Milwaukee Sells Both an M12 and M18 Portable Tire Inflator
It’s amazing the amount of battery operated power tools available in todays market. Since the use of lithium ion batteries took over, a mechanic would be hard pressed to find a single tool that isn’t available in a cordless battery version. At the forefront of this battery power tool revolution, Milwaukee has managed to design and market some of the best cordless battery operated power tools in the world.
One of the companies best tools to date is its portable battery operated tire inflator. Not only does Milwaukee sell the portable air compressor/inflator in M18 but they also sell a smaller version that uses M12 batteries. So whether you use M12, M18 or both, Milwaukee has a portable tire inflator that will fit your needs.
In this post we are going to take a look at both the Milwaukee M12 tire inflator and the M18 tire inflator. It’s my intention to try to point out if there is a difference between the two, if the M12 is better than the M18 or if they are the same. And also, we’re going to see some close up pictures of the portable tire inflators and go over some of the reviews on both tools online.
M18 Portable Inflator Reviews, Warranty, Where to Buy
Since the M18 is the bigger of the two portable air inflators, we will take a look at some of the details of that tool first. In these post I usually follow a pretty similar routine. I outline the things that I think are important like user reviews, price, availability and what warranty the product offers if it does.
We’re going to follow the same script in this post comparing the M18 portable tire inflator to the M12 version also made and sold by Milwaukee. Let’s gets started with the details and reviews.
First though, check out this M18 Portable Inflator Kit with battery and travel charger.
M18 2848-20 Portable Inflator Specs and Features
If you think when you buy the M18 portable tire inflator you’re going to get one of those older style air compressors that take a half hour, think again. The 2848-20 Milwaukee portable inflator can take a flat tire to 30 psi in a matter of seconds. This is not only my personal experience with the M18 portable compressor, it’s been verified by the dozens all over the internet.
So now that you know the M18 air inflator is no slouch, I’ll give you some of the official specs. Well as many as possible with something like a portable tire inflating tool.
- Just over a foot in length at 13.8 inches and just 7.8 inches tall, the M18 portable air machine is the perfect size to carry around. It also weighs just 7.0 pounds, compared to a traditional portable air tank that averages around 14 pounds!
- Featuring a cooling system built internally on the tool, the M18 cordless tire inflator can operate safely for 20 minutes straight without risking an overheating event.
- The M18 portable air inflator has a range of 0-150 psi which means it could potentially be used in many industrial and heavy duty applications. This tool isn’t just to put under the back seat of your car in case of a flat. The 2848-20 is made to be used in a commercial repair shop and in emergency response vehicles like tow trucks and wreckers. The M18 portable inflator can even be mounted to your Milwaukee Packout Tool Box.
- Coming standard with a 36” air hose, the M18 portable air tire inflator is equipped to use in almost any automotive or industrial application. In case 36 inches isn’t long enough though, there are extension tubes cheap on Amazon to give you more length to reach.
- Compatibility with the M18 line of power tool batteries might be the biggest advantage to the 2848-20 portable air tire inflator. If you already use the M18 line, all you need is a tool-only version. If not, you can buy the kit with battery and charger or just buy an aftermarket battery and chargers setup.
- The M18 Portable Tire Inflator gives users 4 different memory slots to make streamlining the inflation of certain machine and automotive tires simple and fast.
M18 Portable Air Tire Inflator Reviews
When I started to search for things like M18 portable inflator reviews, I was pleasantly surprised to find that there is a huge amount of reviews and opinions documented on the 2848-20 Milwaukee Portable Air Tire Inflator.
It wasn’t just the usual places like Amazon that had heavy numbers of reviews on the M18 Portable Tire Inflator either. There were opinions and real life use stories about the 2848-20 tire inflator everywhere from YouTube and Amazon to Reddit and other blogs and websites.
In this section I’m going to give you an overview of what I found when I started to look for real life uses, opinions and reviews of the M18 Portable Tire Inflator and Compressor.
Online Reviews of the 2848-20 Milwaukee M18 Inflator
Here are a few from Amazon where the 2848-20 got a 4.8 out of 5 global rating-
Joe W Says the Following,
I have 6 vehicles that I drive. I also have 8 log splitters that I rent out and one 6″ vermeer chipper. That is a lot of tires to keep inflated.
I like the
– Rate it inflates, very quick.
– Screw on connector that gives positive contact with no leakage.
– The multiple memory settings.It stops inflating when it reaches the desired pressure setting. I don’t have to sit there and watch it. – Verified Amazon Buyer
Easy-goat9973 says the following on Reddit
One of the best tools I own. I filled a flat rear tire on a tractor in probably 5 minutes. I had a low combine tire once. It took a lot longer but it worked. I bet it’d top off a car tire in 30 seconds.
The amount of YouTube reviews of the M18 portable tire inflator are endless but here are a few-
- “Workshopaddict” did a 10 minute long review of the M18 tire inflator on YouTube. Watch it here.
- Another good YouTube review of the 2848-20 is titled “The Best Cordless Inflator Tested, Can Anything Beat the M18 2848-20?” and was produced by the account “Tools Tested”. It has 150K views.
