Craftsman V20 inflator, tested

This is a qualified skip. The Craftsman V20 inflator works — it filled our reference 205/55R16 from 28 to 36 PSI in 2:05, its auto-stop shuts off when it says it will, and nothing about it failed during testing. The problem is the tool sitting next to it on the same shelf at roughly the same money: the Ryobi P737D does the same fill eighteen seconds faster with half the gauge uncertainty. At ±2.0 PSI the Craftsman has the least certain gauge of any tool-battery inflator we have measured, and that is a hard thing to forgive in a category whose whole selling point is set-it-and-walk-away.

2:05 is not a bad fill time in absolute terms — it is still more than twice as fast as the budget 12V pumps most people are upgrading from, and a full set of four tires takes about eight and a half minutes of pump time. It is simply the slowest of the tool-battery group, thirteen seconds behind the Makita, eighteen behind the Ryobi, and nearly a minute behind the Milwaukee M12. Run-to-run consistency was fine: the three timed fills fell within six seconds of each other.

The gauge is the real objection. Checked against our calibrated digital reference at 20, 32, and 50 PSI, the V20 was off by as much as two full PSI, and the direction was not consistent enough to correct for — it read high at one checkpoint and low at another. That behaviour matters more than the magnitude. A gauge that is always 1.5 PSI high, like the analog units in our budget group, is a gauge you can mentally adjust; one that wanders is one you have to verify with a stick gauge every time, which defeats the purpose of paying for digital auto-stop. Four tires set to 35 on this display could genuinely sit anywhere between 33 and 37 — enough spread to affect ride and wear, as explained in our tire pressure guide. The complete error table for all 22 bench models is in how accurate are tire inflator gauges, and our checkpoint protocol is on the how we test page.

At 83 dB it is the loudest cordless unit we measured — 2 dB above the Ryobi, 9 above the Makita — with a harsh, resonant note that gets into the housing. Four fills from a 4Ah pack is the weakest endurance in the group too: exactly one set of tires and nothing spare.

One genuine advantage: the 160 PSI ceiling, tied for the highest on our bench. In practice that headroom matters less than it sounds, because a tool this slow at 36 PSI is slower still at 60, but it does mean the V20 can service a light-truck or small-trailer tire that the 120 PSI M12 and Makita cannot.

Physically it is a competent piece of kit. The red-and-black housing is chunky and stable on a flat base, the handle is comfortable, the hose wraps into a moulded channel, and there is onboard storage for the needle and cone that stays shut. It feels a step above the Ryobi in the hand, if a step below the Makita.

Controls are the usual pair of pressure buttons plus a start switch and a backlit LCD. The display is legible and the auto-stop is clean, with no over-run. There is a small work light, which is more useful than we expected on a driveway at dusk, and the screw-on chuck threads onto a valve without drama.

What lets it down day to day is the combination of slow and loud. Two minutes per tire with an 83 dB motor a foot from your ear is a meaningfully less pleasant eight minutes than the same job on a Milwaukee, and it is the sort of friction that determines whether you actually check your pressures monthly. If quiet is your priority, our measured dB ranking is in best quiet tire inflators.

There is one buyer this makes sense for: someone who already owns Craftsman V20 batteries and wants a cordless inflator without adding a second platform. On that basis it is a reasonable purchase — the bare tool is inexpensive, the battery is free to you, and 2:05 with a stick-gauge check afterwards is still far better than dragging out a 12V pump and running the engine. The 160 PSI ceiling is a bonus if you also run a small utility trailer.

Who should skip it: everyone else, and that is most people. If you own no V20 batteries, there is no argument for buying into this platform for an inflator — the Ryobi ONE+ equivalent is faster, more accurate, and cheaper to enter; the M12 is better still. Skip it if you need dependable auto-stop accuracy for motorcycle or performance tires. Skip it if noise matters. And skip the whole tool-battery category if you own no cordless batteries at all — a self-contained USB-C unit from best built-in-battery inflators or a plug-in from the under-$50 ranking will cost less and disappoint you less.

The Ryobi P737D is the direct comparison and it wins on the measurements that describe the job: 1:47 against 2:05 on fill time, ±1.0 against ±2.0 on gauge error, 81 dB against 83 dB on noise, and five fills per 4Ah pack against four. The Craftsman answers with a higher 160 PSI ceiling and a slightly more solid-feeling housing. That is not enough. The two tools sit at a similar bare-tool price, and on every axis a buyer actually experiences — how long they wait, how much they trust the number on the screen, how loud it is — the Ryobi is ahead.

The wider point is the one we make in Ryobi vs Milwaukee: in tool-battery inflators, your existing platform normally decides the purchase, and the performance gaps between brands are smaller than the cost of switching. The V20 is the exception that tests the rule, because its gaps are large enough that even a committed Craftsman owner should think about whether a cheap self-contained unit would serve better. Where it sits against the full cordless field is in best cordless inflators, and if you are still choosing between categories, cordless vs 12V comes first.