Exped Mini Pump Wins The Annual Camping Tallywhacker Award

For …umm… reasons, the Exped Mini Pump wins The Annual Camping Tallywhacker Award. “What is the Mini Pump?” you ask. Will it pump you up? The mini pump is a 1.9-ounce (on my scale) pump designed to inflate Exped’s excellent line of sleeping pads. The pump has also been hard to find in the US over the last couple of years. It’s finally coming back in stock at stores.

For several years, I’ve been using an Exped sleeping pad. The new version is the Exped Ultra3. It’s by far my favorite of all the pads that I’ve tested. As a side sleeper, the long air tunnels feel extremely comfortable and the thickness prevents bumps on the forest floor from causing discomfort. So far, I haven’t had any issues with durability. I got the mummy version to save a few ounces, but the rectangular version would keep your arms on the pad better.

The Annual Camping Tallywhacker Award goes to products that appear to look like, well, um, junk but actually work well even though you are forced into using them because the other options don’t work as well.

The Annual Tallywhacker Award

Why do you need it?

At any rate, if you have an Exped pad, the Exped Mini Pump pumps it up. The pump connects to the pad via a valve called the Schnozzel. Exped makes various ways to pump up their pads via the Schnozzel, including pillows, pumps, electric pumps and stuff sacks. For the stuff sacks, I’ve found the sizes a little off based on what I’d prefer. My favorite size is the Schnozzel UL in small. The Schnozzle UL pumps up the pad quickly, but I’d prefer it to be smaller for the quilt I use. I’ve even tried an electric pump from Amazon. It works well, but it’s just another electronic thing to deal with when on trips.

The Exped Mini Pump sort of “solves” the problem. It allows me to use my preferred size of stuff sack for my quilt, which in turn makes packing my portage pack easier. The only downside is that it weighs 1.9 ounces and serves a single purpose. It only pumps up the pad. Ideally, I’d prefer Exped introduce a XS Schnozzel UL.

Using the Exped Mini Pump

Using the pump is straight forward. After it self inflates, you put the palm of your hand over the hole in the top of the round sack part and push down. Then you release and air is sucked into the hole. Then you cover it. You pump. Then you release. Then you pump. It’s this non-stop pumping action that inflates the sleeping pad.

For my pad, it takes about 90 pumps to fill it. If you pretend to practice CPR on the pump, Stayin’ Alive’s tempo is 103 beats per minute, so you’ll inflate your pad in about one minute while getting your heart racing. It’s less work with the Schnozzel stuff sacks, but it takes about the same amount of time.

Overall

The Exped Mini Pump works well. There’s not much to complain about other than the missing XS Schnozzel UL pump bag. I guess one could complain about its appearance, but who makes those types of jokes in this day and age?