This compact tire gauge has a digital read-out to precisely measure tire pressure. Smarthead valve adapter works on both Presta and Schraeder valves without changing any parts or adapters. Durable plastic housing with a rubber-like grip for comfort-- ergonomic shape provides an unobstructed view while in use. Re-set button returns the gauge back to zero for your next measurement.
Submitted by
azi
a Weekend Warrior
from Australia Date Reviewed: September 24, 2009
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Strengths:
It's small and light
Weaknesses:
Turns itself off too quickly, buttons too easy to bump, can't reset reading without turning it off and back on, hard to remove from presta valve without bashing knuckles
Bottom Line:
I concur with other reviewers - do they designers at Topeak actually ride bikes?
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
cabbgage
a Cross Country Rider
from Date Reviewed: November 7, 2008
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$17.00
Purchased At:
jensons
Strengths:
none
Weaknesses:
everything, turns itself off too fast, buttons too sensitive, worst of all you can get a good reading with presta valve, and lose loads of air getting the thing off!!
Similar Products Used:
floor pump guage
Bike Setup:
ktm carbon hardtail
Bottom Line:
Dont buy this! Waste of money.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
shieldwulf
a Weekend Warrior
from Singapore Date Reviewed: October 14, 2008
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$25.00
Strengths:
Large digital display.
Weaknesses:
Finicky switches, very easy to accidentally depress the switches thus resetting the display while measuring pressure.
Similar Products Used:
None. But I have a floor pump with pressure gauge which I find more useful. But I bought this Smarthead Tire gauge for reason of portability.
Bike Setup:
Specialized 2008 Stumpjumper FSR
Bottom Line:
Many! Very easy to accidentally press onto the switches while measuring. Auto power-off too fast, ridiculous. Sometimes hang upon power-on, I need to toggle the power switch again. I'm not even sure whether it is accurate as the PSI sometimes display quite differently when measuring multiple times (more than 5-10 PSI difference!). I think I need another gauge just to check whether is this gauge accurate. Totally weird.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Bruce Brown
a Cross Country Rider
from Des Moines, IA Date Reviewed: March 10, 2008
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$19.00
Purchased At:
TwoWheelerDealer
Strengths:
Works on both bikes and cars. I tried it on both my tubeless Shrader and Presta valve wheels - perfect. Tried it on my car tires - perfect. I always read the directions first - and in this product's case - I read the directions in English and in German to make sure I had everything covered. It worked exactly as described. I will say that it works much easier on Shrader valves, but I have had no troubles with Presta valves in spite of it being a tad more user focus oriented when checking Presta.
Weaknesses:
None so far.
Bike Setup:
Tubeless using a Stans kit.
Bottom Line:
Seems to be a very accurate measuring stick. My floor pump is too "generic" in terms of measuring the psi. I was surprised that my air was so low in my tires using the digital when compared to my floor pump which seems to have gone wacky as it measures everything at about 20 psi even if it really should be reading 40 psi. The digital Smarthead told me a clearer picture immediately on all my bike tires and my car tires.
A nice addition to my toolkit - that's for sure.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Mark
a Weekend Warrior
from Orlando, FL Date Reviewed: February 29, 2008
Favorite Trail:
Santos
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$20.00
Purchased At:
Performance
Strengths:
None - its crap
Weaknesses:
Its crap.
Bike Setup:
'05 Jamis Dakar Expert
Bottom Line:
This gague sucks. I actually have tried two, I returned one to Perfomance thinking it was broken. Nope, it worked fine, the second one sucked just as bad. The suckiness seems to be designed right into it. It will not seat, and will not read. I have tried it over and over, on different tires, and nothing. The only thing this thing does right is turn off - it turns itself off faster than any device I have ever had.
This should be sold as a tool to let the air our of your tires, because that is all it does well!!
I'd give it negative chilis if I could. What a turd.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Daddy T
a Cross Country Rider
from US Date Reviewed: January 28, 2008
Duration Product Used:
More than 3 years
Price Paid:
$25.00
Strengths:
Size
Weaknesses:
Don't trust this guage to be accurate. For a long time I relied on the pressure reading the Topeak gave until my tire pressure read unusually low and I decided to check with a friend's analog guage. The topeak read 27 lbs and the friend's read 41lbs. I then went out and bought a 39.00 professional analog guage and sure enough I was at 41 lbs. With this in mind I have been terribly over inflating my tires. Thus the reason for the short tire/tread life. I threw my topeak in the trash.
Bottom Line:
Don't waste your money!!!
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Matt
a Weekend Warrior
from Memphis, Tennessee USA Date Reviewed: June 24, 2006
Duration Product Used:
3 months
Price Paid:
$20.00
Purchased At:
price point
Strengths:
Accurate, fits where I need it to, looks well made, ability to change pressure units.
