Exped Air Management

bobframe said:
Spoke to Exped customer service yesterday and learned that the Exped Downmats (and I presume other versions such as Synmat too??) have been through a slight change in the size of their valves. Consequently, they sell an adapter for their inflate valves so that current Schnozzels can be used. Perhaps this explains how there could be two very different views of how useful a product such as this can be when used with an Exped mat??
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I have an Exped Synmat 7 that I have owned for a few years. I contacted Exped yesterday to confirm or deny that the Schnozzle would work on my Synmat 7. They said the flat valve adapter would be required. I ordered the adapter which should be here in a few days and am picking up a Schnozzle at the local REI. I will report back on how the Schnozzle/flat valve adpter works with the S7 once I have everything and try it out.
 
Mellow came on in and said-

"If you remove the little orange flap on the inside of the outlet valve, it will deflate very fast."

So what happens after ya take it off? It serves no purspose?
 
Ken H said:
I have an Exped Synmat 7 that I have owned for a few years. I contacted Exped yesterday to confirm or deny that the Schnozzle would work on my Synmat 7. They said the flat valve adapter would be required. I ordered the adapter which should be here in a few days and am picking up a Schnozzle at the local REI. I will report back on how the Schnozzle/flat valve adpter works with the S7 once I have everything and try it out.
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Mine (Adapter and Schnozzel) are on order as well. Hope the reality of it lives up to the videos.
 
BamaRider said:
Mellow came on in and said-

"If you remove the little orange flap on the inside of the outlet valve, it will deflate very fast."

So what happens after ya take it off? It serves no purspose?
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There is a flap (not orange) on my outlet valve, but removing it would not solve the problem of the valve (with or without a flap) potentially releasing a gusher of air pressure when I am lying on top of it. In fact, this is how they demonstrate deflating the pad.

What I am hoping for is that there is a slow, controlled way to bleed off air pressure when I am in the sleeping bag and have my full weight atop the Exped. As is, when I pull the lid on the outlet valve, it will deflate the pad in short order. So I have to exercise caution when fine tuning the air pressure by only "cracking" the valve...and not allowing it to open wide.

Ideally, I want to be able to bleed off a small amount of pressure, take a few seconds to see how I feel about it, bleed some more, etc.... IOW, I want to "sneak up" on the ideal pressure setting. Current outlet valve makes it difficult.

Anyone? Anyone?
 
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This is the video that I tried to link to earlier. It shows how to "bleed" air out of the INFLATE VALVE while resting on the pad to fine tune the pressure. This is exactly what I am trying to do.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpkMexTfWKo

EDIT: I LATER DISCOVERED THAT THE MAT IN THIS VIDEO IS DIFFERENT THAN MINE, WHICH HAS THE INTEGRATED PUMP. NICE VIDEO BUT UNRELATED TO MY MAT.

The video shows him bleeding air from the "silicone flapper" inside the INFLATE valve. I have been trying to bleed air off the DEFLATE valve. Hmmmmmm...time to blow up the mat and see if I can identify the INFLATE valve.

Edit: I tried bleeding air slowly through my inflate valve, as this video shows...doesn't work at all since it apparently was not designed to do so. I expect that this capability is included on newer Downmats and not my older one.

I also tried bleeding air from both valves on my son's newer Downmat (has an orange flap in his deflate valve) and that didn't work (tried both Inflate and Deflate valves)...the second I open the valve cap the air rushes out. Maybe his is newer than mine, but still not the current model as shown in the video. I will call Exped to see what they say.
 
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Update: I called Exped and they assured me that the "one-way valve" built into the integrated pump could slowly bleed air from the pad and accomplish what I was after. And they offer this video to demonstrate it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKwWjXve8sQ&feature=youtu.be

I finally got my son's newer Downmat to do as they suggest in this video...it works as advertised and as I wished it to work- slow, controlled release while perched atop the mat.

But my older Downmat still won't operate as such and Exped happily agreed to have me return the mat to them for a look-see. I think that between being able to do this and to use the Schnozzel, my Exped air management issues are solved.

My apologies to anyone who had already suggested that this method was the answer to my questions. I'm a moron.

And kudos to Exped's customer service...they answer the phone quickly, staff the call center with knowledgeable people, they'll call you back if needed, they take emails and digital pics in their call center...just do it all right the first time. Very impressed with Exped!!
 
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Ken H said:
I have an Exped Synmat 7 that I have owned for a few years. I contacted Exped yesterday to confirm or deny that the Schnozzle would work on my Synmat 7. They said the flat valve adapter would be required. I ordered the adapter which should be here in a few days and am picking up a Schnozzle at the local REI. I will report back on how the Schnozzle/flat valve adpter works with the S7 once I have everything and try it out.
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Reporting back as stated previously. I now have the flat valve adapter and the Schnozzel and have tried them out. First, a correction. I previously stated that I have a Synmat 7. Its actually a Synmat 9 DLX with the integrated hand pump so my mat is one of the larger mats measuring 78" x 26". After fitting the flat valve adapter to the Schnozzel and connecting the Schnozzel to the air intake port where the hand pump is on my mat I inflated my mat as demonstrated in the video below. The guy doing the demonstration stated the mat he was using is a 7 medium which is 72" x 20" and would take 2 -3 inflation cycles to completely inflate the medium mat. For a mat the size that I have it took me 4 - 5 inflation cycles to fully inflate the mat. The 7 medium measures out at 1,440 sq. in. and my mat is 2028 sq. in., a difference of 588 sq. in. Not sure how that measures out as far as the difference of the cubic feet of air volume between the two mat sizes but since my mat is roughly a third larger in sq. in. than the 7 medium I would think that about 4 - 5 inflation cycles would be about right as compared to a medium size mat considering the size difference. Bottom line, with my mattress the Schnozzel along with the flat valve adapter is definitely better than using the integrated pump when inflating one of these mattresses at least for me anyway. YMMV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INHVFeS3uw0
 
