TreeLineBackpacker

The Big Agnes Pumphouse, at first, didn’t make any sense to me. Carry more weight to help me pump up my sleeping pad? But then, the genius of it all came to me. Here’s the review.

About the Pumphouse pump

Ever tried to blow up a sleeping pad after climbing a 6000 foot peak? Mustering up the lung power to fill the bowels of a 3.5 inch thick pad 15-20 times can be a dizzying battle in a very literal way. Here comes the Pumphouse to help. You simply connect the Pumphouse to the valve of your pad, catch air in the stuff sack, roll the seal down ( like a dry bag) and squeeze it into the pad. The Pumphouse doubles as a water resistant stuff sack, and can be used as a shower if you’re a few days into your trek and really need a little freshening up. It only weights 1.5 oz, so it’s not going to bust any humps up the mountain. It compresses to near nothing, and costs 20 bucks. It generally takes me about a minute and a half to inflate my pads, after some practice.

What I liked

It works. It really does. A little practice and you’ll be pumping up your pads in about 12 squeezes without passing out from hyperventilating. when not in use, it kept my clothes nestled inside safe and dry after 3 days of rain in the Virginia mountains. If you’re clever, you can actually catch wind inside the Pumphouse  as it breezes through to give you an even larger volume of air per squeeze. You can also use a quick puff of breath before sealing the air inside for added efficiency. Build quality is excellent as you would expect from Big Agnes.

What I didn’t like

It costs money? I really can’t complain at all about this thing.

Overall

I can’t recommend this thing enough. It’s multi-purpose design, incredibly light weight, affordability, and usability make it shine through as one of my favorite products I’ve tested this year. It’s staying with me.