SectionHiker.com Backpacking Gear Reviews and FAQs 
The Exped Widget Pump is a combination sleeping pad inflation pump, lantern, and USB battery charger that’s ideal for base camping and car camping trips. Weighing just 6.7 ounces, it’s powerful enough to inflate Exped’s really big MegaMat air mats but still lightweight and compact enough for backpacking if you’re camping with friends or a group of people who need to have their air mattresses inflated every night. It’s also really cute and has been a big hit with my family!
Specs at a Glance
- Weight: 6.7 oz
- Dimensions: 2.7 x 2.4 x 2.4 inches
- Battery capacity: 3600 mAh
- Includes: Third-party pump adapters
- Charging time: 6 hours with a USB-C plug
The Exped Widget Pump is a small plastic cube with a folding handle so it’s easy to pack and carry. It has separate switches for the pump and lantern, requiring two quick button presses to turn on, which prevents it from being accidentally activated when packed. There is a built-in USB-C port (power in) included for charging the widget and a USB-A port (power out) to charge a smartphone or other electronic device like a headlamp. A USB-C to USB-A cable is also included.
The Widget Pump
The Widget pump is surprisingly powerful and is designed to inflate Exped’s really big pads like the MegaMat 10 and MegaMat 10 Duo, in addition to Exped smaller backpacking and camping air mattresses. I’ve clocked the inflation time on my MegaMat 10 at 90 seconds and the MegaMat Duo reportedly takes 4 minutes to inflate, with the ability to do it up to three times on a single charge.
I’ve also used the widget to inflate Sea-to-Summit (Ether Light XT and Ether Light Extreme XT) and NEMO (Tensor UL Insulated sleeping pads) which have the same size flat valve as Exped’s air mattresses. It takes about 15-20 seconds to inflate them.
The Widget pump also comes with a set of adapters for other makes and models including Thermarest pads with the old stick style twist valves, but the adapters are not compatible with Thermarest pads with the current generation of winglock valves, according to Exped.
Widget Lantern
The lantern has three intensity modes: high, medium, and low, and is great for casual use in or outside of your tent. It’s surprisingly bright and lights up a tent nicely. The Widget has a folding handle that makes it easy to carry for nighttime “trips” or to hang from a branch or hook inside your tent, with a burn time of up to 72 hours on the low setting.
Device Charger
Finally, the Exped Widget can act as a device charger to top off your phone, earbuds, headlamp, etc. With 3,600 mAh it doesn’t have a lot of juice compared to the 10,000 mAh Anker battery I carry when hiking and backpacking, but it’s a good fallback if your phone runs out of power while you’re in your sleeping bag watching movies or reading a book.
Wrap Up
The Exped Widget Pump is a completely unnecessary but helpful camping accessory, especially if you car camp or base camp with a large Exped Megamat air mattress. I mainly use my MegaMat 10 to sleep in my car at trailheads when I can’t be bothered to pitch a tent. Having a pump that can be recharged from a car cigarette lighter outlet is a nice luxury and the fact that it’s compatible with other sleeping pads with flat valves is just icing on the cake. The built-in lantern and device charger are nice add-ons and one less thing to forget when packing for a road trip.
Disclosure: Exped donated a widget for review.
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Amazon US$49.95ViewAmazon.com Price: $49.95 (as of 04/24/2024 03:31 GMT-0400) Details
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Philip – any idea if the adapter set that comes with this pump would be compatible with the Exped Schnozzel for inflating pads like the old Thermarests?
I don’t know for sure Tom. I don’t have any Thermarest (TAR) pads, old or new, at the house anymore. I called exped customer support to ask and they didn’t know either, although they were certain that the adapters would not inflate TAR pads with the new winglock valves
Yes I tried it on, as there are 2 added tube adapters, these work on old and new TAR pads.
Editor: The commenter works for Exped.
Yes the adapter is compatible with the Schnozzel Bag as its the same dimensions as on the widget. I am Andy from Exped in Switzerland.
The picture included shows the adapter as having 3 pieces (blue and two clear plastic), but the REI website shows only a blue adapter part. I checked with them via Chat and they said it only comes with the one blue piece. Did the pump used for the review come with all three or are they just some additional plastic tubing added to make it more useful?
All three. It came directly from Exped-USA.
I checked in several REI stores: all 3 pieces (blue adapter fitting right to the carabine lock and 2 clear silicone tube adapters) are included.
If it’s only for car camping it probably isn’t useful as I might think most people have a pump for their tires, (as well as a jumper) already in their trunk. My pump fits whee my tire iron is stored. Yes it uses the cigarette lighter port and you have to have the mattress within 8 feet of the car, but it’s powerful and I have nozzle tips for even big opening like the newer pads.
If it’s small enough for backpacking maybe useful, but I find the bag easy and I don’t really like buying more battery powered plastics.
I recently bought the Flextail portable pump. Admittedly it has nowhere near the function of the Exped but it’s also less than 1/2 the weight. I’m already going to be carrying a headlamp and a small battery pack so find those functions in the Exped redundant.
That said – this will fit a need for some people, but those people are unlikely to be hardcore backpackers.
Definitely a car camping thing.
Good and very informative review. I just ordered this widget based on this review. Thank you!