We feel a TPMS (Tire Pressure Monitoring System) is an important piece of safety equipment to have for anyone on the road.
With these systems, you install pressure monitoring sensors on each air valve of your tires (ideally including your RV tow-behind), and these sensors transmit pressure & temperature information to a central display screen you keep in your driving compartment.
While they can’t alert you to every tire problem you might be having, and they don’t replace regular manual inspections – advance warning of a sudden change in tire pressure or temperature can be life saving.
This post won’t be a comprehensive education in tire safety, or even necessarily a full review of what we use (it would be far too time consuming for us to research everything on the market) – but today we are sharing what works for us, based on experience with three different TPMS systems over the past six years.
Our Video Overview:
Over the years, we have tried three different Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems for our bus conversion.
First System: Pressure Plus 8000 by Pacific Dualies
When we first bought our bus in 2011, Chris researched what was on the market for TPMSs, and decided on the Pressure Plus 8000.
We purchased it with 6 sensors (one for each tire on our motorhome) on Amazon after communicating with the manufacturer, Pacific Dualies – who now has a newer version out, which we have not tried.
The feature we found most appealing in this TPMS was being able to view all of the tires at once on the display.
But in practice – this actually turned out to be impractical while underway on a small screen that sits a few feet away from your line of sight.
The numbers were simply too small to glance at and get usable information off of while bouncing down the road.
But the bigger problem with this setup that stood out to us was that if we lost communication with one of the sensors, it kept displaying old information.
Ideally, we’d want to know the sensor had lost communication – not establish a false sense of security that everything was alright.
Second System: TireTraker
In mid-2014 TechnoRV.com reached out to us wanting to send us gear to review. At the time, we were in the market to acquire additional sensors to add to our Pressure Plus 8000 system for our Mini Cooper tow behind vehicle. While the MINI, like most modern vehicles, has a built in monitoring system – that system doesn’t relay to a motorhome in a tow behind situation – and we really wanted warning if our Toad were to ever suffer a blowout.
As we were not completely happy with the Pressure Plus System, we agreed to try the TireTraker that TechnoRV was selling at the time.
We honestly just didn’t love it.
It too had the consistent problem of losing connections with sensors (even using their signal booster) and the bad habit of displaying old information that might even be from the day before. We’d even regularly see the TireTracker displaying a pressure reading for the Mini when we weren’t even towing it behind us!
The display was also relatively small and hard to read, and we didn’t like that to turn the unit off, you had to hold down the button for 10 seconds.
(TechnoRV has since switched to selling a system by TST, we have no experience with this unit.)
Third Try is a Charm: EEZTIRE T515
In mid-2015, on one of the various RVing groups we participate in, our friends David & Brenda Bott of Outside Our Bubble had shared their post about the new EEZTire system they had been trying (Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) And Why You Want One!).
We inquired about problems we had been having with old data displaying on the past two systems we had, and were told this problem didn’t exist with the EEZTIRE.
Tom Roberson, who is one of the people behind EEZ RV Products, is a follower of the blog – and in response to the thread he reached out to gift us a unit – with no expectations that we would ever promote it (which is the only way we’ll accept review units).
We can honestly say after 2 years of running this system, we are completely happy with it.
When a connection is lost – such as when driving the bus separately from the MINI – we visually see it (no out-dated data!). The display is clear and easy to understand at a glance. And it’s intuitive to operate – imperative for something you might need to scroll through while driving.
The unit that we received did have the anti-theft sensors – which we ended up taking them off. They were just too cumbersome when having tire work done to have to find the right tool to remove them. We’ve never had an issue (knock on wood) of anyone stealing our sensors. They have also come out with pass-thru sensors, allowing you to air up without removing the sensors – which is pretty cool.
To purchase a EEZTIRE:
Direct from EEZ RV Product (Use coupon code ‘technomadia’ at check-out with the programming service selected, and you’ll get the programming for free!)
Disclaimer: Aside from our normal Amazon affiliate commissions, we receive no kickbacks from EEZTIRE if you purchase one of their units, and they haven’t even asked for this post. We just really are happy with this system.
Other Tire Safety Gear We Use:
- IR Gun (for manually checking temperatures): Ryobi Non-Contact Infrared Thermometer
- Viair Air Compressor (built into our air system): Viair 450C Air Compressor
- Aerospace 303 (for washing & protecting our tires): Aerospace Protectant Trigger Sprayer
- Warning Triangles (for when stopped on the side of the road: Triple Warning Triangle
Additional posts from friends on TPMS & Tire Safety:
We can’t test every product out there, but thankfully some of our friends have experience with other systems you might want to check out before deciding on your unit:
- From Outside Our Bubble: Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) And Why You Want One!
