"Does the pillow pump have a valve that allows air into the pump between push's?"

Raymond,
Nope. No one-way valve, just a "port" with a cap, in the body of the pillow. Very similar looking to what you see on the Stephenson DAM above, but without the flap valve visible at the bottom of the port on the DAM.

I cover the port with my hand as I push down. And when I lift up the foam expands and the air rushes in. It works.

(For pillow mode the port is capped/plugged shut, and the two pieces on the business end of the pillow are mated together to form a seal there.)

Edited by greg23 on 03/20/2010 10:46:57 MDT.

Yeah, these don't have a spring, they rely just on the shape of the plastic to work the belows action. I have another one (of course, as I have twins...) that has a different end that will work on my Exped DownMat 9 and BA DualCore pads. But I need to run a little bead of silicone around it to make it seal. Right now I have to hold my hand around it, but it works. I blew up the DownMat quite easily last weekend.

My kids think it is so funny that I have their old pumps.

Does anyone have any before-and-after experience seam-sealing the bag that comes with the Stephenson? I agree that unsealed it's an incredible PITA, and takes forever.

Raymond,

I have the same pump :) I would like to try this out this weekend with a BAIAC. What is the shark-bite piece made from?

I think the SharkBite tube is made from cross-linked polyethylene (also known as PEX). It is often used as home water piping/tubing. You can buy the same brand material at Home Depot.

Thanks Marc! I am going to look for that today

Edited by heathpitts on 05/10/2010 07:53:45 MDT.

James,
I considered seam sealing the Stephenson bag, but if you close it off and lean on it, it does nto lose much air through the seam. So, IMHO, seal sealing is not going to get you very much, especially when you consider the entire "filling" process.

I got a Pillow Pump. It's fast. It's effective. I like it.

Edit: If you haven't looked back at Page One of this thread, do so. An abundance of pictures and comments.

Edited by greg23 on 05/10/2010 09:01:23 MDT.

Has anyone here tried the Exped shrink bag and pumptube combination? The total of both items would be > 7 oz but for me this might be worth it. This would replace the exercise ball pump and large waterproof liner for my sleeping bag and clothes bag. That is nearly 6 oz in my pack with the existing pump weighing 3.1. I could possibly drop my clothes stuff sack with this combo as well.

I tried the exercise ball pump on my last trip and inflating my big Agnes IAC took as long or longer than simply blowing it up by mouth.

Hopefully someone has tried this shrink bag/pumptube setup and it works great :)

Edited by heathpitts on 05/24/2010 03:00:31 MDT.