AceFahrenheit

I've got one I use for my car tires but it tops out at 50psi.

I'd ideally like a digital gauge that I can fit in a seat pack or strap to the frame somewhere.

Just looking for some suggestions!

Thanks

cannondale125

I pump my tires up before every ride my pump has a gauge on it.

Wanderer

Most of the small elec gauges go to 100psi, and are vey accurate

RoadTire 

Same here, and even though the pump guage is a little flaky, it's consistent.

Meiser Accu-Guage are popular and come in a variety of scales - I have one tops out at 160 for roadbikes and one that tops out at 30 for very low pressure winter bike riding.

Meiser Bicycle Dual Range Scale Schrader Valve Dial Air Pressure Gauge 160psi | eBay

Whups - I just noticed you wanted a smaller digital, these don't fit that bill. When riding I don't think about it - if I do ever get a flat, inflating to feel will be good enough until I get home.

lopek77

Check any auto parts store or Walmart. There is many to choose from that goes well over 100 psi /mine is up to 150 psi/. They all work great with Schrader valves, and OK with Presta valves when used with Schrader adapter /$0.50/. I replaced my old one with Slime branded one for $10. It shows psi and bars, and the LCD screen is also backlit.

fietsbob

US Made , metal .. GH Meiser, Posen Ill 60469 is marked on mine .. 1 each, S/V & P/V

Accu-Gage Tire Gauges

Looigi

Gauge on pump. If I'm going to check the pressure, it's going to need air anyway, as skinny bike tires lose air relatively quickly and the act of checking the pressure will lower it a few psi too, so might as well just do it with the pump.

Litespeedlouie

I've never had a gauge agree with any other (handhelds, pumps), so I just estimate by hand-hardness.

lopek77

Not a hammer or tire iron?

Litespeedlouie

Well, for bike tires I estimate, which is good enough for me. For cars, I do use an inexpensive Accutire digital gauge. I have no idea if it's accurate, either, but it seems close enough, and repeatable.

2_i 

PricePoint/Panasonic gauge is absolutely the best. Meiser belongs to another century and is trashy in the long run.

davidad

Had this one for years. Nothing exotic, just works. Robot Check

WonderMonkey

I pump mine up each day with my floor pump WHEN I AM AT HOME. Yesterday I sent on an overnight and this morning I realized that I had my on-bike pump but no gauge. I have a mini-morph but failed to get one that has a gauge so I'm looking at what is recommended in this thread.

Glad you asked, OP!

birdhunter1

This is what I use, I have also found it to be consistent.

fietsbob

Seems to me, A slimed tube would gum up the gage ..

ItsJustMe

It takes a good mechanical gauge to be accurate, and even good ones can be thrown out of accuracy by being abused. Digital gauges, even the extremely cheap ones, are extremely accurate even if abused badly. If I am buying a stand-alone gauge, it'll be digital every time. I have about 6 of them and they all agree with one another and with a very expensive calibrated gauge to about 0.5 PSI. Some only cost $7 or so.

The worst are "stick" gauges - they're almost worse than nothing at all.

RoadTire 

Don't be knocking mechanical equipment, the Meiser works at 5 deg f because it doesn't use batteries. And as much as I like my GPS enabled smartphone, it doesn't work well at 5 deg either, so out come the paper maps.

2_i 

My bike computer works off an identical lithium battery, and with a similar LCD, still fine at -20 F. This notwithstanding that you have no reason to leave the gauge out in the open. Meiser gauge can give bad readings at quite normal temperatures, due to effects of humidity or dust on its complicated mechanics, and you do not even know that the reading is bad as there is no display fading off.

RoadTire 

I was going to make some smart-alec comment like, "I know it's accurate because every time I pump my tires to 100 lbs the Meiser reads exactly that." but figured you would see right through that one. But you did call it trashy. I carried my Meiser in the rack back when snow-trail riding a couple times to get an indication of what tire pressures seemed to work best. Actually, I don't put huge faith in anything mechanical or electrical that I cannot reference against a standard. So if it seems reasonable, it probably is. I even check my compass against the sun or known landmarks when I can - once had one flip 180 while stored off-season.