Ken,

Just got my Shnozzel and adpater and had a similar experience. The bag is an improvement over the integrated pump, though I found that the bag was good to get the pad to 75% inflated, then finish topping off with a few hand pumps. All this was in my shop...will field test iot this week. Sometimes things that work well in the house are problematic in the confines of a tent, so we'll see.

On the "fine tuning" front, I learned that Exped expects you to fine tune the air pressure on my model by unbuttoning the Inflate valve cap, then squeezing a one-way valve that is positioned next to the integrated pump, then close the Inflate valve. While this works, it's awkward to feel around for it and if the pad is slipped into a Big Agnes bag, I think it could be hard to access this. Why can't they make it simple like Nemo and Big Agnes do? Here's Nemo's approach-it starts at :49 (Big Agnes uses an almost identical twist open valve to slowly bleed air off)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DHmQ7cxkNg

Not to be nitpicky, but I can't stand up in my tent...which makes a foot pump less than ideal. Looks like it could be another two hand pump situation to me.

Here's the Big Agnes insulated Q Core pad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C-t7kUwAarM
 
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bobframe said:
The bag is an improvement over the integrated pump, though I found that the bag was good to get the pad to 75% inflated, then finish topping off with a few hand pumps.
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Bob- please report back after you try it in the tent. I evaluated it in my living room. For the purposes of my evaluation I fully inflated the Exped and Im guessing it will take 5 cycles to complete that most of the time. However, like most people I don't use the Exped fully inflated so I figure I will have it where I want it in 4 cycles using the Schnozzel. I will keep that in mind about your suggestion of using the hand pump to fine tune the amount of inflation. Im glad I discovered the Schnozzel. It is a quicker and much less laborious way to inflate an Exped.
 
The good news about the Schnozzel is that it is made from uber-lightweight material and can also function as a waterproof compression sack. Nice that it "pulls its weight".
 
After talking to Exped Customer Service about my Downmat's inability to bleed off air pressure using the "one-way valve" built into the integrated pump, they suggested that I return it for inspection. Today I received this email from Exped's customer service:

Hi Bob,

I wanted to let you know the Downmat 9 sleeping mat arrived to us this afternoon. I don't know the exact cause, but the one way valve inside the pump isn't allowing air to flow through as we would expect. I'm pretty confident this is why you are not able to bleed some air out of the mat as demonstrated in the video. We'll have a new mat shipped to you in a few days.

The new mat should resolve the issue. Please let know once you have received the new mat and tried bleeding some air from it. I want to confirm everything is fine.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Best Regards,
Dave Perella / Director of Customer Service & Logistics


World class service if you ask me.
 
Great customer service! That's comforting since I just bought a Synmat 7. I haven't slept on it yet. I will give it a try this weekend at The Hub.
Mike
 
Bug Dr. said:
Great customer service! That's comforting since I just bought a Synmat 7. I haven't slept on it yet. I will give it a try this weekend at The Hub.
Mike
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How can you even think about going to the Hub without us Bug???
 
Ken H said:
Bob- please report back after you try it in the tent. I evaluated it in my living room. For the purposes of my evaluation I fully inflated the Exped and Im guessing it will take 5 cycles to complete that most of the time. However, like most people I don't use the Exped fully inflated so I figure I will have it where I want it in 4 cycles using the Schnozzel. I will keep that in mind about your suggestion of using the hand pump to fine tune the amount of inflation. Im glad I discovered the Schnozzel. It is a quicker and much less laborious way to inflate an Exped.
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Last night was the Schnozzel's outdoor debut....I was camped at Iron Horse Campgrounds. I used it through two power cycles and realized that 1) there's no free lunch- this does require some effort and 2) the (coated nylon) Schnozzel will slide around on the bottom of a (coated nylon) tent which makes forcing the air out of the bag and into the lifeless Downmat something like a greased pig contest. Still, I think with some practice, the Schnozzel has merit. I did finish pumping the mat by hand.

Good news...the Schnozzel is miniscule when deflated and, as a waterproof bag, can serve many other functions (Hint: it makes a great boot cover at night).
 
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Bob-
Thanks for the report. In spite of your first time experience in the field with the Schnozzel I would think it still has to be a better way to go than the Exped built in hand pump.
 
Bob, I hope it works better for you with more tries.
I was going to order one till I saw that the tiny adapter for the older mats is $10,,I guess I'm a tight wad. Someone is making HUGE profit on that part. They prolly drop 4 or 8 every time the mold opens. I'm guessing it costs them 20 cents a part to produce. They must be trying to pay for the mold in a month.
Rant over.
 
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