Milwaukee M18 inflator

[Largefarva]

After searching here it looks like a couple of people bought the M18 Milwaukee tire inflator for airing up after wheeling. I’m pretty sure this is the route I’m going to go with as well since I already have an 8AH as well as a 5AH m18 battery that came with my string trimmer last year (amazing string trimmer btw).

How are these inflators holding up after using them for a while? Money well spent? I do get a 10% discount at Home Depot (former military) so this tire inflator is really tempting me.

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[Brandonhgt]

I use the smaller M12 inflator and it works great but takes a bit of time to air up from 14 psi to mid 30s. It has plenty of power and can even top off our motorhome tires to the 82 psi they require.

The M18 should work even better for you

 

[ek1]

I have the M12 as well and it's awesome. It's 3 years old and have been used on pretty much anything from bicycles to trucks. It's built extremely well. I once forgot to detach it from the tire after inflating it and started driving. The tire stem broke off, but the inflator was 100% intact. Super durable.

I would not get M18. I am sure it's an awesome tire inflator, but looks huge and is almost 14" long.

 

[Largefarva]

I have the M12 as well and it's awesome. It's 3 years old and have been used on pretty much anything from bicycles to trucks. It's built extremely well. I once forgot to detach it from the tire after inflating it and started driving. The tire stem broke off, but the inflator was 100% intact. Super durable.

I would not get M18. I am sure it's an awesome tire inflator, but looks huge and is almost 14" long.

I might have taken your advice on going with M12 instead of M18 but I already have the two bigger M18 batteries, and we all know that Milwaukee stuff isn’t cheap…especially their batteries.

 

[MikeEIB]

Love my M18. I’ve used it a bunch and it has no problems with my 37’s

 

[J.Ferreira]

Love my M18. I’ve used it a bunch and it has no problems with my 37’s

How many off road trip/fill ups do you get between charges? And which capacity batteries?

 

[rdfact]

I know this thread is a bit old but if anyone is considering buying the Milwaukee 18v Inflator, Home Depot has a special going on. You buy a "starter kit" which is two 5AH M18 batteries and a charger for $199 and get a free tool. The Inflator is one of the tool choices. So $199 for the inflator plus 2 batteries and a charger, where the inflator alone is $179. I just bought one. You pick the free tool on checkout.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...h-Batteries-and-Charger-48-59-1852B/320379720

 

[Discount Tire]

@rdfact thanks for the heads up, that's a great deal. Many forum members that air down could benefit from this inflator. Do you have any opinion on the inflator itself?

 

[Zandcwhite]

I wouldn't waste my time with either. The m12 is .88 cfm and the m18 is only 1.41cfm. Airing up large tires would take forever. The smittybilt compressor is half the price and 5.65cfm. There are a number of dual compressors on the market pushing 10+cfm in the $300 price range. I'm all for battery powered tools, but some of them just aren't up to task. Your Jeep has a robust electrical system, why not use it?
ALL-TOP Air Compressor Kit, Dual Cylinder 12V Portable Inflator 12.35 ft³/Min, Offroad Air Compressor Pump for Truck Tires, Heavy Duty Max 150 PSI for 4x4 Vehicle & RV https://a.co/d/6M5ISxt
This one is rated at 12cfm for under $200. I might be replacing the tried and true smittybilt after this quick amazon search.

 

[rdfact]

@rdfact thanks for the heads up, that's a great deal. Many forum members that air down could benefit from this inflator. Do you have any opinion on the inflator itself?

I just ordered it so haven't even received it yet. I have seen quite a few good reviews on YT.

I wouldn't waste my time with either. The m12 is .88 cfm and the m18 is only 1.41cfm. Airing up large tires would take forever. The smittybilt compressor is half the price and 5.65cfm. There are a number of dual compressors on the market pushing 10+cfm in the $300 price range. I'm all for battery powered tools, but some of them just aren't up to task. Your Jeep has a robust electrical system, why not use it?
ALL-TOP Air Compressor Kit, Dual Cylinder 12V Portable Inflator 12.35 ft³/Min, Offroad Air Compressor Pump for Truck Tires, Heavy Duty Max 150 PSI for 4x4 Vehicle & RV https://a.co/d/6M5ISxt
This one is rated at 12cfm for under $200. I might be replacing the tried and true smittybilt after this quick amazon search.

