VacLife Tire Inflator review: Genius gadget, bargain price

If you know me personally, stop reading right now — because I'm gifting this product to you on the next suitable occasion (birthday, holiday, etc.) and don't want to spoil the surprise. The VacLife VL768 Tire Inflator is not only one of the coolest and most practical products I've tried in recent memory, it's also a killer gift item. For just $55 (less if you wait for a sale), you get a compact, powerful tire inflator that's also a flashlight and mobile charger. Here's my VacLife VL768 Tire Inflator review.

The cool, compact, affordable VL768 is small enough to fit in a glove compartment but powerful enough to inflate truck tires, car tires, bicycle tires and playground balls. It also doubles as a backup charger for your phone. What's not to like?

This handsome little monolith is black with red accents. It weighs about 1.25 pounds and can easily fit in a glove compartment, backpack or the like. A drawstring carrying case keeps everything together.

The device runs on three 2,500-mAh rechargeable batteries that VacLife says can work continuously for up to 25 minutes. To recharge them, you'll need to plug the included USB cord into a not-included USB AC adapter, one with a Type-A port.

Using this thing is a snap: You just connect the little hose, turn on the power, choose your mode and desired PSI, then press a button to start inflating. Feel free to do something else while it's running, because it'll automatically stop once it hits the set PSI. (That's a huge plus, and one reason I prefer this to inflators with gauges you have to monitor manually.)

I especially like the large, easy-to-read display that shows your selected mode (car, bike, motorcycle, ball or custom), desired PSI setting and current PSI of whatever the inflator is connected to. One button press toggles between PSI, BAR, KPA and Kg/cm2 modes as well.

I tested this first with a pair of e-bike tires that needed to be inflated to 20 PSI. One was already at 16.5; it took all of about 10 seconds to get it topped off. The other one started at 10 PSI; the VacLife fully inflated it in maybe 30 seconds — impressive given how small this thing is.

Car tires are a different story, of course, as they're considerably larger. It's hard to say how long it would take to fully inflate a flat or nearly flat tube. But in the more likely scenario — a tire is simply low and needs something like a 10 PSI boost — I suspect this would get the job done in just a few minutes.

Although the VL768 comes with a needle attachment for inflating basketballs and the like, it doesn't include valves for items like pool toys or air mattresses. That's not too surprising; this is definitely designed for smaller items like balls and tires.

It's also designed to help out in emergencies. There's a small but reasonably bright LED flashlight you can toggle on for working in the dark. And if your phone needs charging, just plug it into either the USB Type-A or USB-C port; the VL768 doubles as a power bank.

Is there anything here I don't like? Not really. Sure, it's a little noisy, but all tire inflators are. Mostly I'm enamored with the stylish looks, compact design, useful features and affordable price. At a minimum, you should definitely "gift" one to yourself.

It looks cool, works well and does a lot — but doesn't cost a lot! I'm really loving the VL768, which makes short work of inflating tires but is also amazingly compact. Plus, it's a power bank as well. You'll want one for yourself, but it also makes a great gift.