UKC

Sleeping mats with built in hand pump - are these the most useless piece of camping equipment ever?

It takes about 3 minutes of low intensity effort to blow up a lightweight camping mat using just my mouth and lungs. Yet someone has thought it worthwhile to build in a handpump which is largely unusable and adds bulk and weight, and makes it a pain in the bum to roll up and put in the carry bag.

I accidentally bought one and didn't notice I'd picked up the one with hand pump till I'd returned home (home being Norway and the shop being in Canada) so it wasn't worth exchanging.

It is soooooooo crap and annoying. However I feel I need to take it a few more times to justify the cost before I melt it on the campfire.

This is the evil beast:
http://www.mec.ca/product/5025-651/mec-reactor-summer-pump-pad/

Anyone have anything more useless?

In reply to JuneBob:

You can buy a spork for about 2 quid which is quite handy. But some idiot thought, I know. This cheap very replaceable, hard to break item which is better than I knife fork and spoon due to combining all to save weight, needs a case!!! And it costs 5 quid! Just buy 3 sporks and when one breaks, start using the next.

In reply to JuneBob:
My Exped Downmat 7 is the one with the built-in hand pump. I'd previously used one with the pump sack. In the confines of a rather cramped snowhole, the built-in pump design was great

I must have had more useless things, as they ended up at the charity shop or on freecycle.

In reply to JuneBob: Carpets for tents - like seriously, why go camping if you're gunna take a carpet with you?!

http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/kalahari-10-carpet-p153171

In reply to JuneBob:

I thought that the idea of the handpump was that you didn't blow moisture into the camping mat?

In reply to Morgan P:

If you are going to take a carpet another essential piece of equipment is one of these in case your neighbours come visiting

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/home-appliances/vacuum-cleaners/handheld-vacuu...

Obviously you will ask them to take their shoes off at the door.....

In reply to ebygomm:

Yes, especially those with down fillings, so not so stupid.

In reply to CharlieMack: I happen to own a spork and spork case. I resent your tone sir! I'm tempted to buy one of those lovely titanium sporks.

In reply to Trangia:

That just opens the door to a whole range of things

...what about the portable kitchen sink and drying rack?!
http://www.campist.com/archives/gsi-outdoors-camp-gourmet-kitchen.html

In reply to Morgan P: I'm planning on getting a wood burner for my tent... a carpet would be the icing on the cake!

BW

In reply to JuneBob: titanium collapse-able chopsticks, they used to be sold in snow and rock. just soo little need on so many levels. 1. why titanium wood or plastic would be just as light. 2. why collapse-able chopsticks dont take up to much room. and 3. why chopsticks no one camping thinks ahh if only i had chopsticks.

In reply to JuneBob:

erm caravans, something to slow your car down and waggle it about, catch flies and somehow not be high enough to stand up straight inside

In reply to JuneBob:

A mallet for tent pegs, or one of those tent peg puller outers from the ground.

In reply to Baron Weasel: ahaha wood burner - the wonder of good old odourless, never-did-any-harm-to-anyone carbon monoxide..

What about a camping washing machine?
http://www.equipoutdoors.co.nz/contents/en-us/d775_Camping_Washing_Machines...

In reply to The Lemming:

I have a rubber peg mallet with a peg puller-outer built in! I've been the envy of many festival goers in the past!

In reply to The Norris:


Isn't that like discovering the New World and offering the locals shiny beads for all their gold?

In reply to JuneBob:

solar(heated) camping showers. I see the idea of the camping shower things but making them black on the asertion that the sun will heat the water. There sold in scotland, the water will freeze before the sun gets a chance!

In reply to JuneBob:

Allegedly, Bear Grylls thinks all camping/bivvying equipment is rubbish. That's why he never uses it and stays in luxury hotels instead.

In reply to JuneBob:

We camped beside a family in Llangollen that had a deep fat fryer with them.

In reply to Morgan P:

Got one. Makes the floor feel quite a bit warmer, which is good when the kids are crawling roujnd it, and keeps my feet warmer when walking round the tent getting the baby to sleep.

In reply to The Lemming:
I used to think that, until the other day pitching my car camping tent, made it so much easier and prevented bending the pegs, also made it less painful getting the pegs out.