Weaknesses:
In a word, frustrating. Turn the guage on and it goes through a self-check for about 3 seconds. Put it on the valve and it displays the current pressure...for a long while. Here's where the annoyance starts. If you need to let out air to get to your target pressure, you will have to shut it off and turn it on again and wait for the whole 3 seconds for the startup. You can't just place it back on the valve to see your new pressure reading. It will show you the first reading until you shut it off and restart it. Kind of like starting your computer up and waiting for all the programs to start up before you can jump on the net.
Similar Products Used:
Sam's club digital tire guage for $10. Works just fine and not annoying to use.
This guage is overdesigned, in a bad way. Too frustrating to use.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Don
a Cross Country Rider
from Northeast PA Date Reviewed: February 26, 2005
Duration Product Used:
More than 3 years
Price Paid:
$24.00
Purchased At:
Bike Dealer
Strengths:
simple to use (buttons and controls), very accurate, good for schrader valves so it will work better on your car.
Weaknesses:
Very tuff to get off of presta valves, I almost always smash my hand into something trying to get it off. Have your bike pump ready too cus if you don't get it on just right you'll lose a bit of air.
Bike Setup:
Trek 2001 Disc.
Bottom Line:
This device sure was a good idea, but in real life its not going to live up to its expectations. If you have patience and remove it from a presta valve with care its not that bad. Whats worse, a little fuss to check your tire pressure before a ride or be riding with improperly inflated tires? If the fuss will save me a possible flat or damaged rim then this product is well worth it.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
troy
a Cross Country Rider
from Schwenksville, PA Date Reviewed: April 24, 2004
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$24.00
Purchased At:
Bikeworks
Strengths:
actually reads tire pressure, agrees w/ my zefal, might work better on schraeder (but i have not tried)
Weaknesses:
ridiculously bad design; very hard to remove gauge from presta valve w/o hitting on/off/reset button resulting in no reading; even worse, the "smartgauge" dual head lets out way too much air on presta valves (the schraeder valve release mechanism doesn't retract far enough and engages the presta valve)
Similar Products Used:
zefal
Bottom Line:
don't waste your $ on this piece of crap. there are plenty of gauges that will work better.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
charles muller
a Weekend Warrior
from millington,nj Date Reviewed: November 4, 2003
Duration Product Used:
Tested or demo'ed only
Price Paid:
$15.00
Purchased At:
campmor
Strengths:
neat, precise digital readout
Weaknesses:
I couldn't get it on and off the presta valve without a bunch of trouble/force. It went on with some difficulty and then it would not come off. Finally with great force and hissing of lost air it would pop off. Campmor was gracious in returning. They tried it on some bikes in the store and found some were fine and others were like my experience. the "zip-zip" change over mechanism from presta to shraeder seemed to have something to do with my difficulties. some grease on the valve stem did not help. Customer service at Topeak had no sugestions.
Similar Products Used:
bought a zephal analog instead, seems to work, not as hi-tech though. Had an old ?prestographe? gauge that finally fell apart.
Bike Setup:
does it matter? Lemond, with continental tires and maybe tubes might matter.
Bottom Line:
try it on YOUR valves before buying (or make sure you can return it easily). My "chili" ratings are medium good because it is inexpensive and potentially accurate. Just didn't work for me.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
Submitted by
Chris C.
a Cross Country Rider
from Salt Lake City, Utah Date Reviewed: June 24, 2003
Favorite Trail:
Moab Slickrock
Duration Product Used:
Less than 1 month
Price Paid:
$18.00
Purchased At:
LBS
Strengths:
Easy to read gauge.
Weaknesses:
Not accurate. Poor chuck design. Electronic on/off too touchy.
Similar Products Used:
Zefal gauge.
Bike Setup:
Titus TALAS Switchblade.
Bottom Line:
After using this gauge for only a single day, I was totally unimpressed. I returned it for a refund the next day. It had the following problems: 1.) The electronic on/off switch was inconvenient. It was easy to accidentally turn the gauge off. Also, after every pressure reading, it was neccessary to turn the gauge off and then on again to get it to reset to 0 psi. Not a big deal, but a time-consuming pain. 2.) The gauge was inaccurate. It seemed to read about 8 psi too low. For the price, it should be accurate to +/- 0.5 psi or better. 3.) The chuck design was poor. When used with a Presta valve, it was difficult to press the chuck onto the valve stem without letting some of the air out of the tire.
The bottom line is that I could not recommend this gauge to anyone.
Value Rating:Overall Rating:
What's New
»
BEST OF MTBR - Check out the highest rated bikes, parts, & gear!
»
LED BIKE LIGHT SHOOTOUT 3 - We test all the newest products and latest light and battery technology in this comprehensive guide»
$ 18.00
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
Overall Rating:
