Galant(as in Mitsubishi?) Great 1990s midsize competition to the big guys. I wonder whatever happened to the model.
As for plunger(stick-style) gauges, after my forays into digital this and bleeder that, I do have to say I admire their relative simplicity.
The fact that, compared to a dial gauge with as much as 12 - 17 inches of hose between the chuck and the head, a much smaller quantity of air is ‘donated’ during the reading of a tire when using a relatively small stick gauge.
The complaints I have read regarding their accuracy, I feel, can be traced to how careful one is when reading the indication on a stick gauge.
I even developed this quiz card for the use of a plunger-style gauge - you’d be surprised at how many users in the field get this one wrong!..
That is a serious problem , there should be a mandantory class on how to read the gauge before a person is allowed to own one . Sarcasm in case you did not notice.
Welllll, that’s a little more difficult to determine in the 21st century than 50 years ago, when shops had these setups called MASTER GAUGES on a bench in the corner!
I took the Longacre and some other gauges to a garage I use regularly, and tested them against the shops’s Astro Pneumatic 3018 blue digital gauge. Both the Longacre and one of my digitals read quarter to half psi higher than the Astro.
Not too shabby. Tire pressure guages have been improved incrementally, over time I guess, and that is why master gauges are no longer maintained or kept at garages and tire places. The discrepancy between crummy gauges and good quality ones has narrowed a bit I guess.
I still see that as no excuse for such a tool to be no longer available.
I get pretty repeatable results with the pencil-gauge style myself. Not sure how accurate, but the one I use seems to match up with the local gas station air-filler gauge ok. Pencil gauge design is simplicity itself. Piston is pushed by the air pressure inside bore against a spring force . Spring alone determines the distance/psi proportionality constant. The only problems I’ve had with those types, the piston seal springs a leak, or more common, the head/tube interface leaks. During measurement long axis of gauge should be oriented horizontal ( 90 degrees to gravity) for best repeatability & accuracy. I lube the bore with a drop of engine oil it it starts misbehaving.
Good advice regarding orientation of the gauge during checking of tires.
One manufacturer of a liquid-filled dial gauge actually included in the instructions to hold the face upright while checking tire pressures.
I once oiled a small dually stick gauge, and regretted it. The scale movement seems constipated to this day, to put it gently. I think it under-reads a few PSI as a result. If these, or any other type of tire gauge were meant to be lubricated, I’m sure instructions would have been provided for doing such.
When I was teaching mathematics and computer science at a university, I wore a pocket protector which contained a ball point pen, a mechanical pencil, an inductive circuit tester and a pencil style tire pressure gauge. The tire pressure gauge was important for my image as being prepared for anything.
Sarcasm in case you did not notice.