In reply to Nutkey:

But it's not really in the spirit of camping (with nature and 'back to basics') in my eyes. I'm of the same opinion for airbeds

In reply to JuneBob:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001DYRXUC/

In reply to JuneBob: ooo what about a portable picnic table if you are worried about seating arrangements where you're going?

http://www.camping-gear-outlet.com/camping-gear-49361.html

In reply to Morgan P:

You might like this: -

http://www.creditwritedowns.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/Hairshirt.jpg

In reply to JuneBob: ...the wife!

In reply to The Norris:

Surely it's easiest to use a peg crosswise through the stubborn peg to get it out? Mallets and levering tools - whatever next?

In reply to Morgan P:

So what? My tent. my spirit. It's more comfy, and it fits in the car. Driving to a campsite is hardly back to basics.

I go wild camping too. I don't take carpet for that. And one day, hopefully, I'll take the kids.

In reply to JuneBob:

gotta hold my hands up i brought a tent carpet!! nice and warm on the feet
i only had issues trying to fit the gripper and underlay!!!!

In reply to TimhNorthBASE:

You can still get them here...
http://www.alpkit.com/shop/cart.php?target=product&product_id=16303

In reply to winhill:

Yep. That was the first thing I thought of.

In reply to deepsoup:

Haha yes, me too. Was once camping where someone had one. Didn't even work.
Now, a campervan with a decent grill is far better for cheese on toast!

In reply to MJ:

That'll camouflage me perfectly while I'm in my tent
http://www.catalogs.com/info/bestof/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/5-Shelter.jp...

In reply to JuneBob: A white plastic battery operated candelabra to put on the camping table at dinner - I kid you not. We bought it as a joke...wish I still had it now....

In reply to TimhNorthBASE:


Maybe titanuim has a better strength/weight ratio. Also aesthetically pleasing?


Even less room if they're collapsed


They probably do if they're Japanese. Snow Peak, if it was they who made the chopsticks you're thinking of, is a Japanese company, and so it seems logical that they'd make a version of the standard eating utensil for sale to Japanese campers.
Plus, it has to be said, the Japanese do seem to go nuts for 'high tech' gizmos, regardless of what they are.
The real question is why they thought there'd be a market in the UK?








I've occasionally wished I had a set

In reply to nufkin:

Actually I can think of perfectly good reasons for collapsible camping chopsticks:

1. Because they collapse they'll fit into a small stove set. For the same reason I have collapsible sporks which mean I can carry an entire stove, gas cannister and cooking pot in a tiny micro set (yup bought from Japan! ).
2. If you don't collapse chopsticks they are more easily broken, especially if floating around a rucksack full of gear.

I like using chopsticks when camping. Heat up some noodles and off you go.

In reply to SteveCarter:

Quick someone pass me a cloth... I just spat my coffee over my keyboard...
Brilliant...

E

In reply to Nutkey:
No need to wait too long. We also started car camping with babies, but took our youngest son bivying on a frosty Septembers night when 3 years old, and on a week long trekking trip in Sweden when 7. A good children´s sleeping bag is worth a lot.

CB

In reply to Tall Clare:
I use a (slightly adapted) tent peg puller for tightening and slacking laces on a pair of walking boots! There is or was a version specifically made for snowboard boot laces which was quite expensive and so I pinched the idea of using a tent peg puller adapted for mountain boot laces!

In reply to winhill:

Those were invented by a gas canister company to boost sales

This type work well if you don't have a grill

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gelert-CUT118-Folding-Camping-Toaster/dp/B000QH2V40

In reply to cb294:

You've rekindled my interest. I was thinking about doing it a couple of years ago when she was 2, but then we had our second. Now the eldest capable of walking a reasonable distance though, I might take her up somewhere myself, if we ever get some decent weather.

In reply to Tall Clare:

I've always used tent pegs to get pegs out again, but mallets are really handy for stony ground.

You don't want to go on a long camping trip and struggle with pitching after a day's journey if you've room for a mallet. The mallet came in handy on a month's family camping holiday around Europe when I was a kid. Quite a lot of tent pitching.

In reply to David Barratt:

the spoon part is too wide for my liking, unless you have a big gob?

In reply to andic: Perhaps you have a small one? ()

In reply to Timmd:
I tend to use a stone as a mallet on stony ground, there are usually lots of them around.

In reply to JuneBob:

My Ultra Quaser came with titanium pegs which are about as useful as hat pins ! What is it about supposedly performance tent manufacturers that gives them this blind spot to pegs ? other tents I've had had pegs which were so soft they might as well be made of cheese.

