Digital vs analogue shock pump?

Worth it? Discuss!

Won’t make any difference to it’s efficiency, but you’ll be able to 1. resolve the accuracy better*, and 2. you’l be able to get more constancy with a digital pump

* it won’t be more accurate, just give a more accurate number.

I don’t think it’s worth paying more- digital really comes into its own for fine tuning stuff, mostly because it’s easier to read the gauge. But shocks and forks aren’t on that fine level- temperature alone causes a load of pressure variations, and so does your weight.

TBH I think a lot of effort’s gone into getting people to pay over teh ods for shock pumps, the basic beto one works better than most and is one of the cheapest

Can you notice 5 psi difference in your forks? If not, get an analogue. Of you can, then get a digital.

I’ve heard people say that the manitou Mezzer fells different when adjusted 2 or 3 psi so I was going to get a digital one for that. However, the Lyrik I ended up with instead is perfectly happy with my Topeak shock pump.

As NickC said, the actual pressure measurement won’t be more accurate as it’s done in exactly the same way, the only difference is the ease of reading the pressure on a digital format rather than a needle gauge.

I found the best shock pump was/IS a little to peak one, that you can unscrew the tubing BEFORE removing from the fork, so you don’t lose any (ok…a teeny bit) air when Taking the pump off…

Otherwise i used to add a few psi to allow for air loss..not any more..

DrP

I’m pretty certain the digital gauges work in a different manner to the analogue ones so they are more accurate.

And you never lose air from the shock or fork when removing the pump, you lose it from the pump. Common misconception.

As above, that hiss is pump to atmosphere not the shock

I’ve recently got a digital pump (Lifeline from Wiggle if you must know). I just like that it removes any guesswork from read what is often a pretty vague dial

I bought a lezene digital one as my analogue one was leaking from the hose.

It reads very differently to the analogue one.

80 analogue Vs 60 digital psi in one fork for the same feel.

The digital is precise, as in it consistently reads the same pressure. It’s just very out compared to suggested pressures and my old written down pressures.

I’d not spend more for digital. It makes no difference to the way my bikes ride.

I used my digital tyre gauge to check what the fox shock pump was reading at 100psi and its about 5psi low. So therefore adjust accordingly.

The missing link that sustains that common misconception is that if you put the valve back on the shock, it appears to have dropped some pressure.

This is, of course, air being lost into the hose body upon reconnection – not air lost when you disconnected it in the first place.

Greater accuracy is a fallacy

All you need in a shock pump is repeatability.

What Geoff has in his pump as a number matters not a jot to you unless Geoff uses your pump.

Not the same brand. The exact same pump.

So unless you have difficulty reading gauges…..and somepeoplw to struggle to follow the proceedure to read them accurately ….others have bad eye sight.

Then yes a nice big digit digital gauge is a good idea.

This is, of course, air being lost into the hose body upon reconnection – not air lost when you disconnected it in the first place

Unless it’s a Bos shock/fork, in which case the Schraeder valve very much loses air on disconnection. Having clung to the ‘the hiss is only air leaving the hose’ argument for a few weeks after getting my Vip’r shock and wondering why it was like riding a blancmange, I bought the Beto pump with the dual-stage head and all was well.

It would also depend on how accurately calibrated the digital pump actually is. It might give you an exact number rather than a hand in a dial but is that number actually correct? In the same way that cheap torque wrenches are often not actually very accurate.

Tom kp

It would also depend on how accurately calibrated the digital pump actually is. It might give you an exact number rather than a hand in a dial but is that number actually correct? In the same way that cheap torque wrenches are often not actually very accurate.

As mentioned above though, repeatability is the key rather than absolute accuracy (edit: this doesn’t apply to the torque wrenches)

As people have said already, repeatability is more important than accuracy. In that regard digital will be more reliable. Analogue gauges rely on fine moving parts to work and these are known to be prone to damage from knocks and vibration such as spending time bouncing around in a trail bag or even just a bit of careless handling in the workshop. The pressure transducers in digital gauges tend to be a bit more robust in that respect.

Can anyone recommend a good digital one ?

you can unscrew the tubing BEFORE removing from the fork, so you don’t lose any (ok…a teeny bit) air when Taking the pump off…

This is wrong (except for occasionally it’s right, if the pump isn’t connecting properly).

This is my favourite topic for an internet argument. I just love seeing people endlessly repeating their opinion on it without having any hope of ever convincing the other side they’re wrong.

The lezene one I have is very repeatable. It’s also smaller than most so easy to take with me and fiddle with pressure on the trail.

Another vote for the Lezyne one here. I love it mainly cos I am old and blind so I can actually see the numbers!

Lezyne Digital Shock Drive? IMO one of the worst products I’ve used in years, they forgot to take into account that you might want to be able to hold it properly in use. Then there’s the smaller than usual battery that seems to hate anything below 10 degrees. I gave up after the second one crapped itself