As Seen On TV Tuesday: Is Air Dragon portable air compressor really 'lightning fast?'

Filling up your tires, inflatable toys, air mattresses and balls, air compressors can come in handy when you're on the go.

The Air Dragon portable air compressor is $39.99. KPRC Channel 2 morning anchor Owen Conflenti saw it and offered to try it out for "As Seen on TV Tuesday."

He took about 20 pounds of air out of a tire on his SUV and then unboxed the Air Dragon. The device looks like a big drill with a 14-foot long cord that plugs into the 12-volt adapter in your car. When you attach the Air Dragon's tiny hose to your tire, you can set the desired PSI right on the device.

"No more guess work or fumbling with pressure gages," claims the Air Dragon commercial.

The directions say you should not run the Air Dragon for more than 15 minutes at a time because it can overheat.

"The powerful, hand held air compressor that fills up tires and everything else lightning fast," says the announcer in the commercial.

Owen set the Air Dragon to fill up his tire to 36 psi but the compressor turned itself off at about 32 psi.

Factor in the time you'd need to let the Dragon cool down and then give it another go, and that lightning fast claim fizzles.

"You're talking about 30 to 40 minutes to inflate a tire of the size of this one," said Owen.

Owen started it again, and again it shut off before the read-out displayed 36 psi. But an old school, trusty tire gauge showed the Air Dragon is full of hot air. Owen's tire was at 46 psi when the Air Dragon showed it was at 34 psi.

"I think this thing would be very cool for inflatable toys around the house, inflatable pools, you know sports stuff... basketball, soccer, footballs," explained Owen.

But for your tires, where safety is a concern, Owen said he cannot recommend the Air Dragon.


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