My primary reason for getting the Milwaukee is I have 2 Jeeps and sometimes forget to move my Smittybilt 2781 between them. I also have had some M12 tools for years and they have worked well enough for home DIY stuff but they are showing their age. I needed an excuse to move to M18. I'll test the Milwaukee vs the Smittybilt and if the Milwauke is significantly slower I can always return it.
The Milwauke is 7 lbs (without battery I think). The Smittybilt is 21 lbs. The Smittybilt gets crazy hot, I'll try to get temp reading off both.

How about you buy the All-Top and give us a comparison vs the Smittybilt?

 

[Zandcwhite]

I just ordered it so haven't even received it yet. I have seen quite a few good reviews on YT.



My primary reason for getting the Milwaukee is I have 2 Jeeps and sometimes forget to move my Smittybilt 2781 between them. I also have had some M12 tools for years and they have worked well enough for home DIY stuff but they are showing their age. I needed an excuse to move to M18. I'll test the Milwaukee vs the Smittybilt and if the Milwauke is significantly slower I can always return it.
The Milwauke is 7 lbs (without battery I think). The Smittybilt is 21 lbs. The Smittybilt gets crazy hot, I'll try to get temp reading off both.

How about you buy the All-Top and give us a comparison vs the Smittybilt?

I'll definitely do a full comparison if I end up buying the all-top. If the cfm ratings are accurate the smittybilt should be 4 times faster than the m18. That is significant. Just bought a 2023 gladiator mojave 2 weeks ago so I can almost justify the purchase to the wife. 12+cfm for the 39s on her jeep and I move the smittybilt to the gladiator as the 33s will air up quick enough with it.

 

[Electrified]

I know this thread is a bit old but if anyone is considering buying the Milwaukee 18v Inflator, Home Depot has a special going on. You buy a "starter kit" which is two 5AH M18 batteries and a charger for $199 and get a free tool. The Inflator is one of the tool choices. So $199 for the inflator plus 2 batteries and a charger, where the inflator alone is $179. I just bought one. You pick the free tool on checkout.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauk...h-Batteries-and-Charger-48-59-1852B/320379720

That is a great deal! Thanks for posting this.

 

[rdfact]

I received the Milwaukee today, charged up a battery and did some simple tests.

I aired down my spare to 15 psi which is about what I would air down to when off-roading. The Milwaukee took 2 minutes 45 seconds to go from 15 to 30 psi. The Smittybilt 2781 does not have a built in gauge so I had to stop part way and measure the psi. My Smitty also has been converted from the Japanese fitting to an American fitting so I can connect standard hoses. No idea if that affects the CFM. The Smitty took about 2:05 to go from 15 to 30 psi.

I did another test where I aired down to 20 psi then tested what each compressor could do in one minute. The Smitty went from 20 to 28.5 psi. The Milwaukee went from 20 to 26.5.

Using an iPhone app I measured the decibels of each. The Milwaukee was 93.8 db with the phone right next to the motor and 83.8 a few feet away. The Smitty measured 97 and 85.5 at the same distances. But the Milwaukee had a higher pitched sound and seemed more annoying than the Smitty’s lower tone.

One oddity with the Milwaukee. It has a built in gauge and will stop at a preset pressure. The first few times I used it, it stopped exactly on the set psi and my hand tire gauge read the same as the Milwaukee. I topped up my other 4 tires and with the Milwaukee set to 32 psi it would go until the digital gauge read 32.5 then stop but a few seconds later the pressure read 35. That was also verified with the hand gauge. So it was overfilling.

In the approximately 10-12 minutes I ran the Milwaukee the battery level went from 4 bars to 3.

ETA: I have a SpeedFlate to air up all 4 tires at once. The Milwaukee would need an adapter to connect to the SpeedFlate’s American standard hose connector so not sure if that’s even possible.

 

[vetygud]

I have a Milwaukee Tool M12 air pump that was given to me as a present years ago. It worked for an occasional tire fill. It wasn't fast and you need extra backup batteries. The M12 came out before the M18. I have numerous Milwaukee M18 power tools and bought the M18 air pump with several M18 XC6.0 batteries. It works great for my needs and will fill all four tires several times on one battery. I use it on my Jeep and Silverado 1500 PU. I have installed rear air suspension bags on both vehicles. The M18 can not fill either vehicle's air bags. To little air volume. My M12 works great on filling the air bags, so that is now it's purpose.

 

[Discount Tire]

@rdfact thank you for taking the time to post your review. Many forum members should find it helpful when purchasing an inflator.

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