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MC Camping on the Cheap

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Thanks Jason! I ordered one already $43 after tax, selected in store pickup so no shipping charges. My current pad is fine except too small. I move too much while sleeping and will typically coem partially off of it and hit the hard ground waking me up. This Big Agnes is the tall and wide version so exactly what I need.

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SpiritAtBay said:
Poser, Thanks for the Magellan pillow, I used it this past weekend: success! Thanks again.
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Glad it worked out for you!


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SilverBullet said:
Thanks Jason! I ordered one already $43 after tax, selected in store pickup so no shipping charges. My current pad is fine except too small. I move too much while sleeping and will typically coem partially off of it and hit the hard ground waking me up. This Big Agnes is the tall and wide version so exactly what I need.

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I've got a mummy shaped one that I have a hard time staying on at night as well. I've taken to putting inside my bag :lol2:. It takes up a lot of room, but at least I stay put. My tall rectangular one is my fav. Spent a couple nights on it in Nepal and slept better than my room mate did on the "hotel" bed :lol2:

tshelfer said:
Wow, that's a deal. Big Agnes is the Cadillac of inflatable pads.
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Yeah, I love mine. I've never used this particular model, but I'm sure it's great.


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Going to take the 3 year old Academy 3 man, $25 tent for a week of camping for Uncles. Looks like good weather with only a 45 for a low. Need to find that $5 Academy pillow, quick. I could probably get by with my cheapo $8.88 sleeping bag but plan on using a 20 degree bag.

Dang burn bans are so popular now, some are no charcoal, propane only.
 
Picked up my Big Agnes today. Very comfortable and the tall and wide size is great...but dang you got to really huff and puff to inflate these pads. Guess I got spoiled with my self inflating pad. I can live with the extra effort only worried about how it will go after a long day riding and blowing it up at 14,000 ft in CO. Might take a bit longer. My bigger complaint is exhausting the air and rolling the thing up. I've tried many different ways and still a no go back into stuff sack. The pad is baffled in such a way that you cannot just squeeze out the air at the end of rolling it up. There must be some trick to this so asking here. I've tried folding and exhausting in many different ways.

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SilverBullet said:
Picked up my Big Agnes today. Very comfortable and the tall and wide size is great...but dang you got to really huff and puff to inflate these pads. Guess I got spoiled with my self inflating pad. I can live with the extra effort only worried about how it will go after a long day riding and blowing it up at 14,000 ft in CO. Might take a bit longer. My bigger complaint is exhausting the air and rolling the thing up. I've tried many different ways and still a no go back into stuff sack. The pad is baffled in such a way that you cannot just squeeze out the air at the end of rolling it up. There must be some trick to this so asking here. I've tried folding and exhausting in many different ways.

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Well, I "reverse" the blower-upper-thingie (battery powered for bike camping and I keep that in the tent for middle of the night re-puffs for those el cheapo air mattresses that invariably lose their fill) and suck the air out when I want to be able to fold/roll the air mattress as tightly as possible. Dunno how well that would work with pads that have stuffing in them but I think it'd be worth trying.
 
garfey said:
Well, I "reverse" the blower-upper-thingie (battery powered for bike camping and I keep that in the tent for middle of the night re-puffs for those el cheapo air mattresses that invariably lose their fill) and suck the air out when I want to be able to fold/roll the air mattress as tightly as possible. Dunno how well that would work with pads that have stuffing in them but I think it'd be worth trying.
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Well I kinda tried that method already manually. After getting out as much air as I could I tried pulling out more air with my mouth but didn't really do much. Hard to pull a constant vacuum and then hold it to pull more. Guess I'm just not a good sucker. Lol

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SilverBullet said:
Well I kinda tried that method already manually. After getting out as much air as I could I tried pulling out more air with my mouth but didn't really do much. Hard to pull a constant vacuum and then hold it to pull more. Guess I'm just not a good sucker. Lol

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Rofl Rofl
Yeah, I'm not either (*pauses to light another ciggie*) but I don't know that I'd want to be known otherwise. :lol2:

"Hooking up" the air mattress pump "wrong" works like a champ.
 
What's the air valve thing look like. Both my BA pads, I just unscrew it and push the air out, then roll the air out and it goes right back into the included sack.
My mummy pad is only a 2" or 2.5" so it inflates pretty quick, but my other pad is the rectangle Q-core tall, and it takes a bit of lung power to get it filled.


