Pick your compressor here

Besides making you look and feel the part, there are three good practical reasons for gravel travellers to have a durable air compressor.

The obvious one is to reinflate your tyres after lowering the tyre pressure to improve traction for off-roading, especially for sand driving.

You can also use a compressor to pump up your mates’ tyres, thereby scoring free lagers when you get back to camp.

Furthermore, you may need a compressor to supply air to an air locker. This use is far less common than the first two, but some serious 4x4ers mount a compressor under the bonnet to activate an air locker.

However, a portable compressor is all you require for inflating tyres.

Your choice from among the many options – big, small, fast, slow – will be dictated by how frequently you plan to use it, how important fast inflation is to you and how much money you want to spend.

On the next few pages we tell you what to consider when purchasing a portable compressor, we give some handy compressor tips and even test a few commonly available models.