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A guy at the REI garage sale in Denver showed me how to test a sleeping pad with a cardboard box
Went to the REI garage sale in Denver last Saturday to grab a cheap sleeping pad and watched a guy return one because it had a slow leak he could not find. He pulled out a folded cardboard box, laid the inflated pad on it, and pressed down, and sure enough a tiny stream of bubbles popped up from a seam. I had never thought to do that, I always just inflated mine at home and guessed. Bought a used pad for $45, tested it on his box trick in the parking lot, found zero leaks. Has anyone else used the cardboard box method, or do you have a better way to check for pin holes before you buy?
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john_singh24d ago
Man, that cardboard box thing sounds cool but I gotta push back here. A slow leak that shows up under pressure in a parking lot is not the same as a leak that only shows up when you toss and turn on it all night. That trick might catch a steady pinhole, but plenty of leaks only open up when the pad bends or gets squeezed in a certain spot. Plus if you are doing this in the parking lot you already bought the thing, so what good does it do you then? The only real test is sleeping on it a full night, and REI garage sale stuff is final sale so you are rolling the dice either way. For 45 bucks on a used pad I would rather just check the return policy and bring it home to fill in the tub.
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