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poser said:
What's the air valve thing look like. Both my BA pads, I just unscrew it and push the air out, then roll the air out and it goes right back into the included sack.
My mummy pad is only a 2" or 2.5" so it inflates pretty quick, but my other pad is the rectangle Q-core tall, and it takes a bit of lung power to get it filled.
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Standard looking valve same as my self inflating Walmart pad. Black plastic twist valve slightly larger than a toothpaste cap. I can get 97-98% of the air out without issue. Last bit required to fit pad in stuff sack is problematic though. typically I would just start folding or rolling to compact and then squeeze out the final amount of air. But on the BA once I do that there is no air passage from air contained inside to the valve to release it. The lengthwise air chambers seems to be only interconnected at certain points and I cannot find the required way to start folding/rolling needed to compress air into one location. Once I do that the air will not release to the valve. Maybe unique to this BA as larger than most and an older model also. Seems like such a simple thing I can't believe an issue but as it is would keep me from ever using it for bike trips.

Interested in the finding of others that bought this exact pad.

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Like Garfey suggested, try an electric pump. My old Stansport air mattress worked great, but no mortal could inflate & deflate that beast with his own lungs - particularly at altitude. Either at Walmart or Target, you can buy a small electric pump (about the size of a large coffee mug) for around $10. It comes with a variety of nozzles for fitting to different mattresses & pads. The pump will suck a pad or mattress right down to its original packing size. It runs on 12V, so I plugged it into the power socket on my VStrom and let it do its thing. The only downside I ever found to the pump was that I had to inflate the air mattress wherever the bike was parked, which occasionally might be in a parking area 50 yards from my tent. But hey, that's a pretty small downside.

A 12V pump wouldn't be much good for backpacking, of course. But hey, that's a subject for another thread.....
 
tshelfer said:
Like Garfey suggested, try an electric pump. My old Stansport air mattress worked great, but no mortal could inflate & deflate that beast with his own lungs - particularly at altitude. Either at Walmart or Target, you can buy a small electric pump (about the size of a large coffee mug) for around $10. It comes with a variety of nozzles for fitting to different mattresses & pads. The pump will suck a pad or mattress right down to its original packing size. It runs on 12V, so I plugged it into the power socket on my VStrom and let it do its thing. The only downside I ever found to the pump was that I had to inflate the air mattress wherever the bike was parked, which occasionally might be in a parking area 50 yards from my tent. But hey, that's a pretty small downside.

A 12V pump wouldn't be much good for backpacking, of course. But hey, that's a subject for another thread.....
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My 12v honker - big blue thing I've had abt 30yrs - has big alligator clamps and does the trick, either way, quickly - off an automotive battery, normally, and it's too large and weird-shaped to pack easily on a bike. But the much smaller battery powered one (4 D-cells) works fine and doesn't wake other folk up if needed to re-inflate the mattress in the wee smalls, in the tent.
 
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tshelfer said:
Like Garfey suggested, try an electric pump. My old Stansport air mattress worked great, but no mortal could inflate & deflate that beast with his own lungs - particularly at altitude. Either at Walmart or Target, you can buy a small electric pump (about the size of a large coffee mug) for around $10. It comes with a variety of nozzles for fitting to different mattresses & pads. The pump will suck a pad or mattress right down to its original packing size. It runs on 12V, so I plugged it into the power socket on my VStrom and let it do its thing. The only downside I ever found to the pump was that I had to inflate the air mattress wherever the bike was parked, which occasionally might be in a parking area 50 yards from my tent. But hey, that's a pretty small downside.

A 12V pump wouldn't be much good for backpacking, of course. But hey, that's a subject for another thread.....
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I was afraid this might be the best solution. I really want to avoid adding another gadget to my required travel items though. I like to pack lean and mean and fit everything camping related into my panniers. I will take a look at Walmart and access the size and use of that small pump. Curious how it will fit over and seal against that larger tapered air valve as cap is not removable. Either that or just buy a double sized stuff sack and not bother trying to get all the air out. But that still won't alleviate my head buzz from blowing the thing up at altitude.

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SilverBullet said:
I was afraid this might be the best solution. I really want to avoid adding another gadget to my required travel items though. I like to pack lean and mean and fit everything camping related into my panniers. I will take a look at Walmart and access the size and use of that small pump. Curious how it will fit over and seal against that larger tapered air valve as cap is not removable. Either that or just buy a double sized stuff sack and not bother trying to get all the air out. But that still won't alleviate my head buzz from blowing the thing up at altitude.

