Takes the guess work out of inflating and deflating your board. I just got my board and never attempted to use the included hand pump, but I am going to go ahead and guess that the electric pump is way faster and more accurate. It took no time at all to inflate and I felt confident the PSI was correct. When it was time to deflate, it was fast and really helped to make the fold up and storing process easy. The machine is easy to use. I hemmed and hawed about spending $100 on this, but after using it, I don't regret it at all.