This page is for a backpacker at the trailhead who has cut base weight once and is deciding whether one more small gadget earns its grams. Every weight below is the maker's stated figure, read on 2026-11-01 from the maker's own page. Every sum or percentage is our arithmetic, with the inputs shown. We did not weigh anything.
Step 1: what does the gadget weigh against your base weight
Use your own number from the base weight calculator. For the example below we assume a 4,500 g base weight. That is an example, not a typical figure. Our arithmetic: grams added divided by 4,500.
| Item (maker's stated grams) | Share of a 4,500 g base weight |
|---|---|
| Zero Pump 2, with battery (48 g) | 1.1% |
| Tiny Pump 3X (67 g) | 1.5% |
| Zero Pump 2 plus Zero Lantern (48 + 56 = 104 g) | 2.3% |
| Max Pump 3 (122 g) | 2.7% |
| Tiny Shower (200 g) | 4.4% |
A single percent looks small. The point of our base weight reduction guide is that small items add up, so ask what each one replaces, not only what it weighs.
Step 2: what does it replace
| Gadget | It replaces | Net grams (our arithmetic) | Our read |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero Pump 2 (48 g with battery) | A pump sack. Sea to Summit states 48 g for its Airstream pump sack. | 48 - 48 = 0 g | No gain on grams. Worth it only if your pad has no pump sack or your pad is not a Sea to Summit one (the Airstream page says it fits Sea to Summit mats). |
| Zero Pump 2 | Your lungs | +48 g | The price of hands-free inflation. Decide if your breath is a problem on your trips. Therm-a-Rest advises against breath-inflating a self-inflating pad in freezing conditions. |
| Tiny Pump 3X (67 g) | A pump sack plus a tent light, as one reviewer on the page did | Depends on the light you drop. We have no sourced weight for it. | Only worth it if you want both jobs done and would otherwise carry both. |
| Tiny Pump 3X against Zero Pump 2 + Zero Lantern | Both separate Flextail items | 104 - 67 = 37 g lighter | If you want a pump and a lamp from Flextail, one 67 g unit beats two items on the stated figures. The lamp is a pump-body light, not a headlamp. |
| Max Pump 3 (122 g) | Nothing on a solo trip | +122 g | Leave it for car camping or a group air bed. |
| Zero Pillow | A stuff-sack pillow, or an inflatable pillow | Cannot be computed: the page states no weight. | Sea to Summit states 55 g for its Aeros Ultralight Pillow, regular size. Do not buy a pillow from a page with no weight on it. |
| Tiny Shower (200 g) | A wet cloth | +200 g | Leave it home on a weekend. We state that as our opinion, not a finding. |
Step 3: the pad itself
Flextail sells its own pads. The figure compares the stated weights, regular length, with Therm-a-Rest's. Pad plus the way you inflate it.
Our arithmetic from those figures: Flextail's Tiny Sleeping Pad R03 (572 g) is 202 g heavier than the NeoAir XLite NXT (370 g), and its stated R-value is lower (3.5 against 4.5). The Zero Mattress R05 plus a Zero Pump 2 comes to 758 g (710 + 48), which is 388 g more than the NXT, with a higher stated R-value (5.6 against 4.5). A higher R-value is warmer, so the heavier pad is not automatically worse for a cold trip. We cannot compare Flextail's R09 mummy pad (499 g, R-value 9.4, both maker figures) because we have no rival figure at that warmth. Makers measure R-value and weight their own way, and we did not check test methods.
The Z Lite SOL foam pad (14 oz, 0.41 kg regular, R-value 2.0, Therm-a-Rest's figures) has no inflation step at all. For warm-weather trips that is the simplest answer, and our arithmetic shows it is 40 g more than the NXT (410 - 370).
Step 4: by trip, then by pad
- Weekend, 1 to 3 nights. One charge is probably enough. Flextail's Zero Pump 2 page states a 22 minute run time (the maker's figure) and shows a 30-pads-in-a-row tile, with no stated conditions. A weekend of one pad is far under either number.
- Thru-hike or a long section. Plan the charging. The Zero Pump 2 page says the battery is replaceable and rechargeable, and sells a spare 900 mAh battery variant. One reviewer wrote that new batteries need a separate charger. The pages do not say how to charge a spare on the trail. A pump you cannot recharge is dead weight.
- Car camp. Grams do not count. Pick on speed and size of the thing you inflate. See which Flextail pump.
What the sources do not say
- Flextail does not state how long a pad of a given size takes to inflate, except the Zero Pump 2 page's 45 seconds with no pad named.
- No page states a field-charging method for a long trip.
- The Zero Pillow page states no weight, so it cannot be compared.
- We do not have a sourced weight for a typical tent light or headlamp from a rival, so we left them out.
The honest verdict
Leave the gadget home if your pad comes with a pump sack, or is foam. Carry the Zero Pump 2 if you inflate by mouth and want your hands free for dinner, and accept that it adds 48 g. Skip the shower on short trips, and skip the pillow until its page states a weight.
If you blow up your pad by mouth and want to swap
Our reason to click: it is the only Flextail pump page that states weight both with and without the battery.
We earn a small commission on qualifying sales, and 90% of it goes to charity (you can pick which); your price is unchanged. Full disclosure.
Sources
- Flextail Zero Pump 2, Tiny Pump 3X, Max Pump 3, Zero Lantern, Tiny Shower, Tiny Sleeping Pad R03 and R09, Zero Mattress R05 product pages (flextail.com/products/..., shown as text), read 2026-11-01.
- Sea to Summit Airstream Pump Sack and Aeros Ultralight Pillow pages (seatosummit.com, shown as text so they are not links), read 2026-11-01.
- Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT and Z Lite SOL pages (cascadedesigns.com, shown as text), read 2026-11-01.