In reply to Morgan P:

Also toilet blocks, sleeping bags, stoves, tents, cars etc.

I think the "spirit of camping" is rather different depending on whether you're talking about bivouacing under a rock in the middle of the Cairngorms or car camping for a week in the Lakes, and I do find it a bit funny when people pack as if they're doing the former when they're clearly doing the latter.

In reply to Jim C:

For the family tent, the mallet is way more reliable than the odd random lump of irregular shaped rock which may or may not have been strategically placed to cover a dog turd.

I'm a firm believer in the mallet !

In reply to SARS:
Surely the chopsticks will be designed and made for eating bento - Japanese packed lunch boxes that you take to work/school etc, and picked up as a product line by camping shops rather than for camping specifically!

In reply to GrahamD:

Those rubber headed ones are useless

I use a worn out copper headed engineers mallet with the handle cut down so that it fits in the peg bag.

In reply to JuneBob:

cardboard wardrobes.

In reply to Ramblin dave:
"I do find it a bit funny when people pack as if they're doing the former when they're clearly doing the latter."

Me too. A friend would always turn up with a bivi bag no matter where we were camping and how we were getting there. This was often also compounded by the the fact that we would often have a massive tent that could everyone in comfortably, but he would rather be laying in what we affectionately called "the slug".

In reply to Jim C:

It depends on the nature of the stony ground, and on the nature of the stones, whether large enough stones for hitting tent pegs with have been cleared to make it nice to camp on, and whether the stones are of a rock which breaks apart when hitting pegs or stays together, and the stones can be buried exactly where the pegs are being put in.

Our family peg mallet is a light wooded one with a wooden handle. Wasn't always needed, but was nice to have for when it was helpful camping for a month in different countries.

We might have to agree to disagree on mallet ethics...

In reply to Timmd:

I've found that where I really needed a mallet (eg Darwin) the ground was too hard for the pegs anyway, doesn't matter how big your mallet is if what you are putting in isn't stiff enough.

In reply to andic:

Fnar Fnar

In reply to andic:

The more expensive the tent, the worse the pegs. Whoever thought that aluminium was good material for pegs for car camping was having a laugh. I'm a fan of those steel skewer pegs with a slight spiral on them and the plastic handles. You can really welly those in.

In reply to GrahamD:

I have some square-cut ones with a little hook cut into them - solid as anything and don't bend out of shape. My friend bought them for me after a camping trip in which my pegs were compared to the teeth of an elderly Romanian - bent out of shape and pointing in all directions.

In reply to JuneBob:
I know some one who used to take their Parrot with them when they went camping - now that was a smelly noisy evil beast especaly after being bounced around in a car for several hours

In reply to steve glasper:
I once camped next to some people who'd brought their cat camping ... friendly little beastie it was too, seemed to like my tent far more than theirs!

In reply to Wingnut:

Apparently I'm 'not allowed' to take our cats camping. This weekend we'll be taking the dog for the first time... :-/

In reply to Tall Clare:
Perhaps you could pretend she's actually a really odd-looking cat?

In reply to Wingnut:
"seemed to like my tent far more than theirs!"
Did you have carpet in your tent?

In reply to steve glasper:


Me too. Either there is more than one person who does that or we know the same person !

My wife and I and our 4 children just sleep on the ground with an old plastic sheet (previously used to cover the veggies when creosoting the fence) over us. That's all you need in my opinion. The only other thing we take is a sack full of gravel in case the grounds too soft. So as far as useless camping kit? Maybe the plastic sheet if it doesn't rain.

In reply to Wingnut:

You haven't lost a really odd looking cat have you?
http://s3-ec.buzzfed.com/static/enhanced/webdr05/2013/5/7/8/enhanced-buzz-3...

In reply to blackmountainbiker:

Luxury! When I was a lad we used to just use the creosote to keep warm. Marvelous how you feel after briskly trying to rub it off! ... and as for gravel, you really should get with the times and update to broken glass these days.

In reply to JuneBob:

the ex girlfriend

In reply to JuneBob:

Balloon bed.

It

is

just

too

much

faff.


but the sounds of half the OMM campsite going pop then "bugger" thruugh night is funny though

In reply to John Rushby:


()

In reply to cb294:

I agree.

My older one wild camped at under two. Admittedly not far from the road, but it did stop the WGL group we were with complained....

And took them both last summer, at 6 and 3. They can't wait to go again

In reply to deepsoup:

Brilliant, can they be used as a straw for "cocktails"