High Sierra Topix

Vaca Russ wrote:

rlown wrote: Second Neo Air here ...

What the other Russ said!

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite! The only downside in the review is $130 price. This is not a downside at all! It is easily worth every penny. Do the math and you can figure you pay only a few cents a night for the upgrade in comfort.

JMHO,

-Russ

I think you should go try them all in the store - lie on the floor on each. Because the Xlite was not comfortable for me at all.... sold the one I had to someone else who liked it. And off to other brands I went.

The Exped SynMat HL is worth taking a look at. Comparable price and dimensions/weight as the NeoAir (except it doesn't come in a small).

I used to use a small NeoAir (47 x 20 x 2.5"), which I appreciated when it was in my pack. It's only 8 oz. and packs down tiny. But I never got a good nights rest on it. I found it to be loud and crinkly, and didn't like the way the air plunged to one side when I moved. And though I never had issues with its durability, I constantly worried about it.

I switched to a medium-wide SynMat HL (72 x 25.6 x 2.8"), which is indeed heavier (14.6 oz.), but I really appreciate the extra 5" of width and I sleep waaaay better on it. It also doesn't have the crinkly noise that the NeoAir produces, and feels much more durable to me. I like it so much that I sprung for the SynMat HL Duo, which is a two-person pad, for when my wife comes with me. I'm extremely pleased with both.

But yes, find a store (REI, Sports Basement, etc), and try them all out. Find the one that meets your comfort/weight/price needs.

I replaced my Exped Synmat 7 with a Nemo Tensor 25L this season. The Exped welds were starting to go and leading to the "ballon" shape, but mostly I wanted something slightly longer (I'm 6') and wider (I hated having my arms fall off the sides of the mat). So far so good. The inflate valve is not great (Exped is much better) but it is very comfortable and the longer and wider is just the ticket. Oh and it doesn't have the crinkly sound of the Thermarest that drives some hiking companions nuts. Now if it was just 5" thick...

I just received the Big Agnes AXL Air pad. No insulation and rated for warm weather use, they don't even bother to give it an R rating. So why bother, especially since the price point is well beyond $100.00? Well, it is light- 10 ounces, one ounce lighter than my small Z Pad (BA is famous for jacking the price up on items that's lighter than the competition) and it packs into a stuff sack that is smaller than a Nalgene bottle. One valve only for inflation and deflation but no pump or stuff sack option to blow it up. I estimated 15 exhalations and felt mildly dizzy from the hyperventilations.

For the last several seasons I have been packing a down-mat, but became increasingly frustrated with multiple pinhole leaks and waking up in the middle of the night on a deflated pad. So my plan is to combine the AXL with the small Z Pad. The Z pad will be my backup incase the AXL is a total bust and also add protection to the air mat. The Z pad is also handy to have as a sit pad or a quick nap on the trail.

Another nice feature is it deflates quickly and easily then stuffs back into it sack with very little effort, something I could never accomplish easily with the down mat.

The total setup will be couple of ounces heavier the just having the down mat, but if the down mat fails, I will still have thermal and moisture protection from the ground. UL subscribes to using gear that has multiple uses, but I think this is one area where some redundancy is the safer solution.

Anecdotally, I read of many more pinhole failures in Expeds than NeoAirs.
I have both the Neo Xlite and Neo XTherm and they are the most comfortable mats I have owned.
But veering back to the OP and "blow up mattresses", I have really bad memories of un-insulated vinyl beach mattresses from my Boy Scout times, and most of those large car camping blow-up mats don't insulate. Thermal comfort is just as critical as cushioning ability, so I quickly swap out to my XTherm in the shoulder season.

Old school - Thermarest shorty Prolite + and a blue cc pad for under my feet.
Interesting story just recently -
An old friend who had previously lauded his Exped SynMat HL Sleeping Pad as the most comfortable thing ever...even had it out in his living room for a while showing it off. Well, he blew it out on the second day in, just the start of our 15-day No Yosemite adventure - got snowed on too. My lowly blue cc pad saved his "Exped SynMat HL Sleeping Pad " ass.

I find those electric air pumps really irritating. If I heard one in the backcountry I'd fold up my tent and walk a couple of miles.

There are better solutions. I used to take a big roll of high quality 3" foam, cut to fit the floor of the tent. We had sheets too... just for car camping though. I'm sure it was lighter than 10lbs, for two people, but would be really bulky strapped to a pack. It would more than fill a pack.

I replaced that eventually with one of the Thermarest luxury models. I think it's 2 1/2" thick, full length, wide. It's heavy and bulky but less so than the foam. I know one guy with a bad back who carried that model on ski trips. For him the weight was well worth it. I used mine car camping and was a godsend after a day of trying to climb offwidths in yosemite. When you're sore you really want a real pad, not some narrow 3/4 length UL joke.

Both the 3" foam and that luxury pad were expensive though. I imagine the all-too-ubiquitous electric inflatables are super cheap chinese walmart items.

On a recent car camping trip to Death Valley, I stacked an Exped UL down mat and an Exped UL synmat and that was suprisingly comfortable except that the down mat was mostly flat by the morning.

BTW, I got an RA number for that mat and sent it back last week. Enough of that!

longri wrote:I replaced that eventually with one of the Thermarest luxury models. I think it's 2 1/2" thick, full length, wide.

I got one of those on closeout a few years ago. So comfortable for car glamping, like sleeping on a bed at home.

John

nimblybimbly... how did the mattress work out in 2017? i had a double sized battery-powered mattress i used in a 3 person Coleman tent when car camping with my daughter. Powered by 4 C-batteries, and the pump is not removable. i can easily see the temptation to take it, but the weight will kill you in the end after several backpacking trips.

i have a Thermarest XTherm, large, thanks to Maverick, and it's been working great the few times i've used it. it seems like i always read Exped uses love their mats, but they always talk about the incredible customer service they experienced, AFTER they've had issues. Thermarest works for me, and the new 2.5 inch thick models are so comfortable; i see no reason to go thicker.

comfortable sleep is so important to enjoying your time outdoors.

eric
fresno, ca.