What ball pressure gauge do you use?

This pump is excellent. Gauge is accurate and dual action pump works quick.

 

It may be quick, but the recommended pressures (7-9 psi) on the gauge are anything but accurate for soccer! (OK, barely accurate, if you consider the 8.5-9 psi overlap to be acceptable)

 

I was thinking about this thread when I threw my pump w/gage in my bag for a club tournament this weekend.

For most of the games, teams were using balls that the home team provided, but in the ref tent there were a couple of bags of official tournament balls. My third game was a forfeit so I was hanging out in the ref tent when a coach came by to complain. He felt as if the official tournament ball they were using for their game was over-inflated. He said it didn't sound right when kicked and all his players were getting hurt. Apparently the ref on the field didn't really want to deal with the issue so he was escalating his complaint.

There was some back and forth about how a ball should "feel". I remembered I had the gauge in my bag so I pulled it out and checked privately. 20+ PSI. Yikes. I simply told the coach, that yes, the ball had a little too much air and we would correct it. I went through all the tourney balls in the bag. They ranged from 15 to 22 PSI. I dropped them all to 9.

I guess I'll keep the pump/gauge in my bag after all.

 

I don't know what they do in pro games, but I've been using the UA pump for years for adult recreational and competitive youth matches, and anything above the "recommended" range on the pump would make the ball as hard as a rock. It would break your foot (or head).

 

I've used the Under Armour pump and have noticed over time the gauge is off by about 2 psi. I think it rattled too much in my bag and knocked the needle down. But I use my stupid hand guage and just use the UA pump for pumping the ball up and getting an idea of where the balls are at.

 

Lol not to be too persnickety but how does one know what gauge is more accurate than another?

 

the UA would start at 2 instead of 0.

 

Maybe there was a high pressure system that day

 

Ok Tom Brady..

When in doubt, use your hands and kick it around a bit. Assuming one has actually played the game enough to know what the pressure should be at.

 

No I know - I was just musing about the idea of assuming one $10 gauge is more accurate than another $10 gauge.

 

“These go to 11” - Nigel Tufnel