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How do you inflate your air mattress?

I was going to include this in the Odyssey report but guess this works, too. I’ve been a thermarest guy forever, but recently got suckered into buying the new inflatable pad from North Peak Gear. Great ads… It is 4 or 5” thick, holds all 6’2” of me, and has a built in pillow and a built in foot pump. Rolls up to the size of a 1L Nalgene and weighs next to nothing. Comfortable as all get out and if you believe the ads, pretty indestructible. I think if I lost my canoe I could probably float downriver on it. However…. This built in foot pump was designed or included by someone who never spent 20 days camping in the rain in northern Quebec. If you’re setting up in the rain, you aren’t going to throw your pad on the wet ground and stomp on it with your wet muddy boot, then put it in your dry tent. Nor can you pump the pad with your foot while crouching in your tent, especially if you are 6’2”. The first few nights I wound up trying to perform CPR on the pump - I stopped counting after 200 thrusts. Then i tried using my lungs by blowing thru the deflation vent. That worked fine but I still needed to CPR the thing to get it just right. Then there was the issue that the pump and vent are at the foot of the mattress, requiring one to spin the whole thing around inside the tent to locate it properly for bed. Anyway - top marks for comfort but it’s a pain in the arse.
 
Thats odd. My Klymit, Nemo, and Amok pads all deflate with the pump. Sometimes it is a little fiddly getting started.
Oh man, I tried all kinds of techniques to use the Flextail to deflate my Agnes. The pad material is so soft and flexible that it just sucks pad right to the intake. I tried it on low speed too. Same result. I tried each of the adaptors too...no dice.
I even made a small pvc nipple and drilled perforation holes in the tube walls. It still sucked the pad fabric into the intake. If I fooled with it, I could get it to partially deflate, but no faster than just opening the "out" plug. There's no way that it could ever suck out all the air without collapsing the pad with air still trapped in down towards the feet.
The pad is the Agnes double/tent floor pad. Maybe the Flextail would deflate differently on single pads IDK. I still love it for inflating.
 
Oh man, I tried all kinds of techniques to use the Flextail to deflate my Agnes. The pad material is so soft and flexible that it just sucks pad right to the intake. I tried it on low speed too. Same result. I tried each of the adaptors too...no dice.
I even made a small pvc nipple and drilled perforation holes in the tube walls. It still sucked the pad fabric into the intake. If I fooled with it, I could get it to partially deflate, but no faster than just opening the "out" plug. There's no way that it could ever suck out all the air without collapsing the pad with air still trapped in down towards the feet.
The pad is the Agnes double/tent floor pad. Maybe the Flextail would deflate differently on single pads IDK. I still love it for inflating.
Well, I haven't ever tried a BA pad... Sounds like I dont want to... 😁

They make good stuff for bug guys too, a shame. I love my BA chair.
 
My 3 year old Flextail is still going strong, though we only use it a few times a year. I see they're smaller now, maybe stronger?
This was 20 bucks back then. It fits our NeoAir pads, inflate and deflate. Those pads we might be changing.
My only gripe against these things is that they disturb the stillness of the day with their electronic mosquito whiny buzz.
But they're incredibly efficient. Another glamping feature that's crept into our camp lives.
 
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My Exped snozzle bag works great for me. Can be on my knees while squeezing about 7 bags of air but then I like to be able to push my hand down on the pad to the ground as my personal stiffness test.
 
My Exped snozzle bag works great for me. Can be on my knees while squeezing about 7 bags of air but then I like to be able to push my hand down on the pad to the ground as my personal stiffness test.

Concur, the snozzle is very good at inflation, have used them for a long time. The issue come when it's time to deflate, getting all the air on the trail can be a pita. The Flextail can suck the mattress flat fast and packing is a lot easier IMO.

Having said that, I mostly hammock now so it is pretty much only an issue for me when camping with the wife who insists on a tent, then the Flextail is packed.

Brian
 
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