Side by Side Comparison of: Mityvac vs Walbro & Zama

This pump works great, but requires a strong set of hands to operate quickly. The only problem I have is after the tubing is connected to the barb to form a permanent leak-proof connection and it's ready to be stored, the tubing has to be bent on a hard 90 deg bend to store it into the plastic case. This forms a very hard crease which in turn can damage the tubing. I feel a new storage case design should be done to easily eliminate this problem so the crease in the tubing doesn't need to be straightened and tested for leaks before use. Not sure if it can be used to siphon fluids and it wasn't tested in this manner, because of the potential to damage the gauge.

I always wanted one and now I got it. The kit is the best and for the most part its most of what you will need. I did buy a larger brake fluid or fluid bottle. There are faster ways to bleed brakes but this helps in a pinch. I can't wait to test vacuum switches in my vehicles.

This is a tool you keep in the box until you need it. Loaning it out would likely be a mistake you would not make twice. It does what you want and is indispensable for diagnostics involving things that function with vacuum or small pressures. I would never allow my unit to see fluids or vapors of fluids as this will kill it. The repair kits cost about half the price of a new one so you should never chance contamination.Many folks think you can be careless with this tool and some even learn not to do that.

I have needed a vaccum pump and gauge for quite some time and kept putting off the purchase because of reviews of cheaper models. I had read the reviews on this one and decided that I would give it a shot. I needed for testing an older model Toyota that uses vaccum for switching things used in the Cruise Control. This thing is heavy, which is just fine with me as I know it won't be melting if I touch an exhaust or radiator accidentally. I love the ease at which you can rotate the gauge on the pump too. This is a keeper for any vaccum jobs you may need to do. I'm sure it will work as brake or liquid bleeder because of how well it's made. I also love the fact that it comes with it's own case. Everything is in one place when I need to use it.

Worked just as advertised. Best to get a really strong vacuum going before you open the brake bleeder valve (otherwise you'll be pumping non-stop to develop and keep a vacuum). Understand that some outside air may seep around the rubber connection at the bleeder, but by closing the bleeder before losing vacuum I did not get any air into the brake system. Some folks may find the sight of small air bubbles coming into the capture container disturbing.

This little kit works quite well! The instructions are well laid out in the included manual and my ten-year-old son had no problems setting all the pieces up in preparation for a brake line flush on our 2010 Subaru Forester. The collection cylinder for brake fluid was stubborn about attaching to its lid initially, but after carefully working it to the closed position and ensuring the lid clasps were securely seated over the ridges on the cylinder, it settled in and was much easier to open/close after that. My son also discovered that we did not need to open the cylinder to evacuate it; it was easily evacuated simply by switching the pump to "pressure" and giving the handle a few squeezes while directing the tube to a waste container.The case is compact and has a spot for every part (aside from the pair of long tubes), so it is easy to manage. I found that the auto-fill lids for the master cylinder were a bit tricky to put into their holders, but they slip right in if you set the lid at a 45-degree angle and push it in from one side.All in all, the entire job took about twenty minutes and it saved us at least an hour worth of frustration had I gone for the old manual method. Even with just the one use, it was an excellent $64 spent. All future uses are simply gravy.

I spent the extra money to get this metal tool over the less expensive plastic one. I'm not a mechanic. Just a do-it-yourselfer that believes in having good, reliable, and sturdy tools

The new MityVac is OK. I like my old one better. The rebuild kit was half the price of the new one so I got this instead. First time using the handle fell off and the pin fell out. THe gauge swivels on this model. STILL no place to install a hook without wraping wire around the gun somewhere. How hard is this to figure out? Cheap tubing included in the kit.

Very well made, beats the plastic model hands down. Only complaint is the size of the reservoir jar used to hold liquids. Does a great job.

A very nice kit, and I'm glad I spent the extra money to get the metal pump. It feels substantial and well-made. The kit comes with a lot of adapters, many of which I may never use, but it's nice to have them available.The reservoir cap can be a little picky about holding a vacuum. I put some silicone grease in the grooves to help make a good seal. I also wish the reservoir canister were a little larger, but it's not a big problem.The moving handle of the pump is held in place only by spring pressure. There is no pivot pin. I had it come off the unit one time, and it was not easy putting it back together. I think the key is to avoid trying to pump too fast. Let the springs in the pump have time to work.Overall, I'm pleased with the pump and the kit.

