What have you bought for the tent today?

[Vantage]

YACF has one of these threads as a sticky. Hope this one works as well.

Soooooooo, today I've bought...
A Trekology Aluft UL80 mat and a Trekology Aluft 2.0 pillow and a Flexigear pump to inflate them with.
The mat and pillow are well known in camping circles and generally well thought of. I'll be testing those myself during the week garden camping.
The pump on the other hand isn't as well known from what I gather.
£25 from Amazon, its a Chinese thing which uses a 3600 mah built-in rechargeable lithium battery. Even has a proper slider switch. None of that touch button crap.
It's a wee bit noisy but it's powerful. Had the pillow up in 15 secs and the mat fully inflated in 40 secs. Apparently it'll run for 40 mins on a full charge from a supplied micro usb cable, but no plug. Small too and weighs 150g. It comes with some various adapters for blowing things up and a little storage bag. Also available in grey (no more it seems) white or orange.
Handy if you have breathing difficulties or your site is at the top of a big steep hill. Or if like me, you're just plain lazy

 

[HobbesOnTour]

First off, well wear and I hope you get lots of use out of them - and share some of the stories with us!

I have visions of next year and Vantage Snr. looking on jealously as you set up your new tent and new gear

I dislike your use of the word "lazy". I prefer to use "conservationist" - you're simply conserving your energy for more important tasks like pouring Guinness into a cooking pot!

What encouraged you to change/upgrade the sleeping mat?
I considered that before my trip and couldn't reconcile myself to the ultra thin materials being used. In one store I tried lying down on one (they thought I was mad) but the noise was really irritating and "rustly" in nature - not the kind of sound conducive to a good night's sleep in strange places.
A lot of them had a bag for inflation which just seemed like a lot of faff.
A pump is a good idea but I've never understood why there isn't an adapter for a bike pump to inflate them. Can you use your new pump to inflate tyres?

Looking forward to hearing about the garden camping. I'm sure I read something about that before

Happy Camping!

 

[chriswoody]

After years of using rolled up clothes, I got to the point where it was giving me back and neck ache, so I bought a pillow earlier this year.

It's a sea to summit ultralight and is really comfy, I should have done it years ago. It has velcro tabs that lock onto my sea to summit ultralight sleepmat so it doesn't move whilst I'm sleeping.

The stuff sac for the sleeping mat inflates both the mat and the pillow, it takes a little getting used to the technique, but once you have it, it's a real breeze to inflate them.

 

[chriswoody]

A pump is a good idea but I've never understood why there isn't an adapter for a bike pump to inflate them. Can you use your new pump to inflate tyres?

Talking of using your pump, I've not come across mats and suchlike doing it, but I did read about a new Vango tent that uses an airbeam instead of a pole, which inflates through a Schrader valve. I was pretty intrigued but couldn't find much on the net about them.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Talking of using your pump, I've not come across mats and suchlike doing it, but I did read about a new Vango tent that uses an airbeam instead of a pole, which inflates through a Schrader valve. I was pretty intrigued but couldn't find much on the net about them.

It's a couple of years since I did any serious looking, and the thought never crossed my mind until @Vantage post.
I know there's a US tent for bike touring/bikepacking (shorter pole segments and a hook for a helmet) and MSR did a tent with a "garage" for a bike. There's obviously a recognition that touring on a bike is a market segment.

 

[Ajax Bay]

new Vango tent that uses an airbeam instead of a pole, which inflates through a Schrader valve

Nice idea (Vango Airbeam Flux 200) but weighs a ton (well twice and more as much as a compact lightweight tent with poles). USP is that it's easy and quick to pitch (so meets the Hobbes 'energy conservation' test (see above)).

 

[matticus]

There's obviously a recognition that touring on a bike is a market segment.

Most people at a campsite have driven there. So I would think that a large number of lightweight/small tents would be bought by cycle-campers - I get the impression that only alpine climbers care more about light weight.

 

[HobbesOnTour]

Most people at a campsite have driven there. So I would think that a large number of lightweight/small tents would be bought by cycle-campers - I get the impression that only alpine climbers care more about light weight.

I'm sorry, I'm struggling to understand your point?

I think it's interesting that a company like MSR design and release a bike touring tent but don't carry the logic through to the rest of their range, for example, having a sleeping mat inflatable with a bike pump.
It would be a marketing dream - tent, mat, pillow all from the one brand. A one stop shop for the aspiring bike tourist.
I'm not saying that it's something I would go for. I mean their competitor has a tent with a hook for a helmet - not something I'd think is particularly important.

An adapter to inflate a mat with a pump would be very attractive to me. My "old" thermarest is not compatible with the stuff sack as a pump and in zero degrees or colder I have to balance the potential damage done internally by adding to the self inflation or sleeping on a less than fully inflated mat.

I'm not an engineer but it seems like there could be a market for an add-on device, even for "conservationists"

 

[matticus]

I'm just saying that the proportion of tent users travelling by bike may actually have *increased* in recent years!

So yeah - probably a significant market segment (at the lightweight end).

An adapter to inflate a mat with a [bike] pump would be very attractive to me.

Yup, makes sense to this cyclist!

