Which tyre pressure guage?

Which tyre pressure guage?

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Prof Prolapse

Original Poster:

16,160 posts

190 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Boring question, and I know this comes up infrequently, but I could do with some current advice on which tyre pressure guage to buy...

After whinging about my front tyre feel it turns out I'd, embarassingly, under-inflated it by about 8PSI (despite checking it three times) so it's time to buy a new pressure guage, and very soon a new tyre as I've taken about 2,000 miles off the life of this one.

Any suggestions for something reliable would be appreciated. I've googled it, but there's a lot of rubbish out there and I'm after something that will last.

Cheers,
PP

fergus

6,430 posts

275 months

darreni

3,788 posts

270 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
I've just bought the 0-40 psi version of this:

https://www.competitionsupplies.com/longacre-delux...


Expensive, but should last a lifetime. I bought from the site above, arrived within a couple of days.

HTH.


Andybow

1,175 posts

118 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Another one for venhill, very solid, and accurate , I’ve had mine years

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Venhill 100%. Quality and not expensive.

Prof Prolapse

Original Poster:

16,160 posts

190 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Thanks chaps, Venhill I think it is.

stew-STR160

8,006 posts

238 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Last year Ride magazine done a test on a whole bunch of them. All the gauges were tested to strict standards using a freshly calibrated tester.

I think the Halfords cheapo digital was close to top. Along with an Oxford digital one.
https://www.ride.co.uk/ride-reader-offers/ride-pro...



The test was actually performed at my work by a colleague and I have my personal gauge tested. Found it to read about 1psi high between 15 and 40psi.

DuraAce

4,240 posts

160 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&a...

Draper. £10. Calibrated at my work and it's pretty much spot on.

moanthebairns

17,936 posts

198 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
DuraAce said:
https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&source=web&a...

Draper. £10. Calibrated at my work and it's pretty much spot on.
Thats what I use, Draper gauge was good enough when I used to have to wear breathing apparatus at work I thought it would do for my tyres.

Prof Prolapse

Original Poster:

16,160 posts

190 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
stew-STR160 said:
Last year Ride magazine done a test on a whole bunch of them. All the gauges were tested to strict standards using a freshly calibrated tester.

I think the Halfords cheapo digital was close to top. Along with an Oxford digital one.
https://www.ride.co.uk/ride-reader-offers/ride-pro...

The test was actually performed at my work by a colleague and I have my personal gauge tested. Found it to read about 1psi high between 15 and 40psi.
I guess my only concern is how long it's accurate for. Mine was spot on for about three years or so (I think!). I'm not sure about other brands but I've certainly had a number of Halfords cheap guages fail over time, so would rather try someone else, and Venhill comes well recommended.

Shame there's not a cost effective way to buy one and have it calibrated regularly like we do with work stuff.


stew-STR160

8,006 posts

238 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Prof Prolapse said:
I guess my only concern is how long it's accurate for. Mine was spot on for about three years or so (I think!). I'm not sure about other brands but I've certainly had a number of Halfords cheap guages fail over time, so would rather try someone else, and Venhill comes well recommended.

Shame there's not a cost effective way to buy one and have it calibrated regularly like we do with work stuff.
Aye, having it calibrated yearly like industrial stuff would be ideal.

Alternative to that I guess would be try a few gauges, compare numbers.

Harji

2,198 posts

161 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Hmm, got me thinking, wouldn't a digital gauge be the best? No calibrating required over time. I have mechanical and digital , the mechanical is a Draper foot pump, works very well and the digital is just a reader.


kennydies

198 posts

118 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
I installed the FOBO TPMS which is working well...

Ho Lee Kau

2,278 posts

125 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Andybow said:
Another one for venhill, very solid, and accurate , I’ve had mine years
How do you know it is accurate, because the manufacturer said it was?

Lots of manufacturers state their gauges are accurate, and then they all show different values.

The best is buy two-three different ones and take an average.


