges which I assume are higher quality.
I'm merely posting a (no matter what you claim) non-sensationalist video where a guy tested a crapload of pressure gauges using the most accurate techniques available to him

You'd apparently rather buy one based off a company's marketing prowess, but some of us prefer more realistic data points than mere marketing.

I've already bought one that doesn't seem to be very accurate, so instead and looking at random reviews I instead found a relatively scientific analysis. That means that I don't have to merely do a best guess...again.
 
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Ratbert

Ratbert

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The accuracy of gauges is generally rated at their max reading. Accuracy therefore gets worse as you move away from the max reading. Typically +/-0.5% FS (full scale). So for a 174 psi gauge, you are looking at an accuracy of +/-0.9psi which isn't that great at 30 psi. So a gauge intended for big rig tires isn't going to be accurate for passenger car tires.

With that in mind I had bought a Jaco 0-30 psi digital gauge some time back. With a full scale accuracy of 0.5%, it was accurate to 0.1psi. It worked quite well until I misplaced it.

Pete
Yep, that was my mindset when I went with a 0-60 over the same company's 0-100. 0-30 isn't sufficient since I run mine higher than that.
 
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Ratbert

Ratbert

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I didn't watch the video, so it may have been addressed, but for purposes of setting tire pressure for our Jeeps (cars, bikes, etc.), accuracy is less important than consistency.

Once you find the right pressure for the set of tires on your Jeep on the conditions you are driving, it doesn't matter so much that the gauge reads 30 psi when it's actually 28 psi, so long as the actual pressure is always the same when the gauge reads 30 psi.

Typically a highly accurate gauge will also be a consistent gauge just because of the quality of construction, but the point is not to get too hung up on a gauge not reading the same as another gauge.
Yep, there are people that are fine with always knowing that their speedo or clock is off by some percentage or time as well as the specific direction of that inaccuracy for each device. That's what I'm currently doing when airing up. My wife is always asking how much it's off by and in what direction.

If given the choice, I'd definitely prefer not to have to do that.
 

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I'm merely posting a (no matter what you claim) non-sensationalist video where a guy tested a crapload of pressure gauges using the most accurate techniques available to him

You'd apparently rather buy one based off a company's marketing prowess, but some of us prefer more realistic data points than mere marketing.

I've already bought one that doesn't seem to be very accurate, so instead and looking at random reviews I instead found a relatively scientific analysis. That means that I don't have to merely do a best guess...again.
The video headline is sensationalist. "The shocking truth". We're talking about tire gauges... nothing shocking about them ;) Keep up...I'm being mildly sarcastic / I mean this in light humor. We lambast Youtube videos with such headlines on here, yes?

Then again, my grandfathers didn't watch scientific reviews of tire gauges on Youtube. They kept pen-style gauges in the glovebox of their 4x4's, and when in doubt, the ol' tire kick test. Neither one let either of them down.

The Milton one I linked is decently high quality and it's served me well for over a decade of wheeling and checking/setting tire pressures in all my cars. But, analyze as you wish.
 
 







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