iRocker Electric Pump – Test and Review

Updated December 4th, 2024

Hand pumping an inflatable paddle board is the worst part of owning one. It can be exhausting before you even get to start paddling. The iRocker electric pump is one of the most compact and fast electric pumps out there. We got our hands on one to try out and have been impressed by it’s speed and size. Keep reading to learn all the details of the iRocker SUP electric pump.

Features of the iRocker Electric Pump

We got a chance to try out the new Blackfin Ultra CX ultra portable inflatable paddle board. iRocker included their electric SUP pump as part of the package. We have been wanting to try out the iRocker pump for a while now so I was super excited to find one with our board. This is the same 12 volt electric paddle board pump that iRocker sells on their website by itself.

We put the pump through it’s paces and we’ll give you all the details of the pump below. iRocker provided the pump to us for this review. As always we’ll tell you all the good and bad about it.

See our review of the Blackfin Ultra CX to learn more about the entire package.

Price

The iRocker electric air pump currently retails for $129.99. It is available directly from iRocker or from Amazon.

Warranty

iRocker offers a 1 year warranty on their electric pump.

Size and weight

This is one of the more compact electric paddle board pumps available. It is 7″ x 8.5″ x 4″ not counting the air hose. It weighs in at 3.6 lbs. It will easily fit inside your inflatable paddle board bag with everything else. It’s far more compact than a 2 stage hand pump if you choose to leave that at home.

Cord storage

The pump has a built in compartment on the side to store the 12 volt cord. You can easily shove the 10 foot cord inside without too much effort. There is a clearance on the compartment door so you can close it when the cord is out. No worries about breaking the door off while using the pump.

12 volt power

The pump has a built in compartment on the side to store the 12 volt cord. You can easily shove the 10 foot cord inside without too much effort. There is a clearance on the compartment door so you can close it when the cord is out. No worries about breaking the door off while using the pump.

A set of alligator clips is also included so you can attach the pump directly to a car battery. You can power it either with a 12 volt outlet or battery terminals.

Optional Battery Pack and 110 volt adapter

There are 2 notable accessories available from iRocker for their pump. The first is a 12 volt 4000mah battery pack. You can use it for inflating at least 2 paddle boards. The battery is approximately 8.5 x 4 x 2 inches and weighs 1.5 lbs. You can easily fit in in your paddle board bag along with the pump and not have any need for a car or other 12 volt source. The battery has enough charge to inflate 2-3 paddleboards depending on size and pressure.

IROCKER ELECTRIC PUMP BATTERY

Stand up paddle board compatibility

The iRocker pump only comes with an H3 or Halkey Roberts valve. This is the most common valve out there and is used by almost every paddle board brand. This covers at least iRocker, Blackfin, Red Paddle Co, Starboard, DAMA, SereneLIfe, Funwater, Chasing Blue, Freein, Isle, Thurso Surf, Bluefin, and many others.

Max pressure

This pump can inflate up to 20 psi in 0.5 psi increments.

Inflate and deflate

The pump has inflate and deflate modes. You change by connecting the air hose up to the appropriate outlet.

1-2 boards at a time

This pump is designed to pump 1 to 2 boards up in a row before it needs to cool off. It doesn’t have an active cooling fan inside it like the Outdoor Master Shark/Whale or Nixy pumps.

Digital Display and Controls

There is an easy to read LCD display that shows target pressure and current pressure. The digital pressure gauge shows the current pressure down to 0.01 PSI. It displays desired PSI and actual pressure at the same time. I prefer this over pumps that only show the current pressure once you start pumping. If the target pressure isn’t shown how do you know it’s set correctly?

The pump is controlled with 5 easy to use buttons.

