I have this item and agree with the rest of the reviews. It is definitely loud. However, it did the job for the inflatable pool toys and air bed. I decided to purchase a rechargeable one though so I dont have to be confined to one spot.

It works, but soooooo loud. My daughter(2 y.o.) freaked when we used this to fill her inflated castle. Not pleasant for grownups either.

I purchased this pump for a very specific purpose , for which it is useful: I wanted to have something handy to use to blow up a portable air bed esp the type that has only the large airfill opening. I wanted something fast that plugs in ( works on normal electricity as opposed to battery operated). When we have company/extra kids staying at our house or if we go visit our kids at college or my mum in her one bedroom apartment we just take the airbed and that pump along. I do concede that this pump is way too loud, however. It makes a very high pitched screaming/whine that upset my 70 year old mother the first time we used it at her place. She was sure the neighbors would hear it in the next apartment, so its good this pump only took a minute to do its work . A good suggestion already mentioned is to wear ear plugs or other ear protection. Also two persons would be helpful as you need 4 hands to hold everything: mattress, pump and nozzle and cover your ears all at once. The cord is too short as well. But for blowing up an airbed, it works quickly, say 30 - 60 seconds only , which sure beats using a foot pump .

The pump works well enough, but it produces a horribly houd screeching motor sound. It terrified all the children--definitely not worth it!!

Not sure if all pumps are this loud...but goodness this one is so loud it hurt my ears...also the attachments that come with it (for different size holes) are not affixed to the pump so you have to hold the attachments on the blower while it is filling up the item and the cord is not on the side of the pump, it's on the bottom so you cannot even set the pump down while it is inflating the item. It is just a bit awkward. I used it to blow up an inflatable Castle for my 20 month old and there are several areas to blow up and some of them are a bit awkward and trying to hold the pump AND hold the attachments on the pump with one hand was a bit aggrevating.