A flat single ounce is about as mild as electrical inflators for tenting, backpacking and all-around outside enjoyable get at this level in 2026. However that is for a mannequin constructed to carry its personal battery. In case you’re prepared to forego onboard battery functionality for an exterior energy supply, you may dip properly under an oz into double- and even single-digit gram territory. With its all-new AP01 Nitecore bests itself with a weight of simply 0.77-oz (22-g) for a micro-inflator that may refill a sleeping pad in simply over a minute.
Final yr, Nitecore shook up the gram-counting inflator hierarchy when it launched the sleek, 1-oz AP05C, undercutting the favored keychainable Flextail Zero by a fifth of an oz. Much more impressively, it complemented that ever-so-slight weight enchancment with an ever-so-slight airflow fee bump, providing charges as excessive as 200 L/min, up from 180 L/min for the Flextail Zero.
In fact, Flextail did not curl up, again right into a nook and undergo a pummeling, counterpunching with its personal tiny 1-oz inflator just a couple months later. That little workhorse additionally matched Nitecore’s circulate fee claims with the identical 200-L/min estimate.
So the businesses shook fingers on a pleasant tie and let it lie? Not an opportunity.
We’re unsure if Nitecore has any forthcoming sub-ounce inflators with onboard batteries on the horizon, however for now, it sidesteps the problem with a powerful new pump that serves because the light-weight chief of its lineup. The AP01 launches this month to offer ultralight explorers a battery-free design that drops near 25% of the AP05C’s weight whereas additionally growing circulate fee by a tad.
Nitecore
The AP01 weighs in at simply 0.77 oz (22 g) and is a minuscule pod measuring simply 1.6 in (4 cm) lengthy by 1.2 in (3 cm) throughout, leading to an total measurement Nitecore compares to a thumb (although it is undoubtedly a bit thicker and stubbier than the thumb holding it in images).
Nitecore accomplishes this compaction by eradicating the RCR123 battery compartment that sits within the core of the AP05C, powering the AP01 externally through a USB-C enter. Which means you should utilize the two-way USB-C port on a smartphone or standalone transportable energy pack reminiscent of Nitecore’s carbon fiber NB10000 pack, one of many firm’s slimline carbon fiber backup batteries that weighs round 5 oz (143 g) and drops 10,000 mAh price of exportable energy in your pocket.
Nitecore
At one time, we discovered utilizing an exterior battery form of dishonest – positive any electrical gadget could be ultralight and streamlined in the event you ditch the built-in energy supply. Nevertheless it’s actually simply another choice for outside or on a regular basis customers to handle total carry weight. In case you’re already packing a telephone and/or backup battery however do not anticipate to want all the ability, it might make sense to avoid wasting slightly weight with a battery-free inflator. And perhaps meaning you carry an inflator in conditions you may need beforehand blown up your pad the old school method, breath by breath.
It is also price mentioning that the weights of these 1-oz internally powered inflators do not embody the battery itself, which pushes total weight up round 1.6 oz (47 g) as an alternative of a flat ounce.
So the apples-to-apples comparability is between inflators of like varieties, whether or not that is inner battery or exterior. The AP01 is not the lightest on this class, an honor that also belongs to the completely featherlight 8.5-gram (0.3-oz) Alpenblow Micro Inflator. Whereas exceptionally small, that little plug-and-play inflator is properly much less highly effective than the AP01. Alpenblow would not record a circulate fee however estimated fill-up occasions for many sleeping pads vary between three and 5 minutes, in comparison with the 75 seconds Nitecore estimates for the AP01. Alpenblow additionally says its inflator is ineffective for stoking a fireplace because of the non-laminar airflow, whereas Nitecore advertises fireplace stoking as one other use for the AP01.
Nitecore
Whether or not that faster fill-up and further perform is price these additional grams or not is as much as every purchaser. Value-wise, the US$31.95 Nitecore AP01 practically halves the $59.99 Alpenblow Micro Inflator.
The 1-oz externally powered Outzac we checked out a month in the past is a bit heavier than the AP01 but additionally quicker, providing a 350-L/min circulate fee for sleeping pad fill-ups as fast as 30 seconds. It prices slightly extra with current discounted preorder pricing beginning at $45.99.
One other attention-grabbing externally powered possibility is the pendant-like 1-oz Windquester AeroX ultralight USB-C pump, which gives a 300-L/min circulate fee. It costs in at $35.99.
We suppose the ethical right here is that there are sufficient totally different sizes and kinds of micro-pump to actually tailor your option to your very particular wants when it comes to weight, worth and efficiency. Or you might at all times simply save all the cash and grams and use your lungs.
Completely happy purchasing (or not)!
Supply: Nitecore