• Adjust pressure – change the target pressure to the desired pressure by 0.5 PSI or BAR Increments.
• Auto mode – used for inflating most things. Press to inflate to target pressure.
• High – Used when the item you are inflating needs to go above 1 psi but has a volume less than 50 liters
• Low – Used for items that need a target pressure of less than 1 psi

Carrying handle

The pump has a carrying handle built into the side. It is made from webbing with a rubber coated handle. It’s easy to use and doesn’t get in the way when your not carrying it.

Using the pump

The iRocker 12 volt electric air pump is a powerful dual stage pump. It starts out in high volume mode until about 1 PSI and then automatically switches to a second high pressure stage until the desired pressure is reached.

The iRocker 12 volt pump is very easy to use with intuitive controls. We have used to to inflate a bunch of paddle boards now to 15 and to 20 psi. It’s been completely reliable and one of the faster pumps out there. Let’s take a look at some of the details of using the pump.

Fast inflation time

The iRocker 12v electric pump is the fastest pump I have tried so far.

I did some inflation time testing with a couple of boards I have on hand. The first board is a 10’6″ x 33″ x 6″ all around board. This is about as generic a paddleboard as you can get. I inflated it to 14psi. The iRocker pump took me 7 minutes and 27 seconds. This is almost a minute faster than an Outdoor Master Shark 2 which takes 8 minutes and 40 seconds. Pumping it by hand takes me 7 minutes and 53 seconds with a double action manual pump.

Inflating boards to 20 psi

The second test I did was with a 12’6″ x 30″ touring board. This is a larger board with a max inflation pressure of 20 psi. The iRocker pump took 8 minutes and 32 seconds to inflate it to 15psi. It took 11 minutes and 50 seconds to inflate it to 20 psi. It takes an OutdoorMaster Shark 2 9 minutes and 35 seconds to get to 15psi and 13 minutes and 1 second to get to 20 psi. Again, the iRocker pump was almost 2 minutes faster getting the board inflated to 20 psi.

Red Paddle Co boards come with a monstrous hand pump called the Titan 2. Using the Titan 2 Pump, it took me 6 minutes and 15 seconds to inflate the board to 15 psi by hand. It took me 9 minutes and 28 seconds to get to 20 psi. The Titan 2 hand pump wins the race over the iRocker electric pump but it takes an exhausting amount of effort to do it.

The below table has a summary of all our electric SUP pump testing with the 2 boards.

How many boards can it pump in a row?

The iRocker pump does not have a built in cooling fan. It is not designed to pump multiple boards in a row. I have used it several times now to pump 2 boards in a row without a break between boards. It will do this on a 60F-70F day no problem. I haven’t tried it on a hot 95F day to see if it will do the second or a third board. Most pumps designed for pumping several boards in a row like the OutdoorMaster Shark II and Nixy have a separate cooling fan.

How many boards can the optional battery pump?

We tried it out. We were able to fully inflate a 10’6″ All Around board to 14 psi 3 times. It inflated it to 8.8 psi on the 4th try. The battery is good for 3 normal size boards and should be good for 2 large size boards.

Noise

The iRocker pump makes a decent amount of noise in it’s high pressure 2nd stage. It is about the same as every other electric SUP pump I have tried so far. This is the only real big downside to using an electric pump for your paddleboards. I wish someone would figure out a way to make a quiet high pressure pump.

iROCKER 12V Electric Pump for Stand Up Paddle Boards

Check Price and Reviews

The Verdict

The iRocker 12 volt electric pump is a really good inflatable SUP pump. It is the fastest pump I have tried and one of the most compact also. It has an available battery to make it even more versatile. If you are looking for an electric pump to make setting up your inflatable paddleboard easier, check out the iRocker pump.

Ryan Craig
Chief Editor

I am a total gear nerd and love learning how things work and thinking about how they could be improved. Nothing excites me more than trying out new gear. I’d rather spend 3 hours taking my bike apart and learning how to change something than go to a bike shop. These days, I reside in Michigan by the Great Lakes and go skiing, biking, and boating as much as possible. Visit our About Us page and learn more.

ryan@greatlakesbikeskiboat.com