This gave me zero problems bleeding a brake system for a motorcycle, starting with brand new master cylinder, lines, and caliper. It held vacuum fine over ten minutes, once the jar lid was properly seated.There are a few design flaws:-The pressure relief lever is far to easy to hit, so you have to be careful how you rest it, or hold it-The case won't hold the pump when the hose line is attached, there isn't enough room unless you crimp the hose-The plastic lid on the fluid container needs to be seated just right, but not too tight, then it's rock solid and holds a vacuumOther than that, it worked a treat and my brakes are are solid and feel great. The only issues I had with air bubbles were not from the hose to bleed screw connection, they were from the threads of the bleed screw. There are a variety of suggestions in the manual to fix that, i just got lucky I supposeOverall - it was less than the dealer quote, so I'm ahead, and I can recommend this product

this is a high quality vacuum/pressure pump, with a nice assortment of lines and connectors. it's great for testing vacuum operated devices in automotive, like purge solenoids and egr valve, but not that great as a one man brake bleeder. yes, it will get some fluid flowing out a bleed port, but not with enough volume to be able to determine if you have removed all the air. tried it on a few different vehicles but ended up resorting to the old 2 man method on each and good thing, as there was still air left on each. still, a very useful tool.

It seems to be solidly made, but it you aren't careful there is a pin that keeps the handle attached to it and it can come out and lose it very easily. I spent 30 minutes trying to find it and put it back on. I can only pump a to -25inHg vacuum, I was hoping to get to -30inHg but I made what I was using it for work. I also had to put zip ties around the hose and fitting to keep a steady vacuum.

vacuum and psi dual combo gun.

Works okay. doesn't seem to work as well for longer brake line lengths. didn't work on the rear brakes on my subaru, but perfectly fine on the front., but may work fine on a motorcycle. makes bleeding brakes by ones self slightly easier.

Seems okay and have used it with some success in bleeding brake and clutch lines. My. Avian problem with this is that the metal pin that holds the handle to the gun keeps falling out and it is really a pain to have to reinstall it. It is removal in order to take it apart to repair the seals but the pod that the pin is inserted into keeps turning and when it gets vertical it falls out. Being about 3/4" long also makes it hard to find sometimes. I have on every single job spent more time fiddling with the pin than working on the job itself. I called tech support but they don't consider it an issue. Others have called about it but evidently not enough to warrant a fix. If any one else has had this problem and solved it let me know. I am looking for some type of removable glue/adhesive that I can use to hold the pin in and stil take it apart later if needed.

Didn't work that great for bleeding brakes, seemed to really, really struggle (maybe I just had a lot of debris in the lines), but worked just fine for pressure testing coolant system, as well as vacuum testing EVAP system through the service port.

We are using these to create vacuums in flasks for a teaching lab and have only used them once. Unfortunately the highest vacuum we need is right at the maximum vacuum the system is rated for. Because of that, it seems like that caused several to quickly stop working. I was able to fix 2 out of 3 by re greasing the inside, just by trial and error. The manual is great for telling you how to use it for various uses like bleeding brakes, but very weak in the instructions for the actual pump itself. No troubleshooting guide, no instructions of how to take it apart (even though there are rebuild kits available), no description of the parts despite having a exploded view in the manual. Sturdy outside, lots of miscellaneous attachments that we don't use, but would be helpful for those that need them. Nice sturdy case also.

No good for bleeding brakes on pick-ups with ABS. Forget about using on pickup trucks with hydraulic booster. Might be OK for ATV or motorcycle. Just bleed your brakes the old fashioned way.Money wasted.

The hose does not seal on the hose barb attached to the tester. How are you supposed to check for pressure or vacuum leaks when your tester is leaking? I had to use the hoses and fitting from my Harbor Freight tester to make this one work! It's also kinda heavy which makes using it one handed difficult. Disappointed.

Really the only purpose I bought this for was to be able to bleed the brakes on my motorcycles by myself. This does not work well for that purpose. It seemed like a good idea, but with so many connections between the bleeder and the gun itself, there is too much air leakage. If it could hold a vacuum it would really be slick. The gun leaks down with the bleeder closed, so I know when I try to bleed the brakes, a lot of the air I see in the tube is being introduced after the bleeder. I tried and tried, thought if I just make sure I close the bleeder before the vacuum gets completely away, it would eventually bleed the brake line. After trying for 2 evenings, I gave up. This looks like a very nice kit, the gauge is great; it even swivels! Feels like a quality tool, but after trying different tips, plugging and replugging lines, trying to get rid of the air leaks; just can't recommend this if you are needing it for brake work.

I ordered this for a reverse bleed job on a difficult clutch slave cylinder, unfortunately this product suffers from cheap quality by the manufacturer. The hand pump itself is a good quality unit the tubing and barbed fittings are fine as well. Where this falters is the cheap plastic vacuum canisters with it. They do not hold vacuum worth their weight. The canister was an extremely tight fit to the point where I thought it would hold vacuum, to my dismay it would not even hold up to 10 psi after 6 psi of pressure it bleeds off slowly to nothing. You can hear it leaking from the canisters lid and the only way to hold more pressure is to clamp tightly on it with your other free hand. I would suggest buying another hand pump or just the hand pump unit and make your own vacuum assemblies from higher grade materials which actually hold vacuum.

