Yes, it's an emergency gadget. Yes, you might never use it. But if you do need it, you'll be very pleased that it's there. You could also use this portable compressor to reinflate soggy bike tyres for folks before the Sunday cycling get-together. That should be good for at least a sponsored coffee and croissant when everyone is done wearing lycra for the morning.
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The Energizer PAC4000 isn’t the first portable air compressor Stuff has had in the office but it remains one of the stranger gadgets you will find on a retail shelf. It’s also potentially the most useful, though it’ll only prove its worth when highly specific situations arise.
The PAC4000 (PAC stands for ‘portable air compressor’, naturally) is made for folks who habitually drive over terrible terrain, always find themselves with a slow leaking tyre, or have loads of balls. Soccer, preferably. Or maybe you need to blow air into an object and don’t feel like using your lungs. Enter Energizer’s little doodad.
Solid air
This little air compressor fits in the average hand, weighs a little under half a kilo, and conforms to the curved cuboid shape commonly found in battery packs. That’s because, as the Energizer name should hint at, that’s one of its major components. There’s a 2,000mAh battery squirrelled away under the black plastic exterior that does much of the PAC4000’s work.
There’s also (surprise) an air compressor in there, controlled on the outside via a large click-wheel. There are keys to set the desired pressure, activate a torch, or swoop through various options on the LCD screen at the top of the device. The whole design resembles a very chunky Android TV remote, but with a circular port for the main connector attachment to screw in. There’s also a USB-A and USB-C port, for charging the PAC4000 or for emergency smartphone device top-ups.
When assembled in its most basic form, Energizer’s gizmo goes from resembling an overweight TV remote to a CGI walkie-talkie that has just been retrofitted into E.T. The Extraterrestrial. It’s not especially ugly but is also far from the pinnacle of the designer’s art. It’s only supposed to live in your car boot or glove box, after all.
Blow them away
Assuming you’ve got the main cable attached, usage is a matter of selecting the correct adaptor — car tyres just use the cable as-is — and choosing the right charging profile on the screen. There are five in total, covering cars, motorcycles, bicycles, balls, and then a custom setting that… actually, we’re not sure why that’s there. Maybe for blowing up small air mattresses? Inflate car and motorcycle tyres and you’ll measure units in bars, while the others are measured in PSI. This little air compressor outputs as little as 2 PSI and as much as 150 PSI.
Then, connection (or insertion) into your desired inflationary object is needed. Again, this is as simple as turning a nut or pressing a moistened needle into a soccer ball. A touch of the central power button starts up the air compressor and, provided you’ve chosen the correct pressure, you can just sit and watch the PAC4000 do its thing.
It’ll take some time to bring a car tyre up to pressure and there’s just enough battery to do all four of them but the auto cutoff is a handy feature to have. It’s better than constantly monitoring the LCD gauge to see when it gets to 2.2 bar. If you’re in a hurry, your local petrol station will sort your tyres far quicker but if you’re stuck on the side of the road with a flat and a soggy spare, you’ll want to have this on hand to let you limp back to civilisation.
Just… make sure your pressure setting is correct before you get started. Under-inflating is fine but if you over-inflate… yeah, that’s not a great idea. Energizer’s little compressor will reach 4.45 bar. The average car only needs 2 bars. You can probably do the math.
Energizer PAC4000 verdict
The tricky bit is justifying a purchase to yourself. You’d be mental to spend R1,300 on a 2,000mAh power bank and that’s sort of what you’re doing here. But you’re also buying a form of insurance. Like all insurance, there’s no guarantee that you’ll need one of these in your car at some point in your lifetime. But if you need it, you’ll be immensely pleased that you’ve got it.
The Energizer PAC4000 is an extremely practical gadget that you may or may not use in earnest. It’s a power bank, a torch, and an air compressor. We can see it serving time in your car or your garage, inflating soccer balls and bike tyres, which will save you from installing that Thule rack on your car just to go to the petrol station. For some (and we suspect there are several of you out there), that’s reason enough to own one of these.