Ho Lee Kau

2,278 posts

125 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
I have an Oxford digital one and a Michelin foot pump with digital read-out.
Both show different values, so I pump and then measure with Oxford. And then I kind of take the average.

In any case, I don't understand why one would buy analogue gauge, the scale is oftentimes very coarse .

Of course, maybe I am too anal about tire pressure and 3-4 PSI do not make any difference for sporty riding on the road...

bogie

16,382 posts

272 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
I have a few, most used is a draper one regular on bikes. Got a cheapo Halfords digital in one car boot, and another on a mini compressor.

Got a couple of topeak pushbike floor pumps and use them too, they are surprisingly accurate considering they go well over 100psi for cycle tyres

when i say "accurate" I mean that none of the multiple gauges Im using are vastly different, not that ive calibrated them ...if I always stick a similar amount in and it works, thats good enough smile

anonymous-user

54 months

Tuesday 16th October 2018
quotequote all
Ho Lee Kau said:
How do you know it is accurate, because the manufacturer said it was?

Lots of manufacturers state their gauges are accurate, and then they all show different values.

The best is buy two-three different ones and take an average.
The venhill gauge I use consistently has the same values as the onboard vehicle tyre pressure sensors on my motorbikes and cars. I also have a halfords electric pump/gauge which always reads 2 psi under actual so the tyre gets overinflated. I use the venhill to set the pressures correctly. Never had any issues.

moanthebairns

17,936 posts

198 months

Wednesday 17th October 2018
quotequote all
Ho Lee Kau said:
I have an Oxford digital one and a Michelin foot pump with digital read-out.
Both show different values, so I pump and then measure with Oxford. And then I kind of take the average.

In any case, I don't understand why one would buy analogue gauge, the scale is oftentimes very coarse .

Of course, maybe I am too anal about tire pressure and 3-4 PSI do not make any difference for sporty riding on the road...
Never worked in a lab? or petrochemical site? or water treatment plant? fab shop? I could go on. Digital is not the norm. It's really not hard to read a tyre pressure gauge when it goes in increments of 1 psi.

Your average is kinda meaningless if they are both out but I can see your point.

The only way to insure an accurate pressure gauge is to calibrate it of a calibrated gauge.

Prof Prolapse

Original Poster:

16,160 posts

190 months

Wednesday 17th October 2018
quotequote all
Whilst I am happy to have a cheap digital gauge in my toolkit, for home DIY purposes I'd rather have an analogue one. I don't want the faff of batteries, and I find the mechanical ones easier to read, quicker to use as you can usually bleed at a touch as well, and whilst my current one failed, they seem to last longer.

To be honest though, accuracy within a few PSI is probably fine. Tyre temperatures vary so much on the roads it's not something I want to get anally retentive about.


Ho Lee Kau

2,278 posts

125 months

Wednesday 17th October 2018
quotequote all
moanthebairns said:
Ho Lee Kau said:
I have an Oxford digital one and a Michelin foot pump with digital read-out.
Both show different values, so I pump and then measure with Oxford. And then I kind of take the average.

In any case, I don't understand why one would buy analogue gauge, the scale is oftentimes very coarse .

Of course, maybe I am too anal about tire pressure and 3-4 PSI do not make any difference for sporty riding on the road...
Never worked in a lab? or petrochemical site? or water treatment plant? fab shop? I could go on. Digital is not the norm. It's really not hard to read a tyre pressure gauge when it goes in increments of 1 psi.

Your average is kinda meaningless if they are both out but I can see your point.

The only way to insure an accurate pressure gauge is to calibrate it of a calibrated gauge.
I am applying law of large numbers.... of course I only use two measurement trials so ... biggrin

No, never worked in a lab-petrosite-plant-shop...but 0.1 increments make me feel more certain than 1 increments. smile

Nowhere to calibrate, unfortunately, and the manufacturers, when they say "accurate to 0.1" most likely do not mean "calibrated to +/- 0.1" either.