Thanks for tuning in
today we're going to be reviewing the
Topeak JoeBlow Sport Digital bike pump.
When it comes to bicycle pumps the Topeak
JoeBlow fear is one of the most popular
on the market.
They offer a wide range of functionality
and features for really affordable
prices
and today we're going to be looking at
one of the most popular models
the JoeBlow Sport Series which has now
gone digital.
So this includes a digital gauge that
lets you
have a little more granularity when
you're checking your pressures or
pumping up your tires. Now you can see
packaging wise pretty simple,
we just have this little cardboard
backing some little instructions
as well as a few tools and attachments.
I'm going to go ahead and take the
little zip ties off and we'll go over
the specs.
Retail price for this is 89.95
that's more affordable than the 125
dollar
pro version. This is good for 160 psi
it has 318 cc's per pump so pretty good
capacity to fill things up pretty
quickly
and something you don't realize just the
size of these things even the sport
model is fairly large.
Lets go ahead and take off this
this little zip tie.
Now as part of the sport model you don't
get the smart head design
you get the TwinHead DX5
it's a hammer type it does both presta
dunlap
as well schrader with a dual sided
design.
It also includes an ergonomic padded
handle on top to make it easy to
use as well as the included ball
and bladder attachments so you can use
the pump on
inflatable balls, basketballs or
other items
in your house. Now in terms of what comes
in the box
you get the little allen key, it's a 1.5
millimeter this is used for changing the
battery.
The batteries are included it
uses two CR2032 batteries.
You also get the attachment the bladder
attachment
and the ball attachment which can be
stored in the
on the gauge head. You get the little
instructions for how to replace the
batteries which is
seems overly complicated
as well as the basic information on the
cardboard backing
on how to use the device otherwise
really nicely designed and
the classic Topeak yellow and white color
schemes.
Now that we have all the packaging off
let's check the weight of the pump.
So putting on the scale it comes in at
1.82
kilograms.
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Now let's take a look at the fit and
finish of the Topeak Sport Digital bike
pump.
Let's go ahead and start with the top
and we'll take off the nozzle and the
hose. Now we'll take a closer look you
can see it has an ergonomic head
with a padded design and you see the
little indentations for your fingers
there. It makes it really easy to pump
and then you see the hose attachment
attaches with the little
plastic holders on the side and wraps up
and over to hold the
nozzle in place. This works pretty well
especially when you're storing it, the pump
won't flop around.
Now if we take a closer look at the
nozzle with the
Sport Digital you don't get the smart
head instead you get the TwinHead hammer
design.
With this you have a dual sided
design, you can see you have one smaller
one on the left and then the bigger one
on the right
for both presta, dunlap and schrader
valves.
It's pretty easy to remember which you
just use the smaller one if you have a
road bike
and then to lock it in place you rotate
it 90 degrees. It's actually easier
to use on the smart head which is easy
to get your finger caught
on so with this you simply rotate and
place it in and you're done
so pretty simple to use and fairly
lightweight. Now let's take a closer look
at the hose itself you can see
it's swivel mounted
at the base right underneath the gauge
and this makes it easy to
place the
pump in front or behind your bike
without the pump itself falling over.
Now the hose length itself is a little
bit on the shorter end and you can see
here
it doesn't reach that far so if you
have a bike on a rack
you might have to bring it down but when
you're not using the nozzle it's really
easy to flip it over
place put it in the little holder spots
and hold the
actual nozzle head down as well. Now
let's take a closer look
at the main feature here which is the
digital gauge
this is really nice it's one of Topeak's
first Sport Digital models
and it gives you the additional benefit
of a digital gauge
for easier readability. There's only one
button here and the button is used to
switch between the different units
so if you on metric or imperial units
you can simply click the button
and find the units you prefer, you don't
have to actually press a button
to use the pump once you start pumping
it will turn on automatically
and the gauge also automatically turns
off
after a few minutes of non-use so really
easy interaction.
You can see the display is nice and
large so really easy to read even though
it's low mounted. Now with the pro
versions they mount the
gauges on the top also note there are
two
cr2032 batteries and they're
underneath here. It's a little bit
complicated replace them the screws
underneath four screws have to be
removed
and the bottom removed as you can see here.
