7 Ryobi Air Compressor Tools You Probably Didn't Know Existed

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Ryobi makes a lot of tools. If you were ever to spend an afternoon browsing through its website, you'd probably find at least a few you didn't know the company made, let alone sold. Something you won't find in stores that Ryobi sells (or at least sold once upon a time) is the humble air compressor. This tool compresses air and then allows you to use it to power tools, inflate car tires, and even clean stuff. I've long used air compressors to clean tower fans in my house by carefully blasting them with pressurized air. 

There are a variety of uses for an air compressor, and there are many models on the market from top brands, along with a number of highly rated tools you can use with them. You don't commonly see air compressor stuff from Ryobi on Home Depot's shelves, and there are two primary reasons for this. The first is that Ryobi has replaced a lot of its early air compressor tools with high-pressure inflators designed for simpler use cases. Secondly, most of the brand's actual air compressors have long been discontinued, although you may find them on eBay if you're lucky.

However, if you're interested in seeing what Ryobi tools exist to inflate your basketball, car tires, air mattress, or whatever else you have, the list below contains a mixture of currently available Ryobi inflators and now-discontinued air compressors that the brand used to sell. 

The Ryobi USB Lithium Bike & Ball Pump is the brand's smallest air compressor, but it can inflate things. It's a USB-rechargeable device that's designed to be portable. You charge it, pop it into a backpack, and then you have something to inflate your bike tires if something goes amiss during a ride. Ryobi also says that it's ideal for sports balls, air mattresses, and pool floaties. It's small enough to also stuff in a toolbox if you don't want a giant tank around like most air compressors. 

For how small this thing is, and considering that it's not a real air compressor, it does have some chops. Ryobi says it can fill things up to 100 PSI of pressure, which is enough for basically anything you need to inflate. It's even possible to top up your car tires with this thing, but the small battery means you'll still want a decent dedicated tire inflator unit for dealing with anything even close to a flat.

In addition to 100 PSI of air, Ryobi's smallest inflator tool also comes with a digital pressure gauge, a battery light indicator, and a two-year warranty. It's honestly not bad for its $40 price tag. The biggest downside is the limitations of its small battery. This thing is for blowing up footballs and bike tires, not for really hard work. You'll need a larger air compressor with a more stable power source for that kind of stuff.

The Ryobi One+ 18V High Volume Inflator isn't an air compressor, but it does inflate things. This appears to be the weakest machine Ryobi sells in terms of raw PSI, but it can still move quite a bit of air. This is another simplified air mover tool that is used for basic stuff like sports balls, air mattresses, and pool floaties. Ryobi doesn't have any product images of it pumping up bike tires or anything like that, so it's pretty safe to assume that this doesn't have the horsepower for more demanding tasks like tires. 

Even if it's not a high-pressure inflator, it can still do quite a lot. Ryobi says that a single 4Ah, 18V battery can provide enough juice to inflate 55 standard-sized air mattresses in a single charge, and inflate one such mattress in about 45 seconds. That would make it handy for things like camping trips or when guests are over. It can also inflate things like basketballs, although Ryobi doesn't give any details about how well or how fast it'll do it. In short, this thing is for basic tasks at most. Each kit comes with a bag, three nozzles, and some other accessories.

It's also likely going to be discontinued soon. Home Depot still has them on sale, but they're listed as discontinued on Ryobi's website. It'll join the host of other Ryobi inflators or compressors that have also bit the dust over the years. 

Of all of the products on this list, the Ryobi One+ 18V High Pressure Inflator Kit is arguably the one I'd recommend to most people. This little guy can get up to 160 PSI of air out and uses Ryobi's 18V One+ system, which should give it a reasonable amount of battery life. At 160 PSI, it's usable for everything from basketballs to car tires, and virtually everything between. Ryobi also includes a series of adapters with this one, so you can use it to blow up balloons or pool floaties, depending on your use case. 

It seems to work like most air compressors, just in a smaller package. Ryobi includes a digital display to view air pressure, which gives the user control to inflate just about anything without going too far. The 24-inch included hose is also nice so you don't have to sit right next to the thing while it's operating. Otherwise, it's just a simple tool that does as its name implies. 

Ryobi sells this in a few different kits. One includes a full kit with the nozzles and a battery charger. The other two are just the tool and one with two batteries. If you don't already have a ton of Ryobi products, the kit is probably the best option as it gives you everything you need to get started, and you can always buy more batteries later. It's a solid little air compressor with very good customer reviews.