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Well, the eternal trade-off in flyweight camping (both moto camping and backpacking) is size vs. weight. vs. function vs. price. I dumped my Stansport air mattress & pump for a more comfy - and extremely dependable - Coleman. The tradeoff was space. But then, I'm accustomed to carrying a pack on my seat back, so the space difference didn't affect me.
 
SilverBullet said:
I was afraid this might be the best solution. I really want to avoid adding another gadget to my required travel items though. I like to pack lean and mean and fit everything camping related into my panniers. I will take a look at Walmart and access the size and use of that small pump. Curious how it will fit over and seal against that larger tapered air valve as cap is not removable. Either that or just buy a double sized stuff sack and not bother trying to get all the air out. But that still won't alleviate my head buzz from blowing the thing up at altitude.



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Man I hope you can get it figured out. I feel kind of bad recommending the pad and it's not working out as well as you hoped. Though one of the good things about REI is their return policy if it ends up just being more of a hassle than it's worth.



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Fill an air matress and not pass out!
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyK_5B06KhM"]How to Inflate an Air Mattress in 3 Breaths or Less - YouTube[/ame]
 
poser said:
Man I hope you can get it figured out. I feel kind of bad recommending the pad and it's not working out as well as you hoped. Though one of the good things about REI is their return policy if it ends up just being more of a hassle than it's worth.



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Don't be, I'm still happy with the purchase and would buy again even knowing what I do now. Size, quality and comfort is excellent. It might not be my quick overnight pad when traveling but quite often I will set up camp for 2-3 nights and this will definetely get used for those times. I haven't ruled out the compact pump yet either.

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I don’t have a Big Agnes, but have looked at them a few times.
I have had a few pads over the years and some seem to not want to ever fit back in the sack here is my method for most.

1.Open the valve first thing while I’m still laying on it.

2.Fold and roll slowly while allowing the remaining air to escape, if you roll to fast air will not escape the baffles and remain trapped.

3.While you have it rolled down close the valve so air will not reenter.

4.Unroll the pad and start rerolling it tightly until you begin to pressurize the tail end of the roll. You should be 2/3 to ¾ rolled at this point. While holding the roll with one hand open the valve with the other and begin rolling again keeping the pressure until the end. Close the valve and it should fit in the sack.

I believe the key is the second time you roll it down with the valve closed and build pressure, when you open the valve the escaping air causes a scavenging effect that draws all the air out.
 
I used a $25 academy tent this last weekend at Big Bend. It was near 40 and I was just fine. Some wind and little entered the tent with the tarp on.
 
bwdmax said:
I don’t have a Big Agnes, but have looked at them a few times.
I have had a few pads over the years and some seem to not want to ever fit back in the sack here is my method for most.

1.Open the valve first thing while I’m still laying on it.

2.Fold and roll slowly while allowing the remaining air to escape, if you roll to fast air will not escape the baffles and remain trapped.

3.While you have it rolled down close the valve so air will not reenter.

4.Unroll the pad and start rerolling it tightly until you begin to pressurize the tail end of the roll. You should be 2/3 to ¾ rolled at this point. While holding the roll with one hand open the valve with the other and begin rolling again keeping the pressure until the end. Close the valve and it should fit in the sack.

I believe the key is the second time you roll it down with the valve closed and build pressure, when you open the valve the escaping air causes a scavenging effect that draws all the air out.
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Problem is the Big Agnes doesn't work this way due to the way the air chambers are baffled and interconnected. Once you get to final 2/3 - 3/4 rolled up you can open the air valve back up and nothing exhausts even with extreme pressure.

I did buy the $10 Walmart 12V pump yesterday. Bought a piece of vinyl tubing to seal it to the large tapered valve cap. Fills up the BA in about 2 minutes and exhausts it in 4-5 minutes. You can speed it some by compressing it during the process though. Even using the pump it will not exhaust enough air out to easily get back in the stuff sack. But while exhausting and massaging the air chambers I can get enough out finally to just "barely" make it back into the sack. This will be my >1 night pad only now.

Still curious to know the findings of others that bought this exact pad. It could just be me I guess??

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I am having a difficult with my new sleeping bag. It came without a bag and the string to tie it is difficult to use. Do any of you have an easy way to compress and carry your sleeping bags. Folding it flat and using a compression bag? Maybe roll it and use bungies (seems the ends would wear holes into the bag)?
 
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