Sea to Summit Jet Stream Pump Sack

The Jet Stream doubles as a pump sack to inflate Sea to Summit air pads and pillows, and to store these or other items. However, the small size is kinda limiting in this case. Overall, a nice idea that would perhaps work better if the size was a bit larger.

The Jet Stream Pump Sack is a cool double-function item that’s cleverly thought-out and well built, like most of Sea to Summit’s extensive list of outdoor products.

However, I found it lacking a bit as a pump sack and somewhat limited as a stuff sack. In my opinion and experience, that’s due to the size more than design or execution.

Starting with the features and technical specs:

• Multiple 1-way air intake ports inflate the pump quickly on the upstroke; air is expelled into the mattress through the center valve plug on the down stroke
• Spiral stiffener prevents pump collapsing
• Lightweight thermoplastic urethane base has finger / thumb loops for easy grip
• Roll-top closure with side-lock buckle can be used as hand strap
• Made from 30D Ultra-Sil
• Each stroke delivers more than a lung-full of air, without making the user dizzy or adding moisture into the mat
• Stores small and flat, or can be used as a stuff sack for your sleeping mattress (fits most Sea to Summit air mats) or other gear

Weight: 48 grams / 1.5 ounces
Dimensions: 8.7 x 3.9 x 1 inches
Material(s): Siliconized nylon, TPU
Gear Capacity: 1.8 liters / 109 cubic inches

The dual function—pump and stuff sack—is what drew me to the Jet Stream in the first place. Blowing lung (i.e., moist) air inside air pads is bad. Not the end of the world, but not good for the longevity of the insulator.

The Jet Stream is small and lightweight, which is good except it’s too small to hold my sleeping pad or sleeping bags. Neither my S2S Ether Light XT is large/wide nor my Nemo Tensor UL will fit the Jet Stream, no matter how careful and thorough I am deflating and rolling them.

And it’s not waterproof so there’s no point in storing smaller water-sensitive items that could fit in the Jet Stream, either. Also, you cannot carry wet clothes or items in there, otherwise it will pump wet air inside the pads and defeat the purpose: that’s exactly what we try to avoid by using a dedicated pump instead of lungs.  

I found it fell a bit short as pump sack. It does work, just not as I well as I thought it would. I’ve counted about 170-180 strokes to inflate my S2S Ether Light XT (large/wide and 4" thick) air pad to desired firmness. My Nemo Tensor UL insulator (also L and W but 3" thick) takes slightly less, about 150 strokes.

That’s not outlandish and the whole thing takes less than 2 minutes. So maybe I was expecting it to be more efficient than Sea to Summit’s own pump sack included in their air pads, which operates differently but does fill a large and wide insulating pad in half that time, maybe less.

However, the Jet Stream should add less moisture into the mattress indeed and that’s important. So important in fact that for some time now I’ve been using a tiny rechargeable pump, which I’ll review and post here in the near future.

Though S2S touts features such as the TPU base with loop fittings for the fingers to better hold the sack while inflating, it won’t fit other pads from different makers, at least not without an adapter. I had to add a small ring of rubber cut from a road bike tire tube to the inflating tip to make it work with my Nemo pad. I had to do the same with the electric pump, so there’s that. 

Conclusion. 

I wanted a multi-use item that ended up as a so-so pump sack, and the second function also doesn’t get much use in the real life. It’s a nice idea and well made product but that’s only as good as it’s also usable and the Jet Stream isn’t much, at least for my needs. 

Background

I’ve used either my lungs or traditional pump sacks to inflate air pads and pillows my whole life, both work but as mentioned blowing moist air in these pads can bring issues mid and long term. Pump sacks that require blowing air inside them minimize this but not entirely, so a dedicated pump that utilizes fresh air is always preferred.