How do you inflate your air mattress?

[Glenn MacGrady]

Air mattresses have made a big comeback in the past 20 years and are now very popular for comfort, light weight and packability into a small volume. Here is our own poll from two years ago:

Poll: What do you sleep on mostly when canoe camping?

What type of cushioning/insulating product do you mostly sleep on these days on a canoe camping trip—nothing, a foam pad, a foam/air hybrid like ThermaRest, an air mattress, a cot, a hammock, or something else? I don't believe I ever used a foam/air hybrid. I began with a simple roll of...

www.canoetripping.net

The topic question is how do you inflate an air mattress and how do you evaluate your method or device.

I've always used my lungs, but that gets harder as one gets older, plus lung air contains a high percentage of moisture, which can make an air mattress cold in freezing temperatures. So, I now see all sorts of manual pumps, small electric pumps, and bag-squeeze systems to get ambient air into an air mattress without blowing yourself dizzy.

 

[Sweetfancymoses]

My now discontinued Nemo air mattress has a built in pump. Works very well.

 

[Alan Gage]

I use my breath.

The internal baffles on my NeoAir started to let go after about 150 nights and always wondered if the condensation had something to do with it. The replacement has not shown any issues but it's seen much less use.

Alan

 

[Boatman53]

Both of my sleeping pads came with inflation bags. A very thin material that you use the wind to inflate and then you squeeze that air into the mattress. Those work very well for me.
Jim

 

[Mason]

I use my breath. I have a Klymit insulated mattress, and it's held up at least 6-7 years with several 4-6 week trips, and a number of other shorter canoe and backpacking trips. I've never heard of a noticeable reduction in insulating capacity with breath--it makes sense theoretically, but people use similar mattresses (with additional close-cell pads) in climbing Denali. On my last trip, a fellow had one of those inflating bags--it seemed sort of futzy and no faster than my breath method, and was surprisingly noisy. And then another used a battery operated inflator on a pretty deluxe inflatable--this on a 6 week trip!

 

[Odyssey]

My original self infalting pads benefitted from a few extra puffs from my young lungs. Like the subsequent air pad versions as my lungs have aged I always leave the pads aside at home with open valves, reasoning for better or worse that their interiors will adjust over several months to whatever humidity etc is in this house. I also try to dispell any nightmare thoughts with the first few puffs whilst setting up the first camp of the season...
have any creepy fanged mommy spiders taken up residence in these pad interiors? lol
You don't want to know where my imagination takes me.
Waking up on night 4 with millions of baby spiders crawling out of my nostrils...and my wife making me sleep outside for the rest of the trip.
So. A couple years ago I bought a small battery powered pump inflator/deflator for air mattresses of all sizes. I've found it lasts a 1 week trip no problem and recharges USB. A gadget that works. Who'd a thought? But I sleep soundly now.

 

[Johnny 5]

I prefer pump sacks for inflating sleeping pads when remote camping and electric air pumps for inflating them when home or car camping.

 

[kahel]

In the beginning I used these airbags to inflate the air mattresses. For a good two years now, I've had these small electric air pumps that can be recharged via USB.

.

I find them quite practical and - no moist air gets into the mat!
I once had the problem with a mat that mold had formed in the air chambers. That's not nice!

 

[Cheeseandbeans]

My newish Exped mat came with a rechargeable pump. I can get a few inflations before it needs charged. I have a power bank with me anyway. No issues.

Bob

 

[snapper]

I still primarily use my old Therma-Rest self inflating pads. You still need to add a puff or two of air to reach your "perfect" inflation level but it's not a big deal. On the one Nemo pad I have, there's a separate bag that attaches to the pad. From there I "capture" air in the bag and squeeze it into the pad. It works but I've never been able to fine tune the Nemo pad the way I can the Therma-Rests.

That's all for now. Take care and until next time....be well.

snapper

 

[Boatman53]

Is this the pump you all are talking about?

World’s Tiniest Electric Air Pump Is Thumb-Sized and Can Inflate An Entire Mattress in 50 Seconds - Yanko Design

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5r6sGLQBT4 Weighing a mere 1.2 ounces and measuring roughly the size of an adult thumb, the ZERO PUMP might just be deserving of the title of being the world's smallest electric pump but don't let its size fool you. This tiny gadget packs an absolute punch, and...

www.yankodesign.com

Jim

 

[memaquay]

I've got a small rechargable pump too, cost about 20 bucks off amazon, weighs about 3 ounces, pumps air like a truck tire deflating. Very neat little piece of gear!

 

[Gamma1214]

I huff and I puff and I blow the mattress up.

I've recently bought a USB rechargeable pump (Merry Christmas to me) but haven't tried it in the field yet.

 

[billconner]

Exped Schnozzel pump bag for me and my two Exped pads and Exped pillow.

 

[Cruiser]

I also have Exped mattress and use the "Snozzle Bag" ... by far the simplest, most effective inflator I am aware of ... before I got the Exped gear I used a small garbage bag outfitted with a small plastic tube in one corner, sized to fit the mattress, very much like the Snozzle.

Of course I have been using a hammock for ten years now and that is quilts, so no inflation anymore.

Brian

 

[Pseudonym]

Exped schnozzle and I'm always annoyed that I can't quite get the dang thing as full of air as I ever want to....

 

[Patrick Corry]

I mostly use self inflating foam pads, but when I do use an air mattress I use a pump sack then top off with lungs. I'm sure there's probably nasty mold in there though....but I haven't seen any ill effects though!

 

[ppine]

I use Thermarests a lot. I just unroll them and open the valve. A few puffs and they are ready.
I had a fancy Nemo for backpacking. It was light and delicate. My brother's dog punctured it.

 

[PaddlingPitt]

Kathleen and I used thermarests. As advertised, they mostly self-inflated after opening the valve. Then, just a few puffs filled them up. It was actually more effort to deflate them. Had to really scrunch hard on them with our knees, while rolling, to get them small enough to fit back into their cases.

 

[alsg]

I used to use the "schnozzle" that came with my ExPed air mattress, and it certainly works as advertized, although swinging that bag around inside a tent to try to capture a bag full of air is sub-optimal.

Of late, however, I'm using a little rechargeable air pump -- the Flextail Max Pump 2 Pro. It does it so much faster and easier. It is advertised as pumping out 300 liters/minute (79.25 gallons/minute). I assume those figures are no-load, i.e without resistance, but in my experience it will inflate a large air mattress (or large canoe flotation bag) in under a minute. I absolutely love the thing. Rechargeable lithium ion battery (3600 mAh). Reasonably waterproof (IP55). Doubles as a tent lamp, as well. Will also completey de-inflate an air mattress/ air bag @PaddlingPitt

A buddy had one on a recent 5 night Allagash trip. We inflated three separate air mattresses (his, his wife's and mine) each night for 5 nights, for a total of 15 Air Mattress Nights or AMNs -- a unit of measure I just invented -- and it didn't run out of juice. And that experience convinced me to get one. I assume it would be good for one person for at least a two week trip if you inflate the bag once per night and don't use the lamp/lantern.

MAX PUMP 2 PRO - 4-in-1 Portable 3600mAh Rechargeable Air Pump

FLEXTAIL's 4-in-1 electric air pump - MAX PUMP 2 PRO. Easily reaches 300L/min of inflation airflow and up to 4.5kPa of inflation pressure with its tiny size.

www.flextail.com