Curious about your bike computer - what are you using and what batteries? Oh wait - you said lithium, now I get it. Ya, those are the only cold weather battery as far as I'm concerned. But even their capacity drops significantly. I was thinking LiOn for some reason. And where the heck were you riding at -20?!?

2_i 

I ride down to -20F in Michigan. Hardly using a car at all, I ride every day no matter what temp. With this I am eager to test how any bike related equipment, including electronic, works in the cold. My computer is Sigma BC1606L and it works without any problems. However cheap run-of-the-mill Chinese computers have displays that give up already at 20 F or so. That is, though, the feature of the displays, not the rest of the electronics. The operation of NiCd and alkaline varies from a brand to a brand. I use successfully some NiCd below -5F but other falter already below 25F.

Regarding the gauges, I have 3 Meisers and also 3 Panasonics. Meiser's performance deteriorates over time, but you have no warning until it stops reading at all. I can obviously compare every gauge against every gauge. I wonder how you can use Meiser for winter riding since its scale terminates in some ill-defined fashion on the low side. I rode on occasions in winter down to 10 psi, but I am not sure whether Meiser can even read such pressures and even how to interpret its scale below 30 psi. In any case, Panasonic/Pricepoint is a delight to work with. You can illuminate the scale and the vent area. You can use a multitude of units. You can hold the reading or let it run when bleeding. And yes, I use it to set the pressure in tires down to a single psi. Both Schrader and Presta, next to no air release. To round up the discussion, I threw a Panasonic into the freezer and the display is crisp and operation fine - difference in pressure reading compared to another warm Panasonic of 0.8 psi.

RoadTire 

I've just been totally owned by 2_i. You pretty much covered all the practical arguing points, especially with your cold weather riding and being able to compare 3 Meisers with 3 Panasonic gauges. I have 2 Meiser gauges - one has a max scale of 30 psi, so 15 lbs is right in the middle. There is another one that has a max scale of 15 lbs for those folks running fat tires. Ideally, it isn't the accuracy that concerns me as much as consistency, and part of that discussion is loss of pressure due to actually using the gauge, but you insinuated the Panasonic works as well as the Meisers when it comes to minimal air loss when measuring? Is this thread going to cost me more money in bike paraphernalia? I suppose I'll have to order at least 2 gauges to stay out of the doghouse, one for my wife, one for my son, oh wait, I have 2 boys and a daughter, one for me. This isn't going well.

2_i 

Pricepoint sells these gauges for $9 apiece ($8 if you buy 2), so you might even buy one for your postal delivery man. I do not know where that price comes from, particularly that they put their logo on it - could not have been some overstock purchase. I quickly bought 2 more after the first one, carefully before posting any glowing comments on the gauge anywhere.

One everyday measurement, where a mechanical device though beats so far hands down any electronic, within a limited price range, is the most trivial temperature. Electronic thermometers suffer from limited range, nonuniform accuracy across the range, accuracy floating with battery age, limited battery life, long response time, to bring up some of the issues.

Wanderer

Robot Check $6.04

Amazon.com: LCD Digital Car Auto Bike Tyre Tire Pressure Gauge Tool: Home Improvement $6.42

I have not checked this specific gauge, but have checked MANY cheap digital gauges on a pressure test bench, and never found one more than 1# off at top of scale, usually 100#, when new.

ItsJustMe

I've ridden down to -25*F in Michigan. My LiIon and Lithium primary driven stuff still works fine, the battery life is reduced but a bike comp only draws a few microamps, so it doesn't matter.

Lithium primary is what almost every low drain device takes these days.

As has been pointed out, the strain gauge based digitals probably require the smallest amount of air to measure. Rotary dial ones take more, stick gauges the most. I found a 160 PSI truck stick gauge on the road the other day. It's a lovely huge chunk of US built machined aluminum, but I have no use for it at all. I'll probably wind up giving it to a truck stop since it probably came from one in the first place.

Cubey

I have a camper van with tires I run at 80PSI in the rear and 50PSI in the front. I use the same tire gauge for my bike tires and it works just fine. It's a $4-$5 pen-style 100PSI one. Light weight, compact, affordable and accurate.

Edit: but err... not digital. *slaps self upside the head*