[tirwin]

The other day I was checking the tire pressure on my daughter's car. I was using a gauge I had bought at the local auto parts store at some point. Made in China unit -- I'm sure most are these days.

Anyway, something didn't seem right so I got another gauge I've had for who knows how long. Years, maybe decades. There was a 6 psi difference in the readings between the two gauges. That's a 20% difference which seems really high. I was expecting 1-2 psi difference. So now I don't know if one or both are off. Maybe one is off 6psi or one is 3psi low and the other is 3psi high.

Both were analog dial-style gauges -- not digital or the pencil kind. I don't like digital ones because do you really need something with a battery to check your tire pressure (plus they usually don't have a bleeder valve) and I don't trust the pencil style ones.

There is an ANSI spec on pressure gauge calibration -- I think up to 2% variation is acceptable. .02 * 30 psi = .6 psi variation. That seems reasonable.

The question is can anyone recommend a brand of gauge that is known to be fairly accurate? Bonus points if you've ever compared it to a master gauge or compared readings to other gauges.

I just want to own one that I'm fairly confident isn't total junk. I'm not talking about some expensive thing that has been calibrated in a lab or something. I know some of you racers must've come across this before. I looked at a few on online but I'd like to hear feedback from folks here.