It would be a waste of time to sit here and list all of the YouTube videos claiming the M18 Portable Inflator is the best cordless inflator on the market. If you don’t believe me, search the term “M18 portable inflator review” on YouTube.
So from here we are going to move on to the smaller M12 version of the portable air inflator. After we go over the specs, pros and cons, features and reviews of the 2475-20 from Milwaukee, we are going to look at the warranty and return procedure for both cordless tire inflators.
M12 2475-20 Portable Tire Inflator Reviews, Specs and Where to Buy?
Similar to the larger M18 version of cordless portable tire inflator, the 2475-20 M12 is designed as a way to blow up tires and other pneumatic devices without the hassle of long air hoses or heavy portable air tanks. The question is, if you choose to go with the smaller M12 portable tire inflator, will there be any drawbacks?
Would buying the M12 version of portable tire inflator, which does cost a little less money be a solid investment versus spending a little bit more and buying the M18 version? Is there a difference in the weight of the two? Can the two different types of portable inflator complete the same tasks or would one be better than the other?
In order to answer these important questions about the differences between the M12 and M18 Milwaukee Portable Tire Inflators, we’re going to start by going over some specs and features of the M12 2475-20 cordless tire inflator.
Also, I thought this carrying case for the M12 Compact Cordless Inflator was pretty cool, so I wanted to offer it to you guys.
M12 Portable Compact Inflator 2475-20 Specs, Features
- The M12 Compact Tire Inflator has a working capacity of 120 psi. This means the cordless tire inflator will blow up tires to 120 psi maximum before it quits. With the M18 inflator giving 150 psi maximum, there is a slight difference between the two.
- Weighing in at just 3.74 pounds, the M12 compact tire inflator is indeed much smaller than the larger M18 which weighs almost twice that much at 7 pounds. This is a benefit to the M12 in my opinion, especially if it’s for light duty automotive use or something similar.
- Features Truefill™ automatic pressure detection technology for quick, accurate filling of everything from bicycle to Diesel truck tires.
M12 Compact Tire Inflator Reviews
Now that we have looked at the M12 Compact Inflator, the kit and even a carrying case for the bare tool, it’s time to go over some of the reviews. In order to get an idea how good the 2475-20 Compact Tire Inflator works, we want to hear from people that use it every day. Here’s what I was able to find for good and bad reviews of the M12 Milwaukee Compact Inflator Kit.
On Amazon, Mateus W. Said the following-
“This thing is on another level”
Well made, fast, easy to use, it can inflate a tire from 0 to 47psi in a few minutes using 80% of the battery charge. Well designed product, resistant plastic, controlled vibration. Excellent for the price. Verified Purchase of the M12 Compact Tire Inflator
From Milwaukee’s Website Product Page-
“Best Compact Inflator to Date” – Hanna
This compact inflator has serviced my needs for over 3 years. Gave my original to my son and purchased a 2nd unit. YouTube reviews lists the M12 as one of the most accurate pressure readers. I use it atleast once a week for topping/checking the pressure for three vehicles. The operation is simple; the buttons are large and few in number; the readout has large clear fonts; the hose is attached so storage is a simple two-wrap and lock; and more. What would improve this product? A quality storage bag large enough for the unit, battery charger, and two batteries.
Some YouTube Reviews on the 2475-20 M12 Compact Inflator
One of the best places to get honest reviews on power tools (and anything else) is on YouTube. It wasn’t hard once I started looking to find plenty of reviews on the M12 Compact cordless tyre inflator. Here are a couple of the best YouTube reviews I was able to find.
Reno’s Reviews did a short video on the 2475-20 cordless inflator but it gets to the point and covers the important things.
A YouTuber that goes by Rudi Jones made a seven minute video documenting his real life use with the M12 Compact Cordless Tire Inflator.
Warranty on the M18 Portable Inflator and the M12 Compact Inflator
As with all of the tools I research and review on auto tool experts, warranty is a very important part of the decision whether to recommend a tool or not. With that being said, how is the warranty on the M18 and M12 Portable Tire Inflators? And how does that warranty compare to the warranties offered by other power tool companies?
Warranty
Both the M12 and the M18 cordless tire inflator come with a three year limited warranty on the tool. As with all Milwaukee tools, this is entirely separate from any warranty on the batteries which is usually just one year but can sometimes be extended to two or three years.
Although three years isn’t a long time in the lifespan of power tools, it is respectable for a tool like a portable tire inflator. It’s also pretty close to the standard warranty for power tools from most respectable companies.
Conclusion: M12 Compact or M18 Portable Inflator
In my opinion, given the only slight difference in price yet significantly better specs, the M18 Portable Tire Inflator would be a better choice than the smaller M12 Compact Inflator in most cases. This is especially true if the purpose of buying a portable tire inflator is for any type of commercial or professional use.
If the reason you’re buying a portable inflator is to use at home say pumping up bike tires, sports balls or car tires- the M12 Compact would be a perfectly reasonable choice. Anything else, I recommend the larger M18 2848-20 portable air inflating tool.
If you purchase through my website, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. All posts are well researched and meant to find you better tools at a cheaper price.
