Just thought I would add a quick note here to let others know especially if you are getting jack of pumping up your kites manually that a cheap air compressor is currently available online thru dealsdirect.
I ordered my "Heavy Duty Rechargeable Cordless Air Compressor" last Friday and it arrived today (Wednesday) I have just started the charge cycle and will report on inflation speed and overall performance later this evening. First impressions are good, the unit is quite heavy due to the sealed 12 volt lead acid battery powering it and seems quite simple and functional.

Rated at 300psi or 2076kPA - recharges in your car cigarette socket or at home off mains power. Best feature at the moment (until I test it) is the price at $49 (they quote $99 as normal retail) and when I ordered last Friday (2nd June 06) delivery was free (normally only $9 by Aust Post).

I have been ummming and arrring about buying a kite specific unit for $200+ recently but couldn't justify the expense to date so I thought this looked like a decent unit at a very good price.

Below is the direct link to the product so you can checkout for yourself and read more about it's specs. As mentioned above I will post results of an inflation test on my biggest kite (16m) later this evening so hold off ordering one until then unless you want to take a punt.

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/cart.php?m=product_detail&p=2200

Joffa

An adendum to the previous test:

Tried a different method of inflating the leadging edge bladder - with some success....

I used the exit valve entry (with pump switched to inflate -vacuum cleaner mode) to initially semi-inflate the leadging edge (fill it out with air) which only took a couple of minutes, followed by approx 8mins (switching to compressor mode) to complete the inflation using the normal entry valve on the bladder.

If 10mins is not to long to wait or u are extremely lazy then this pump maybe of use, I guess you could always setup (untangle) your lines while you wait for the final inflation to finish....

I used to have the Naish auto kite pump and now I have a slingshot kite auto electrice kite pump. Both are fantastic! You are looking at about $250 for the Naish pump and about $300 for the slingshot pump. They're great they are fast and pump up your whole quiver of kites. You can set the pressure to what you want and it will automatically switch off when the kite reaches your desired pressure. One great thing is that when you pull out the electric pumps nozzle from the valve the stopper ball always ends up keeping the air in because is isn't tossed about unlike using a hand pump.

I bought my equipment from Briskites and they have some in stock that you can try as a demo.