Coleman Quick Pump

My husband is a youth pastor. For some reason, it seems that every summer activity with the kids involves sleeping on the ground. When I was a kid, I didn't seem to mind sleeping on the ground. At most, I had a foam bedroll, and that usually did the trick; I had no trouble sleeping. As I have grown up a little, I find that I simply just can't get a full night of sleep on the ground. And when you are on a trip with a group of teenagers, that full night of sleep is very important.

So, my husband and I finally broke down and bought an air mattress. After trying to go the cheap way with a hand/foot pump, we started to question if the work of inflating the mattress was really worth the benefit of sleeping on it. It seemed to take hours to pump the darn thing up, and we could never seem to get it as firm as we wanted it. So, we decided to look into electric pumps.

We thought that an electric pump would be too much of a hassle, since most of the ones we had seen required either an electrical outlet or the cigarette lighter of a car. Often times, we didn't have either readily available when we wanted to use the mattress, and all these electric pumps always seemed so expensive. When we went shopping at Big 5 Sporting Goods, we found the Coleman Quick Pump on sale for only $10. It is battery operated and comes in a conveniently small box, so we purchased it.

After our first trip with this pump, we fell instantly in love with it. It is by far the best camping purchase we have made. It fits in our suitcases easily, takes four D size batteries (that do not get used up too quickly either), and pumps that mattress up in a matter of seconds. It is wonderful. Best of all, when you are camping at different places each night, it is no problem to deflate and re-inflate the mattress each day, because the pump comes with a "reverse" method that will deflate the mattress in seconds too!

Since purchasing the pump, many friends and family members have come to us, the camping gurus, to borrow camping equipment. We are always more than happy to send them off with our air mattress, complete with Coleman Quick Pump. (Of course, only the friends we know will return it, since we love it so very much). Everyone who has borrowed the pump and mattress has returned it with much applause for the convenience of the Quick Pump.

The pump can be purchased at Target, Walmart, or sporting goods stores. I recommend that you keep a look out for sales, since the pump is regularly about $20 at Target. Even if the pump is not on sale at the time, you may want to ask the sales associates, as this is a popular item and may be going on sale very soon.