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Am I the only person that thinks it amusing that after having bought vacumn bags to save packing space, one then has to take an extra piece of quite bulky equipment to make them work?

I'll tell you the cheats way...get strong bin bags, place item within then roll the whole lot up, holding the neck of the bag almost shut. Tie a knot in it when you can't compress it further. Not quite as tidy or compressed as a vacumn bag but it does reduce the volume of most things quite a bit.

We have one of these...

http://www.simplyhike.co.uk/ProductDetails.aspx?StockID=14595

...which, although I can't find on the BCH Camping web site this morning, they do for about £24 I think.

The reason we went for a rechargeable was because when it's hammering down with rain and/or you don't have EHU trying to in/deflate plugged into you car cigarettte lighter socket is a pain.

The challenge was to find an adapter that would cover the ~3cm vent opening on the vacuum bag and provide a good seal on the ~1cm nozzle on the pump. Answer... big drum roll... a foam disk from the children's disk-firing gun thingy!! Parents who have been bombarded by these multi-coloured foam rubber disks (or have found them anywhere from down the sofa to inside light fittings after the kids have finished firing them around) will know what I mean. Alternatively cut a suitable size disk from a piece of flat foam rubber and make a hole in it to take the pump nozzle.

We have found that the airbed pump will evacuate the bag at least as fast as the home vacuum. Not sure why 'oldham' doesn't recommend putting sleeping bags in them though... our bulky (very toasty warm!) sleeping bags sparked the idea of getting the vacuum bags and they shrink down nicely.

Just posted a comment on these bags.... not overly impressed with the roll ones.

Thanks for the tip Val... bin bags it is .. bigger and a knot would be alot easier than trying to close the bags while sliding the plastic thing over it to secure. (Need more than 2 hands for this lol)

Angie