At £41.99 the Ring RAC700 4×4 Air Compressor is the one of the more expensive tyre compressors that we tested for Practical Motorhome. 

At first glance, this unit appears to be a more powerful tyre compressor than the Ring RAC 630 Digital Air Compressor + Inflator & Deflator and the Ring RAC640 Digital Air Compressor + Inflator & Deflator, which we were also testing, while being a budget version of Ring’s professional RAC900 unit.

In operation, the Ring RAC700 4×4 Air Compressor certainly sounds smooth, and more like professional tyre inflators such as the Ring RAC900 (£74.99) and T-Maxx Portable Compressor (£58).

Unfortunately that’s where the similarity ends, because with this Ring RAC700 the compressor-mounted gauge, standard-length air hose, and 12V plug on the power lead are all much more like the budget DIY models on our test bench.

Likewise, the three minutes 20 seconds inflation time that the Ring RAC700 took to get our test tyre from flat to 30PSI is slower than a professional product. For our test we used a 205/55 x 16 tyre. 

The inflation rate quoted is ‘under four minutes to get a tyre from flat to 35PSI’. By contrast, the Ring RAC900, for instance, takes just one minute and 40 seconds to inflate a tyre to 35PSI.

So what are the plus-points of the Ring RAC700 4×4 Air Compressor? Well, it’s designed for 4×4 car tyres as well as standard tyres. 

The pressure gauge is an analogue dial, showing psi, kg/cm2 and bar. It’s fitted with a fused 12V power plug. The flexible air hose has a tyre valve locking system. The RAC700 is a cylindrical shape, so it has anti-vibration rubber mounted feet to stop the unit from rolling away during use. It has a built-in carry handle and comes with a storage case to keep it safe. 

It does come with a three-piece adaptor kit so that you can inflate small leisure items such as footballs and air beds.

The Ring RAC700 4×4 Air Compressor weighs a hefty 2.091kg and measures 175mm high, 200mm wide and 130mm deep. 

So far, so good. But the Ring RAC700 was up against some excellent tyre compressors. Our absolute favourite was the Halfords Advanced Rechargable Multi-Purpose Inflator, which costs £54.99 and has all you could wish for, and is cordless, so it will reach everywhere. Almost as good, we decided, were the corded Ring RAC640 Digital Air Compressor + Inflator & Deflator at £39.99 and the Ring RAC630 Digital Compressor & LED Light at £34.99. We also quite liked the Halfords Rapid Digital Tyre Inflator, priced at £34.99. 

Herein lies the problem: we can accept the lack of lights, auto-stop, deflate button, screw-on coupling, or digital gauge on a super-fast unit. But this tyre compressor has neither the speed of a professional product nor the desirable features of a modern tyre inflator designed for home use.

Ring has a handy video showing how easy it is to use some of the firm’s other compact little tyre inflators, so it’s worth watching it and reading more of our Practical Motorhome tyre compressor reviews before you make your mind up which product to buy.