Tech Household
How A Friendly Passerby Saved Me Thousands With A Simple Glovebox Gadget
PLUS: Learn how I made sure never to be in this situation again!
November 24, 2021
One of the main causes of stress for car owners is their tire pressure.
I’ll be honest, I’ve driven a car for my whole life, and I’ve never felt comfortable inflating or checking my own tires. I always feel like I’m doing it wrong.
Even my husband, who is quite the handyman & mechanic, can often forget to check the tires before we’re heading out on a long trip.
After coordinating the kids and packing everything, we just want to hit the road, not do another car inspection.
Our family hit the road just a few months ago for a nice family vacation. Living in Colorado, we were looking to go somewhere warm!
The trip was going as usual, my husband driving, kids with their heads buried in their games, weather was fine – we couldn’t wait to be sitting by a pool!
About an hour in we hit one of these signs… and none of us worried as we already had a full tank of gas.
About 40 miles after the sign, it started happening. My husband looks at me and goes:
“The car feels weird, I think our tire is flat”
I froze, I remember seeing that sign earlier and our car didn’t have a spare! Panic set in.
We pulled aside and took a look at the tire and sure enough, it's flat.
After reading the pressure it’s at a measly 15psi.
We start figuring out what we should do, driving seems way too risky and we just canceled our AAA since we never used it for 5 years!
We bit the bullet and called the towing company — it felt like our only option, even though the bill was going to be over $250 and the earliest they’d arrive is 3 hours from now.
About 15 minutes in, a man around our age in a small corolla pulled over to check on us and ask if we need any help.
“Hey ya’ll, just want to check if you need any help?”
My husband explained that our tires flat and we have no spare. We had a towing service coming so we just told the man not to worry.
“Oh my! Well don’t you worry about that, give me a sec and I’ll get you going here”
We didn’t know what he was going to grab… it’s not like this man was about to give us his spare.
He reached into the glovebox and pulled out this small device, “The Inflater” he called it… He said he just got it in the last few months and he’s already helped several people with it!
He plugged it in and checked the PSI, our tire had dropped to 14psi now. He assured us not to worry and to cancel the tow truck, he’ll pump the tire back up to 35psi within a few minutes, right here.
That was pretty hard to believe, this gadget was the size of his hand… It’s not like he was carrying around a compressed gas machine or anything, there was no way this little thing could blow up a dead tire, especially with the weight of the car on top.
Sure enough, he popped it in (without even hoisting the car up), tapped the power button and the InflateR started going. It sounded just like an industrial sized air pump. It seemed to be working so we just let it keep going. Within just 5 minutes, he looked over at us,
“All done, this tire is good to go now, make sure to cancel that tow truck, you’re good to drive! I’ll go ahead and make sure your other ones are all good to go too.”
My husband couldn’t believe it, he checked the tire 5 times and sure enough, it was at 35psi, we’d be good to drive.
Two more minutes and he had every single tire at 35psi around the entire truck, our back-left tire was also a little low at 26psi.
Just like that, we were hitting the road and owed it all to that little device, which was an absolute lifesaver.
During the drive I found the product on my phone and immediately ordered 3, one for each of our cars.
So, I bet now you’re probably wondering…
What is the InflateR?
InflateR is a small and compact, completely wireless device that is very simple to use.
It comes with a nozzle that plugs into the top of the device and into the tire. The moment you plug it in, you’ll see your current tire PSI on the LED screen.
Set the PSI on the base of the device and hit the power button, InflateR will instantly start inflating the tire up to the set PSI.
Once the set PSI amount hits, the InflateR will shut off automatically, meaning you can start it, set it down and get back to what you were doing before-hand.
That’s not all either, the InflateR is also a portable power bank! It comes with Micro-USB charging and a car adapter, so just throw it in your car and charge it up while you’re driving. You can even use it to charge your phone in the car!
And it doesn’t end there, the InflateR works with so much more than just car tires.
Being one of the few devices that can pump up to 150psi, it’s the perfect tool to blow up Bike Tires all the way to 120psi. That’s not something you can do with a hand pump.
Smaller than your water bottle, it’s easy to carry around on your Bike wherever you go.
I personally use InflateR for just about everything I can:
- Basketballs, Footballs and Soccerballs.
- Bike Tires
- Car Tires
- Inflatable Tubes
- Inflatable Air Mattresses
- So much more
But by now I’m sure you’re saying…
Sounds Great, But How Much Does It Cost?
None of us are looking to break our bank buying an industrial tire inflator you’ll find in shops. Just to get into that market you’ll be looking at prices well over $100.
Not to mention those devices all need to be plugged into the wall, I’ve never even heard of a cordless, portable, lightweight inflating device until that trip.
It retails for just $75 + S&H. When compared to the cost of a trip to the mechanics, tow truck or needing a brand-new tire… it truly is a no-brainer!
UPDATE: As of today the InflateR is 10% OFF. New Sale pricing is only $67.00.
Not to mention the amount of stress it alleviates from your head. Tire pressure is one of those on-going stressors for any road trip… Did I check the tires before-hand? Did I check it properly? When is the nearest gas station to pump back up?
$67.00 is such a small price to pay to solve all those worries with ease.