Firm mats before dark, and the light's already in your hand.

Every pocket pump gets the same question before anyone pays for it: will it get the mat firm, or will you be finishing the job with your own lungs?

The answer is two numbers. Litres a minute is how fast the air goes in. kPa is how hard it's pushed at the end, when the mat is nearly full and starts pushing back. That last stretch is where small pumps run out of puff and you start using yours.

The pocket pumps on Australian shelves are rated between 150 and 300 litres a minute, and the best-known names top out at 4.5 kPa. The Gust is rated 400 litres a minute at 5 kPa, out of a 61g aluminium body about the size of a golf ball. And if it ever develops a fault, it's replaced or refunded at no cost.

Five o'clock at a full campground, the sun already behind the trees. At one site a man is on his knees over the third mat, red in the face, stopping every few breaths to let his head clear. At the next, the mats are firm, the fly is pegged out, and the thing that pumped them is hanging from the ridge line, lighting the tent.

The pump is the lantern

When the mats are done, the Gust lights the tent: 300 lumens for about 6 hours, 200 for about 10, or 50 for about 25. The magnetic ring on the top face holds it to the car door or the tailgate. The stainless steel ring hangs it from a hook or the ridge line. One thing in the tent bag where there used to be two, and the light can't be left at home while the pump comes along.

What it runs on

One charge gives about 40 minutes of pumping. It tops up over USB-C in about two and a half hours, off the same kind of cable most phones use. No lead to the car, no engine idling at the campsite, no batteries to buy. And no breath goes into the mat, so none of the damp from your lungs is left inside the thing you'll be sleeping on.

Five valve adaptors come in the box, with a storage bag that keeps the lot together. Charge it at home before you leave. At camp it's an adaptor and a button. Free shipping anywhere in Australia, delivered in 3 to 8 business days.

Which colour

Get it in orange. Blue, orange and white are the same pump at the same A$84.95. Orange is the one you'll find again on a dark tent floor, or at the bottom of the gear tub when the next trip comes round.