I would appreciate some expert feedback. I have about five different tire pressure gauges and I get five different readings varying as much a 5 PSI. I have the type that gives you a reading as you pump air, the blade type that slips out of the gauge, the plain gauge type that you push on the valve stem and a digital one that you push on the valve stem. What is the best type and brand to use? What do they use at a tire store and is that more accurate? The digital seems the most accurate and is the easiest to see but I'm not sure how accurate it actually is. Any suggestions, especially for the low profile tires?

 

Good question, I had three of the sliding blade type, a dial type gauge and a Michelin digital gauge. Having time to spare one day I tried all three types on my tires. The error in readings was amazing, I saw that one of the slide type gave varying readings so it went into the garbage first. The two other blade types were pretty even in readings and the dial type was quite a lot different to the others, it too was ditched. It came down to the two blade types and the digital back lit Michelin which was a bit different in readings again to the blade types. The digital was new and it said it was accurate within ± 1 psi. No good for F1 but OK for me.
The dial type rely on the uncurling of a 'C' shaped tube under pressure, operating a gear and lever on the dial spindle if I recall, and are not too accurate unless really well adjusted, so for $10 you get rubbish. I used to swear by the slide type and good ones are reliable if kept clean and handled carefully.

This is not my most accurate tire pressure gauge. LOL

 

I wonder what would be a good way to see how far off a gauge is?