Exped Airmat Pumps Spotlite Review

Another thumbs up for The Schnozz!

I bought an Exped Syn UL 7 last September, after my trusty Neoair delaminated on my last night in GNP. I used the Exped for a few trips in the fall, blowing it up by mouth. Later, I decided to try the Schnozzel out. Sweet way to inflate the pad. However, I've not yet used it as a pack liner, and I'm thinking I still like my cuben liner from Lawson better. The thing is, I'm not sure I want to completely empty my pack in order to get the Schnozzel out to inflate my pad. I'm also not keen on carrying it as a single-use item. So can someone please enlighten me about using it as a pack liner? Is it really no big deal to empty my pack once a day? Maybe if it's raining, I could unload the stuff inside the set up Contrail…

Thanks for squashing my anxieties, Stephen. Looks like I need to rethink my packing technique. For several years, I've tended to place everything in the liner except food (in its own cuben bag). Everything, including things that don't need waterproofing at all (cook pot, filtration setup,, or things that are securely protected by a freezer bag (FAK, toiletries/meds, emergency kit, etc.). If I change the way I pack, I likely can just put only the things that require protection in the Scnhozzel, which mostly will be things I'll need in the tent anyway. I can just unload that stuff inside the tent, inflate the Exped, and then return the Schnozzel to the pack. Seems like this will work. Thanks again.

Need to try this on my Synmat. The little pump pillow only does so much.

Yeah, but I weigh my Thermarest after every trip and the outside dries, and it weighs the same. Bounces around a little, less than 0.1 ounce, but it isn't an ever heavier trend, so must be measurement noise. Less than 0.1 ounce after about 50 inflation cycles.

The moisture in the air is irrelevant. Moisture from your breath goes in, and when you compress your mattress, air goes out carrying some water vapor. Those must balance.

>"The moisture in the air is irrelevant."
>
>I use always use a pump. I can see the drops of water in my Exped UL accumulating >as the trip progresses. Any idea how that would happen?

Actually, moisture in the air is not irrelavent. Compressing air will force water vapour to condense. An extreme example is an air compressor. You will find these need to be bled off (releaseing condensed moisture) once or twice per day depending on how much humidiy is in the air.

Blowing up a mat, with an air pump, is about the same, except lower pressures are involved. Simply blowing it up will tend to condense any moisture inside. If humidity is high, you may very well see some as it condenses.

Temperature has a lot to do with it. On a cold night, blowing it up will also tend to warm it slightly, potentially not seeing any mosture inside it since warmer air will hold more moisture in it. If you let out the air before exiting your bag, ie, having the pad as warm as possible from body heat, it may vent the moisture as quick as you pumped it in the night before. I do this on that assumption. (It also helps to deflate the pad.)

Hi James

> Compressing air will force water vapour to condense. An extreme example is an air compressor.
Well, technically speaking, not quite.

Adiabatic compression warms the air, so that is why the windward sides of mountains are often dry. Think Atacama. Decompression cools the air and precipitates the moisture out: so the lee side of mountains is often wet. Think Amazon.

What is happening in a compressor is that the air cools in the tank after compression – then the water precipitates out. Yes, I have to drain my compressor every now and then.

Otherwise, agree.

Cheers

"How do you get the moisture out of the mat when you get back home?"

Over the course of a day I pump up the mat, place it in a sunny 6' window to warm it, and then deflate it. Then repeating the process when I happen to walk through the living room.

It takes about 6 iterations to dry it out. A Synmat UL 7 is translucent against a bright window and it is obvious when all the beads of water are gone.

When I had a BA Clearview I followed the BA recommendation of hanging the matt with the open valve down, and that worked as well. Slow diffusion I guess.

Other accomplish the same thing by flushing with an aquarium pump.

YMMV

I don't have or use a pump bag or the airmat pumps Exped has but like the idea of being able to pump up my Neoair with a Exped airmat pump – especially the exped pillow pump. It seems unusual to me that someone hasn't figured out how to fashion an adaptor to go on the exped pumps so that you can use it for the better winter exped mats but also for lighter weight summer pads like the neo-air. This forum is always filled with people putting those types of ideas together for all our benefit.

Does anyone have experience or thoughts on how an adaptor could be fashioned to fit onto the exped pumps so they could be used with external valve mats like the Neo-air?