There's also a little rubber
protector bumper on the front that
prevents it from falling
as well as two spots to hold the bladder
attachment and the ball attachment.
Those actually stay in place really
well so if you ever need them they're
right there you don't have to go search
through a bin
and you have less chance of losing them
as well.
Now let's put the pump to use, I'm
going to take the smaller diameter side
of the TwinHead to put on my
presta valve. Slide it on
lock the head in place, it's definitely a
two-handed procedure, you don't want to
bend your valve as they're really
easy to bend.
Lock it in place and then you can see
the
actual tubing is fairly short so you do
have to be fairly close
if you have it on a wall mount or
something it won't work.
Then we start pumping the strokes
are nice and smooth
but the gauge jumps around a bit and I'll
show a little inlay with that
so you can see. You actually have to
stop pumping and
wait to see the pressure until you get the hang of the
the fact that each stroke is about three
psi.
The feature I really wish it had
here was the
pressure relief valve. You can see if
I go over my desired pressure
with these 23 millimeter narrow tires
that'd be about a hundred
I'd actually have to take this off
adjust it put it back on
and then check the pressure again and
readjust the exact value so
a little bit tedious.
Now let's do a little comparison between
the Sport Digital pump and the previous
generation
Pro pump. You can see the Pro pump here
has a nice
polished look to it a wider base
as well as the analog gauge that's top
mounted as i mentioned before. For
whatever reason the pro versions are top
mounted
it's also worth noting that the pro
version is quite a bit bigger too.
It's a little bit taller and a little
bit bulkier. The analog gauge has a
simple
rotating dial to highlight the pressure
you want so it's really easy to use
and putting them side by side you can
see they're quite similar but just
different color schemes.
The big difference here is the smart
head versus the
twin head design that you have on the
sport digital.
This is the lower cost variation the
TwinHead and you can see unlike the
SmartHead which
automatically adapts to different valve
types with the TwinHead you have to
remember which side is which.
You can also see with the smart head
you have a different
locking mechanism, it actually folds
inward and
as i mentioned before it's really easy
to get your fingers stuck in there
so i almost prefer the TwinHead. They
both are a two-handed operation
it's not really easy to do one-handed
but once you have it locked in they stay
in place.
It's also worth noting little details
that separate these,
you can see the metal surround on the
SmartHead
looks a little more premium than the
plastic ones on the TwinHead
and that's one way to distinguish
between the pro and the non-pro versions.
The other thing to look at is the little
pressure release button and this is a
really nice feature that the pro
versions have
so if you overshoot the pressure you
simply press that side button
and that'll release some pressure at a
controlled amount. It's a really nice
feature that
you realize you really like once you
have it
so it's not unfortunate not to see on
the Sport Digital. They do have it on the
pro version the pro digital pump
but that costs a little bit more money.
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Now let's go over the pros and cons of
the Sport Digital pump. What we like
about it is the excellent build quality
as with a lot of Topeak products they put a
lot of effort into the
paint, fit and finish so everything feels
really well designed and premium.
We also like the TwinHead nozzle it's
really easy to use unlock
even though you have to remember which
side
unlike the SmartHead which
automatically works on all three valve
types.
We found the lock and mechanism to be
easier to use
and less prone to getting your fingers
stuck in it.
We also like the swivel mounted hose
attachment
it was really easy to use and it also
prevents the pump from falling over
as you move the nozzle around.
Some of the cons of the pump is the fact
that has a very short
hose length we found it a little bit too
short to reach some bikes on especially
on
a wall mount so we had to bring them
down. Also the digital
gauge readout jumps around a bit.
So every time you pump it'll
overestimate and then settle down
so we found we had to wait as
we approach the
desired pressure so a little bit
inconvenient and with the digital design
it's more obvious than an analog gauge.
Also the base isn't as wide as the
previous models which is
makes it a little less usable we really
prefer the wider foot
and the grippier pads on the previous
pro version.
Taking everything into account would
give the sport digital pump an 8.4 out
of 10.
it's a well-built and easy to use pump
we just found that the digital gauge
kind of jumped around and that we
actually preferred some of the previous
generation designs
versus the current updates but if
you're looking for a digital pump
at a more affordable price point the
sport digital is definitely a great
option.
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