Xiaomi Portable Electric Air Compressor 2 Pro

TL;DR a chunky boy 

With my previous portable air compressor lost in action trying to get the Kia up to spec', I was is need of a decent replacement. For sure I tried the courtesy hose at the local gas station. It was either blocked by a car parked in that spot, or the compressor was turned off and I ended removing air from the car.

After 18 months, the convenience of a battery-powered portable option would have been missed. My use ranged from regular re-inflation of our daily cars; dealing with the bicycles including fixing punctures; inflating a basketball or two... to dealing with an unexpected warning light on the road to Summer vacations. Related to the Caterham, I took the compressor along each time we ventured a bit further away than usual. For instance, I used it to lower the pressure once in the Vosges and Black Forest for maximum grip, then got the Seven back to prescribed pressure before the 500km trip back, for maximum efficiency on the motorway.

In line with the idea that you should buy cheap tools first and only replace them with decent ones when they are used often (and broken), the small VARO played its role perfectly. Now was the time to find a model that would be more robust.

Looking around the internet, I came across the Xiaomi Portable Electric Air Compressor lineup. In which you can find a "Air Compressor 2" and a "Air Compressor 2 Pro" variants. They look very similar in picture. Xiaomi has become quite a reputable brand for smartphones and electric scooters. They advertise the "2 Pro" as having a 27mm piston, which is massive compared to the 15mm one I found in the Varo. I assume their unspecified standard version is also 15mm. The difference becomes really apparent when you compare the weight of both options : 905g for the PRO, 490g for the smaller one.

I got it for 40€ (half off the normal price) from Amazon.com.be, Black Friday week and all that. I also got a decent carrying case straight from China, knowing that the pouch they provide would rapidly deteriorate like the Varo one.

So it's heavy and chunky (twice the weight and size of the small ones) but fit for purpose. It's sold as an air compressor "for domestic use". The Varo was sold as an air pump for inflatable beach toys.

It got the 4 wheels of the humongous Kia from 2.3 to 2.7 bar without a sweat. The noise is deep, the thing is confident and modulating its electric motor with a start-up ramp and a some throttling when the set pressure is nearly reached. Not whining to death like the previous unit (it was alright in the 1.5-1.8 bar range of the Caterham).

Battery-wise, it's got three 2500mAh cells, compared to two 2000mAh cells in the non-pro variant and the dead Varo I liked so much.

Controls are very similar too, this time in a layout that make it look like a morbidly obese iPod.
Someone should put a 28TB 3.5" HDD in that case and build the ultimate iPod Tera or something.

Not happy with a simple close-range LED torch on the business end, it does also feature a massive blinding LED panel on the back. It provides fixed or blinking light in either white or red.

As the provided quick connect adapter does not allow for pressure relief, I installed the quick-lock air chuck I got previously. I'll carry over all the accessories to the new case too.

You can see all that in this over-the-top review complete with a teardown. Long story short the PRO unit is not energy-efficient at all and cannot do more work than the standard model. It is only much faster and more resilient, I hope.

If it has to die before the end of the warranty, so be it. Amazon will be easier to deal with than finding the receipt (found it!) and driving over an hour to the Action shop my friend bought it from (let's try locally first).