Vibrelli Performance Floor Pump Review

The Vibrelli Bike Pump, an extremely popular choice on Amazon, is a totally adequate pump. It didn't perform at the top of any of our tests, but it does just fine at everything.

Performance Comparison

Vibrelli's floor pump is an inexpensive and decent all-around generalist option

Photo: Mark Schanzenbach

Ease of Attachment/Detachment

The pump head on the Vibrelli uses a T-valve head with a dedicated Schrader valve on one side and Presta on the other. It's a handy design, and our testers generally preferred this layout to other pump heads with the two holes right next to each other. The two sides are labeled with an engraved P and S, although they are barely visible in the black plastic, and most testers didn't even notice them.

The head struggles with some air leakage when connecting and disconnecting from valves, especially Presta valves. When pressing the head down on a Presta valve, one must press down firmly, then immediately engage the locking lever to stop the rush of air escaping from the tire. This is not an insurmountable obstacle (and is a fairly common issue with pump heads), but it is certainly not ideal either. On the bright side, the locking lever is quite easy to move.

The pump head uses a smart design but struggles with air leakage.

Photo: Mark Schanzenbach

Stability

With a lightweight all-plastic base, the Vibrelli is not at the top of the stability rankings. It does have one of the wider bases at about 11 inches; however, as with most pumps tested, the tendency is strongest for it to tip over backward — its base has nothing to prevent this from happening. It does resist tipping forward onto the gauge, though, which would be more likely to cause damage. When standing on the base, traction is aided by small rubber nubs on the top. The base has some flex to it when pumping hard, but ultimately it's as stable as it needs to be for most pumping purposes.

Inflation

The inflation speed of the Vibrelli lands right about in the middle of the pack of all our tested pumps. It takes a few extra pushes to reach a given pressure when compared to larger pumps, as expected. The pumping motion stays smooth and easy at low pressures all the way up to well over 100psi.

Accuracy

In addition to its nice design, the gauge on the Vibrelli is quite accurate. It struggles a bit at lower air pressures, where it was consistently off by 4-5psi, a little larger range than the margin of error for the most accurate pumps we tested, but not unexpected for an inexpensive model. At higher pressures, it was perfect, matching its readings exactly with our independent gauge. The overall accuracy does take a hit due to its tendency to lose air when removing the pump head — it was somewhat difficult to gather accurate test samples when judging the accuracy of this pump, since a second or two of air loss corresponds with a big change in pressure. If you can overcome that issue, though, the gauge itself seems to give very accurate readings.

The easy-to-read gauge is quite accurate at higher pressures, but off by a few PSI at lower pressures

Photo: Mark Schanzenbach

Gauge

The gauge on the Vibrelli is about 2 ½ inches across and features large silver numbering on a black background with an orange needle. It goes nicely with the black-and-white color scheme of the rest of the pump and has an attractive, straightforward design. Due to the large numbering and hash marks every 2psi, it's also quite easy to read. The silver numbers even stand out well in low light conditions.

The construction of this gauge is a little less impressive. It's plastic all over, like most components on this pump, and it feels flimsy as though it isn't solidly mounted to the barrel. The base design should prevent this pump from tipping forward in most cases, but we wouldn't put much confidence in the long-term survivability of the gauge if treated roughly. We did intentionally tip it forward and toss it around a bit during testing, and there was nothing beyond minor cosmetic damage.

Of the less expensive pumps we tested, this pump has the nicest looking gauge.

Photo: Mark Schanzenbach

Value

A big part of the popularity of this pump is certainly the competitive price. It is a good amount of pump per buck. It looks nice in black, the gauge is attractive, and everything works well enough. There are no major downfalls with this device, and in this price range, that's enough! We do think, however, you would be better off spending a few extra dollars on a more highly rated pump if you want something for the long haul.

Conclusion