The Ryobi One+ 18V Dual Function Inflator/Deflator does two jobs. It can shoot air into things to inflate them and suck the air back out again later. There are use cases for such a product, including quickly inflating and deflating pool toys and air mattresses, which can take a while to deflate manually or if left to empty on their own. It is otherwise very similar to Ryobi's 18V High Pressure Inflator Kit, just with the extra deflating function. That means it shoots air at up to 160 PSI, making it more than worthy for household stuff like tires, balls, toys, and mattresses. 

What's nice about this one is that it has all of the options and such that you would need. Do your car's tires need 34 PSI of air? Set the Ryobi tool to 34 PSI, and it'll stop inflating the tire once it gets there. It also comes with six accessories for connecting the inflator to various things, and Ryobi said that there's high-volume airflow as well, making inflation quick. This uses one of Ryobi's 18V batteries, much like the rest of its power tools, so if you already bought into that ecosystem, you can buy one of these and have it on hand whenever you need it. 

People tend to like this one, with it maintaining well over a 4.0 out of five-star rating with over 1,000 reviews at Home Depot. That means it's probably pretty good for what it is.

The Ryobi One+ Cordless 1 Gallon Portable Air Compressor is one of the few old-school air compressors that Ryobi has ever sold. It includes a one-gallon tank, pressure gauges, and the works. Powered by Ryobi's One+ 18V batteries, it's also cordless, which makes it easy to carry around wherever you need it. Ryobi leans into this with a rubberized handle for easy carrying. It boasts 120 PSI of pressure, which is oddly not as high as some other Ryobi inflators, but the one-gallon tank gives you plenty of air to work with.

This unit is built for heavy-duty applications like refilling car tires and powering pneumatic tools, among other things. It's reasonably powerful for its size — Ryobi says it can inflate an entirely flat tire in about one and a half minutes and fully inflate nine tires per charge with 4.0 Ah battery pack. You can lock the PSI to whatever level you want with the locking regulator, and there is a drain valve to empty it out once you're done. In short, it's a lot closer to your typical air compressor than some of Ryobi's other products. 

Thus, this makes for a nice cross between portable and traditional. You get the power of a traditional air compressor, but with the portability of a battery. However, a rate of nine tires per 4.0 Ah battery means it'll chew through batteries quickly, so we recommend getting a spare, just in case. 

Ryobi used to make an air compressor specifically for pneumatic tools called the Ryobi Airbase Compressor. Unlike most of Ryobi's modern products, this little guy was powered by gasoline, and Ryobi boasted that it was fairly efficient with that fuel. The air compressor also had a little holster for a pneumatic impact wrench, which was sold separately and would increase the functionality of the compressor. It was fairly heavy, so Ryobi included wheels to make it easier to move. 

There isn't a lot in terms of specs about this machine, since Ryobi discontinued it some time ago. Based on the labels, it could go up to 120 PSI, which is suitable for more advanced stuff like pneumatic tools and inflating car tires. Ryobi also recommends it for cleaning off workspaces, cleaning refrigerator condenser coils, and other work-oriented tasks. You could use it for stuff like blowing up air mattresses, but that'd be taking your kids to school in a semi truck.

We're unsure when Ryobi discontinued this product, but given that it doesn't have the nuclear yellow colorway of its more modern tools, we're guessing this one left the store shelves quite some time ago. In fact, these are almost impossible to find used, even on sites like eBay, so this was almost certainly relic of a bygone era in Ryobi's history. The reason why it's still even listed on Ryobi's website is anyone's guess. 

Once upon a time, Ryobi made a garage door opener. It was actually pretty nice, but ultimately had to be removed from store shelves after a patent infringement lawsuit from a larger garage door opener company. The garage door opener came in that Ryobi yellow colorway and included an 18V battery backup that could still open the garage door in the event of a power outage. Another cool thing about it was its ability to house plug-and-play modules, thus extending its functionality. One of those products was an inflator tool that would just hang off the garage door opener. 

Given that the garage door opener's plug-and-play modules were all discontinued around the same time as the actual unit, this is a product that Ryobi doesn't sell anymore. However, the inflator came with a 25-foot hose that would reach around most garages, and you could use it to do anything from pump up tires to blow off workspaces. Ryobi says that the inflator produced 145 PSI of air, and a display gauge on the handle told you how much air a tire already had, making the process easier. 

I'll be perfectly honest, if my existing garage door opener had an add-on like this, I would almost certainly have it. Ryobi has a history of fun and unusual products, almost many of which we wish hadn't been discontinued. You can add the garage door inflator to that list.