- From WheelingIt: Monitoring Our Ride -> Review Of The Tire-Safeguard TPMS
- The RV Geeks: PressurePro TPMS! (be sure to check out their other posts on tire safety, these guys are the experts!)
I picked up the EEZTIRE system from Don of EEZRV at the 2019 Big Tent Show in Quartzsite and so far so good. The display unit is now model 518 compared to what I think you have which is the 515. The big change is it will charge off a standard USB charger, either AC or a DC car charger. The unit has a standard micro USB port so it uses the very common USB-A plug on the charger end and the micro plug on the monitor end. From what I have been told, the older model had a proprietary plug. The unit has a large battery so it will go a long time without a charge, but I can easily charge it with the same charger I use for my phone. Very nice.
One nice feature about the display, and I think this is true for both the 515 and 518, is it is possible to turn off displaying either the towing vehicle or the towed vehicle when unhitched. All the setup is retained so it is only the push of two buttons to redisplay both. For example, I can show both my truck and trailer when towing, or show just the truck when driving without the trailer. Mine is an older truck that was the last generation before the vehicle manufacturers came out with tire pressure displays.
The sensors for the TST brand system look the same as the EEZTIRE so I suspect they come from the same China OEM and are very similar. It appears the EEZTIRE is less expensive and I assume that is because they sell direct so there is one less level of markup. They have been around for a while and I have bought stuff from them before over the years without issue.
I have only used it a short amount of tjme but did some range testing and it seems good. They do sell an optional booster but I doubt I will need it. It think the big issue is if there is RF interference coming from the vehicle rather than distance. That is more likely with newer vehicles with more electronic gadgets.
I suffered a catastrophic bearing failure leading to wheel separation on my single-axle trailer a couple of days ago, at speed on a major interstate. The trailer remained balanced on the wheel and the only clue I had that something was really wrong, something like *my wheel had fallen off*, was the high pressure / high temperature alarm on my TPMS (I use EezTire brand as well, based on your recommendation actually). My TPMS saved my home and possibly my life.
Oh my goodness… how scary!! And so glad you had enough warning to get to safety. Thank you for sharing!
I have the TireTraker and you are EXACTLY right. Old data. I tow a travel trailer and when I drive out on a day trip, oh look, pressure data for the trailer that’s no where near me. For anyone stuck with one, to get a warm fuzzy at gas stops or before rolling out of a campground I go around and briefly unscrew each sensor to simulate a blow out and make sure it would alarm. It seemed even though the data could be old it would at least immediately send a problem (so long as it was working). Whenever the time comes to get another TPMS I’ll be getting one like yours.
We had Pressure Pro. But we had so many false alarms that hurt my ears that I made Dave remove it. I’m glad to hear there is a better system out there now.
Great post on an important topic (and cheers much for the shout out!). When we were at Q a few years back at the Monaco group gathering, around 5 of the group had gotten the EEZ. They all spoke highly of the system.
Nina
The only problem I’m having with the EEZTire 515 is all of a sudden, one of the sensors started reading 12 psi high.
Sorry to hear that (assuming your tire pressure wasn’t *actually* 12 Psi?) … did you report the issue to EEZ RV Products, hopefully’s they’d be able to diagnose the problem?
We, too, are on our third TPMS. We first had the Pressure Pro system, then the TireTraker system, and for the past two years the EEZ system. The PP system worked great, but the sensors had non replaceable batteries. Like you, I had the same problems with the TireTraker system and never liked it. The EEZ system has been the best one we’ve owned.
Great to hear your learned experience and having come to the same product choice! Thanks for sharing guys.
HI guys, great in formation on R V and Boating, I lived on a houseboat on the trent severan waterway system in ontario canada. it was a great adventure . be sure to take that area in when you get up to the great lake area.its like camping from town to town on your boat. enjoy your travels.
I am super excited to get to the Trent Severan – it is one of the highlights of the Great Loop!
Thanks Chris & Cherie!
Love to hear about good RV products from you, and a TPMS positive plug is really helpful.
As you and others have pointed out – every RVer should have one of these installed on their rig.
Great advice!
When you can trust your unit is giving you current information, it’s a great peace of mind being able to glance down and know all tire pressures are a-ok.