Thanks for tuning in today we're going to be reviewing the SKS
second generation AIRCHECKER digital air pressure gauge.
Maintaining the proper tire pressure on your tires is critical to efficiency having an under inflated
tire or over inflated tire increases the rolling resistance and requires more energy to ride. The
second generation of the SKS AIRCHECKER makes checking your tire pressure quick and easy.
You can see the packaging is really simple you have a nice illustration of the actual gauge here
simple branding and specs here in multiple languages as well as additional specs on the
side as well. It's a great tool for mountain biking or road cycling.
Lets go ahead and take this out of the box and go over the specs. Retail price on this is $36.99 it is a
digital pressure gauge with a backlit display. It's available in both psi and bar units of measure so
you can easily switch between the two. It has a dual head design so it's compatible with presta
schrader or dunlap valves on depending which side you choose.
It also has a deflation button which is really convenient so if you're over pressure
you don't have to take it off and adjust it you can just press this button
and it'll reduce the pressure directly. Also has an auto off feature so you don't run the
little watch battery down by automatically turning off after 30 seconds of non-use. In terms of what
comes in the box it's pretty simple you get the actual device there's a little plastic protective
sheet which will take off and then underneath it you have this nice foam cutout to hold it in place
and it shows you the little info packet in here. This is pretty convenient so user
guide is in here shows you what each button does in multiple languages and how to change the battery. Also
how to actually use the real-time mode. Now let's take a look at the weight of the pressure gauge.
It comes in at 52 grams so quite light.
Now let's go over the fit and finish of the SKS AIRCHECKER. With the second generation
they made it easier to use more ergonomic design and added a special mode as well.
SKS describes this as pleasant touch on their website which is a really odd way to word it
but it has this ergonomic tapered body and it fits in your palm really well.
There's these little rubber attachments on the sides that also make it non-slip.
You have a swivel head design as well so 180 degrees so if you're checking your gauge up here
you can actually rotate this a full 180 to read it from the other side as well. It'd be nice if it's
360 degrees so you can see it from any angle but just having the rotation is nice feature.
You have the digital gauge right here with the orange and black lighting. So it's nice that it's
backlit easy to read. Two buttons you have the mode standard mode is it'll read it and then hold the
pressure whichever read out and stabilize that and then you press it again to go to the blinking real
time mode. This will actually keep reading the pressure and then adjusting as it reads new values.
You have the power button which you can hold to turn off to turn it off it actually takes a
little bit of time turn it on. Just a quick press has auto shut off too so after 30 seconds it will
turn itself off. You can switch between bar or psi and you have a 1/100th for the bar and you have
up to 1/10th for psi so nice and accurate. It goes up to 144 psi so more than anybody needs especially on
a day of wider and wider tires. You have a little cut out on the bottom this is great for hanging it
or attaching it to a keyring or anything else then otherwise plastic body and then a dual head design.
So unlike the Topeak Smarthead designs you actually have to choose the right side.
One side is for schrader or for dunlap and then the other side is for the presta valve so as long
as you pick the right one connected you're ready to go. Operation of it is really simple
press the power button attach to the bike it will beep once it stabilizes and then i'll hold the
value in the real time mode it will keep reading and then stop whenever you press the mode again
and you also have audible beeps which is nice so you have some feedback.
Now take a look at the SKS in action on a bike so you have to first turn it on make sure you pick
the right side. So i have a Presta valve so i pick more open side and then push it on. Now you
can see i have 180 degrees of rotation so at least here i can push it on and then check the pressure
and a double beep when it's ready. You can also go into the live mode
so you can see as I adjusted pressure will drop and i'll keep re-measuring which is really nice.
The only downside to this design as you can see it's more of a flat T-shape so you can't
actually see the top unless you look above and then with only 180 degree rotation you're kind
of limited to how where you can look at it so if you go down there you can only kind of look up
here so you have to reorientate yourself. Now lets show the operation of the tire checker on a car wheel.
Now unlike a bike wheel we can just rotate someone we can't so that's where the swivel comes in handy.
this was down here i could swivel it up and so with this one you pick the
right side. You can see the form factor here it doesn't work that well with a car as i
really have to just shove it in there and then push this to the side. You can change the units
pretty easily and you don't lose that much pressure as long as you push down pretty hard.
You can see when i remove it it still shows the pressure so it has a little memory in there.
When you're in live mode it'll keep updating but this one it will read it and then beep for you
so pretty easy to use. Now let's do a little comparison between the SKS AIRCHECKER and
the Topeak SMARTGAUGE D2x they're both very similar products. They provide the same quick functionality
for checking your air pressure, reducing the air pressure and doing live measurements. The main
difference between these two is the fact that the Topeak is $60 while the SKS is about 40.
Now the advantage of the Topeak is that you have a 360 degree swivel head so you can
see it rotates all the way around and that's great. When you're trying to get tight corners
while the SKS is limited to 180 degrees so you have to be more conscious of where you place
it. The other difference in the designs are the heads so you have the SmartHead from Topeak
and this has a toggle so you can pick schrader or the presta valve with a little simple slider.
With the SKS it's a dual head design so you pick the right side and then plug it in and
it can do dunlap as well which is something that Topeak doesn't have but most people don't really
have dunlap valves anyways. They both have simple backlit screens with audible beeps which is great
so both easy to read. The Topeak feels a little more premium with the black and white coloring.
You have three button on the Topeak versus two buttons on the SKS. You can switch units with the
SKS you're limited to psi and bar while the Topeak gives you bar as well as kilogram per
centimeter squared and a larger display. So you can see the units are larger to read you get
the live mode for both so flashing mode for both to do live measurements and the deflate buttons
so you can if you are over pressure you just press a button to decrease. Same for both
they both feel really nice they're lightweight plastic designs with the same watch battery
so depending on which one you want depends on which features you
want. The Topeak has the higher pressure readout so it goes quite high up to 260 psi
while the SKS is limited to 144 so that means if you're doing suspensions or a mountain bike
with the higher pressure values the Topeak is a great option otherwise very similar features.
Now let's go over the pros and cons for the SKS AIRCHECKER. What we like about
it is that it has an audible beep so it's really obvious when the pressure is stabilized or
in the live mode when it's done reading. It also has a backlit digital display which is really
easy to read in large numbers. Finally it has an ergonomic shape with non-slip rubber edges.
Some of the cons for the AIRCHECKER is the fact that it's black piano trim.
That means you get a lot of fingerprints and marks on it if you don't keep it clean.
It's also difficult to reach inside valve stem especially those on cars because of the t-profile.
It's not angled so you need to make sure the valve sticks out far enough that the body would clear.
Finally the deflate button requires a lot of pressure it's a very stiff bun and that might
soften up over time. Taking everything into account we give the AIRCHECKER 2 an 8.5 out of 10. It's
a simple air pressure gauge that makes it quick and easy to check your tire pressure on your car
bike or anything else around the house. Thanks for watching this review don't forget to like and
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