 

[Vantage]

Howdy Mr Hobbes!
Why the change? Well, my shoulders really. They're knackered. Dunno why, the doc said it was because I hadn't worked for so long that those particular muscles weren't being used. But its not like I'm sitting around on my arse all day. I keep myself busy. Pams already made the obvious jokes about that
I'm a side sleeper so all mats so far have had the issue of my shoulders hitting the ground and being in even more pain the following day. The previous mat, a Klymit Insulated Static V Lite (why can't they use shorter names for these things?) had an r rating of 4.2 (I think) but it was only about 2 inches thick so my hip and shoulders were feeling the cold as they rested on the ground. And despite the side baffles which were supposed to keep me from sliding off the mat, I slid off the mat. Pfft.
Soooooooooo, I was reading someone's review of the pillow and they were saying how it was big and soft and perfect for their shoulder issues. Ding dong! So I looked into it and the mat was amazon's recommendation (as they do). I looked into that too and saw a YouTube review from some big guy who also had you guessed it, bad shoulders! He (and others) commented on how comfy the mat is and especially mentioned how the curve in its profile kept them from sliding off. Plus, it rolls up smaller than the Klymit and weighs less. It's damn long though! I'm only 5'4!
The pump. I'll start by saying that inflating a mat and pillow leaves me feeling lightheaded/dizzy and is not a pleasant feeling at all. Specially at the end of a long cycling day.
I made my own inflating sack similar to those of thermarest/exped etc for the Klymit and decathlon pillows. It worked quite well. A Karrimor drybag with a hole in the bottom and a bit of water hose glued and taped into place to fit the air valves of mat and pillow.

I suppose I could have adapted it to fit the new bed and pillow but tbh, I just couldn't be arsed I looked at those offered by exped etc. Pricy? Jeeeeeeeez! £35 for a nylon bag of air. F that. Trekologies own bag was cheaper but really small. Coleman and others made pumps, but alot of reviews said they were cheap crap and prone to breaking. Then I saw this little Chinese one with quite a few good reviews.
Unfortunately it has nowhere near enough muscle to inflate a bike tyre. I actually did wonder about that possibility. Never mind.
Bike pumps and sleep mats. Nope. They don't put out anywhere near enough air. I made an adaptor to use my bike pump on an earlier pillow. It took forever.
I suppose a good track pump for volume rather than pressure might do it, but who in their right mind lugs a track pump in their panniers?

 

[Vantage]

I dislike your use of the word "lazy". I prefer to use "conservationist" - you're simply conserving your energy for more important tasks like pouring Guinness into a cooking pot!

Speaking of pots, I've bought some new ones too
These are smaller than the ones I brought along on the tour as those were just too big really.
It's a 2 pot set in titanium which cools down quickly so I don't burn my mouth off when drinking coffee and the fact that I can use one as a mug means it's less likely to topple over and spill said coffee all over the damn floor... again.
The other one will hold the Guinness

 

[Vantage]

It's a couple of years since I did any serious looking, and the thought never crossed my mind until @Vantage post.
I know there's a US tent for bike touring/bikepacking (shorter pole segments and a hook for a helmet) and MSR did a tent with a "garage" for a bike. There's obviously a recognition that touring on a bike is a market segment.

Wild Country (Terra Nova) designed their latest Zephyros 2 Compact with the cyclist in mind. They specifically stated that they shortened the poles and subsequent pack size so it could be stuffed into panniers.

 

[Blue Hills]

Yesterday, yet another light drybag - extra large for sleeping gear on the top of the rack - surely have enough by now.

 

[Blue Hills]

Speaking of pots, I've bought some new ones too
These are smaller than the ones I brought along on the tour as those were just too big really.
It's a 2 pot set in titanium which cools down quickly so I don't burn my mouth off when drinking coffee and the fact that I can use one as a mug means it's less likely to topple over and spill said coffee all over the damn floor... again.
The other one will hold the Guinness

mm - careful with the titanium thing vantage - it's my understanding that it's a poor conductor for cooking - I'm no scientist but that may be kinda related to its fast cooling. That design is very common in more humble materials - i got one for a fiver from Trespass.

 

[Blue Hills]

First off, well wear and I hope you get lots of use out of them - and share some of the stories with us!

I have visions of next year and Vantage Snr. looking on jealously as you set up your new tent and new gear

I dislike your use of the word "lazy". I prefer to use "conservationist" - you're simply conserving your energy for more important tasks like pouring Guinness into a cooking pot!

What encouraged you to change/upgrade the sleeping mat?
I considered that before my trip and couldn't reconcile myself to the ultra thin materials being used. In one store I tried lying down on one (they thought I was mad) but the noise was really irritating and "rustly" in nature - not the kind of sound conducive to a good night's sleep in strange places.
A lot of them had a bag for inflation which just seemed like a lot of faff.
A pump is a good idea but I've never understood why there isn't an adapter for a bike pump to inflate them. Can you use your new pump to inflate tyres?

Looking forward to hearing about the garden camping. I'm sure I read something about that before

Happy Camping!

i share your suspicion of ultralight stuff hobbes. One of the main bikes I use for tours (but nothing like your epics) is a quality bit of vintage steel but isn't light. Some bloke in a bike shop I popped in on one tour lifted it for some reason and, thinking he was being cute, told me it was very heavy and I needed I new bike. I shot him what I hope was a withering look.

good thread start vantage - look forward to some interesting (and I suspect some bonkers) stuff turning up - have thought for years that outdoor kit shops are the last refuge of the mad inventor.