Have you ever carried around an air compressor for inflating your car tires, and then wondered if its necessary to store another CO2 inflator for your bicycle tires? And for the convenience of inflating your basketball, you might also have to keep a hand pump in your room.

Personally, I have come across all of these situations over the past few years.

But no need to feel sorry for me. As a tech reviewer, it’s ridiculous that I never thought about anything that could fix this embarrassing situation. But now the age of carrying around multiple pumps are over after I saw the Fanttik X8 Apex compact Air inflator. And this one device can solve multiple problems.

The Fanttik X8 Apex can be one of the most useful tools in your car trunk, and more importantly, it won’t occupy much space no matter where you place it. The 7.78-inch x 2.5-inch x 2.5-inch (2000 x 635 x 635mm) unit is one of the most compact multi-use air inflators. And thanks to the light weight of 848g, it’s handy enough to carry it anywhere instead of ‘dragging’ it around. Inside the compact tube, Fanttik just equipped it with a 29 Wh battery offering 7800mAh (3*2600mAh), which is powerful enough for a portable air inflator. It can support inflating more than 4 car tires or 13 bicycle tires or 80 basketballs in each full charge. So with the powerful battery performance, the brand gives it other features to make it even more useful. 

There’s a built-in flashlight on the top, with which users can turn it into a hand torch for emergency use, though it’s not particularly bright. And turn it over, you will find an additional USB-A port for pushing out power next to the Type-C charging port. It allows you to use it as a power bank to charge devices such as phones and tablets. 

Not just being convenient, the X8 Apex is also easy to use. When I first used it, I had no problems operating it even without the manual. Once you turn on the air inflator, a large LED panel shows you the battery level on the top, a digital air pressure gauge in the middle, and another selectable readout as preset pressure. What makes it so easy-to-use is that in addition to manual mode, it comes with four smart modes-Car, Motorcycle, Bicycle and Ball. Even for the inexperienced, the inflating process wouldn’t be intimidating. 

Or if you knew exactly what air pressure you want in the tire, the manual mode would be better for you. All you need is to select the value you want and screw on the valve. Then press the power button, and the air inflator starts working and pumps up the tire or ball just right to the level you just set. Impressively, it won’t take long. The X8 APEX has a built-in chip that can quickly inflate tires and provide max pressure of 150 PSI and airflow of 32L/Min. In my experience, it took only 16s to pump up my road bike tire (around 0-45 PSI) and 7s to pump up a basketball (0-8 PSI). To pump up a normal car tire, it took a bit longer, but still finished inflation within 6 minutes. The great thing is that you no longer have to keep a close eye on the pressure gauge or count the time to prevent over-inflation during the inflating time. 

The maximum pressure of 150 PSI is already enough for anything I am inflating, but apart from the excellent inflating performance, the only downside that I would complain about is the noise it makes, which is a bit loud (<80dB). But it seems that there are no alternatives that have such efficiency without making a loud noise. However, most traditional air inflators produce even louder noise when they are at work. So it’s better to make sure that you avoid using it at quiet times or places where you can make much noise. Another thing that you need to be careful of is the heating issue. Although the X8 APEX comes with pretty powerful cooling design, as suggested, it’s better not to be used continuously for over 10 minutes, so just take a break before re-use. 

Apart from the above-mentioned features, it almost perfectly fits my imagination of a portable inflating tool and even exceeds it. The X8 APEX is also very easy to store after use. The included pouch is a very nice way to store it: unscrew the hose and just put it inside the air inflator with the hose and other accessories. In addition to the punch, other accessories include a Schrader-Presta valve adaptor (for bicycle tires), a Needle valve adaptor (for balls), and a short USB-a to USB-c charging cable. With all of these accessories, the air inflator fits most inflatable stuff. 

The Fanttik X8 APEX probably is one of the dream tools for those who drive cars or ride motorcycles/bicycles a lot. It can effectively restore your tires in question back to top condition on long outdoor trips, while the portable size won’t make it a bulky burden.

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