I purchased this for the intended use and was happy when I received it quickly from amazon.First thing I did was try to test the mityvac by taking the bottle and putting on the transfer cap (the one with which you can use to hook up to the pump) and noticed that it took some force to turn and lock onto the bottle. Finally got it secured and noticed that the rim looked a bit lumpy. Checked the underside of the cap and saw that it wasn't sealed properly and tested it by placing finger over hose and pumping. Vacuum didn't hold because the misalignment in the cap was not air tight. Removed the transfer cap and tried the storage cap and it was nice and easy. Didn't look like it was misaligned or anything. Needless to say that I couldn't use it for bleeding the brakes and did it old fashion way.I wrote an email to mityvac and told them about the situation and they said that Amazon is not an approved vendor. Yes, the biggest online retailer on the planet is not approved by mityvac for them to send me replacement parts due to a manufacture defect.I've read my great things about mityvac, but if they cannot even warranty something as simple as a transfer cap and maybe the bottle, then it has no use in my toolbox.

I don't write Amazon reviews unless I feel like I really wasted my money on an item.This is one of those items.It may work for engine vacuum testing, but I bought it to bleed brakes, and it cannot perform that task. 30 minutes of squeezing it yielded 2oz of bad brake fluid. Couldn't even finish one set of brakes, much less the other three. If you want to buy this kit so you can avoid asking the wife or neighbor to help you stand on the brake pedal, just bite the bullet and get a second person.I hoped that spending the extra money on a nicer kit would help me avoid the seemingly endless negative reviews on handpump bleeders, but this is in the same bin.It's final test will be to vacuum-marinade my steak. If it can't do that, I'm done with it.

Bleed the brakes on one wheel, and when moving to the next wheel, the handle fell off. After watching a Youtube video, I learned how to reinstall the Piston Rod Pin for the handle, but it quickly fell out again, and this time I couldn't find it. After searching for replacement parts, it looks like this pin is only sold as part of an entire kit, which is ridiculous. In my opinion, if the handle falls off with such ease, it's a huge design flaw, and it's crazy one has to buy an entire kit to get the needed replacement part. I wish I just went with one of the other available brands. I only needed this thing to bleed the brakes on my car.

Used it to bleed a clutch line, Pretty much useless, just get a 100cc syringe by vvw instead, it is way more effective and quite a lot cheaper. The vacuum chamber on the mity vac leaks when back bleeding, plus all of the hoses and stuff tend to leak at the joints.

The pump works nice. But I received MV8500 kit with seven defective hose tapered adapters (see Pic_1).All these adapters (cones MVA6912) were leaking because of fins (see arrows "A"). To better explain the issue I wrapped up one of the adapters with white PTFE thread seal tape and made a photo (see arrows "A" on the Pic_2). The same adapter has the hall (see arrow "B").I asked both seller and manufacturer to replace these adapters but nobody did that. In that case I have to fix them by myself.I can give this product only one STAR feedback because of very BAD customer support and service.

i replaced my ancient plastic mityvac with this new metal one and it's far inferior. the plastic used in the bleed res kit is so soft the cap wont stay on, and the mechanism to hold the lever on the pump twists and comes off while you are using it. i contacted mityvac and they were unresponsive. don't expect this to be any better than the old one, or the harbor freight model.

Arrived with defective plastic bottle, which makes this borderline useless if you're hoping to use this as a brake bleeder.The bottle wasn't broken, it was simply manufactured incorrectly. As in, the lid won't fit. I e-mailed the company and was told that they were aware of the problem, but they refused to replace it, instead inviting me to order a new bottle and lid for about $10.No thanks. Steer clear. There are plenty of cheaper alternatives out there, perhaps run by a company that has a clue about customer service.

I purchased this vacuum pump for the soul purpose of bleeding auto brakes. I thought that it would be a quick, clean, easy way for me to do brakes by myself. It did flush the two rear brake cylinders. It did not actually create a vacuum reading on the gauge. It did suck a huge amount of air around the bleeder screws with the brake fluid. (No amount of grease or liquid gasket material stopped the leaking.) I had to constantly pump the vacuum pump trigger to get the fluid out. The bleed hoses are stiff and the fluid holding container is light.If you are not holding the container in your hand it will tip over and allow fluid to leak into the vacuum gun. It is messy to clean up. And the case that holds everything is so light that the case tips over and spills all the fittings all over the place. I regret ever purchasing this item. (NO matter the cost.) I flushed my front brake calibers the old fashion way. My daughter pumped the brakes while I bleed the fluid through a hose to a container. I strongly recommend against purchasing this item.