I got this to do final inflation of a persnal pontoon boat, and to carry with me in the boat. I use a small, electric inflator for 90% of the inflating chores, but learned that a hand pump is necessary for inflating the pontoons to their final pressure, and to have on hand when on the water. For what I use this for, all that's needed is a small hand pump. I looked at the K-Pumps, but the cost put me off. The selling point for me was the air pressure gauge. I didn't want to carry two tools - a pump and a gauge - with me and it came down to a choice between this double-action Advanced Elements pump and the single-action Bravo 2HP, which also has an air pressure gauge. In the end, the Bravo pump is not offered by Amazon.com and I chose this. Looking at the photos and comparing them to other air pumps, the Advanced Elements looks to be the smallest and most compact air pump. It's not. It's very big and very tall and is definitely overkill for how I will use it. It works fine. I need a single down stroke to top off the pontoons at the water's edge and - although I don't have any way to test the accuracy of the gauge, it seems to be accurate enough to keep the pontoon pressure close enough to the 2.5lb maximum air pressure and the pontoons feel the way the manufacturer says they shoudl feel when properly inflated. On the downside, the air hose is too stiff and to easy to kink. The pump is all plastic and you'd think that with all the material costs saved by using plastic, a little could have gone into a slightly better hose. The fittings are a bit loose, as others have mentioned, but that was an easy fix. All inflatables need a pump for topping-off the air pressure, regardless of whether you transport the boat/kayak/raft partially inflated (like me) or do the inflation at water's edge. All inflatables need to have a pump on board for on-the-water adjustments or for emergencies. Topping off - making the small air pressure adjustments that bring the bladder to the ideal air pressure - is an absolute neccessity for safety and for the life of the air bladders. Why then is it impossible to find a compact, single-action hand pump at a reasonable cost? Topping-off takes a liter of air, two at most, but try to find a small-volume pump for less than a Benjamin and see how frustrating it can be. Overall, the pump is okay. Overpriced by a third when you consider the materials of construction. Way too big and way too small at the same time - with enough time, you could blow-up a 24-foot guide raft with it; but why bother when a 12v pump can do most of the work (and that 12v pump will cost less). I don't know how you could store it and carry it in a kayak. It's the tallest 16-inches that I've ever seen (maybe that's for just the barrel itself, without the height of the handle and foot braces). It's cheap enough and works well enough to keep until I can justify the cost of a mini K-Pump, but it is really only worth 3 stars because of materials of construction and overall quality. If you have space for a large pump I might recommend it. If you're like me and need a compact pump to carry on the water, you might want to pass on this. It is much larger than pictured. Amazon hasn't failed me yet and got it to me two days early during this holiday season. Amazon Prime is the best investment I've made since we l,oved to a tiny, isolated village.
