Lightweight comfortable sleeping pad?

[Wandering Daisy]

Another use of the z-lite pad is for the dog! If my inflatable pad fails, the dog is out of luck.

Once I found a mylar helium balloon on a trip. It worked as a pillow for a few days before becoming flat. I just tied the balloon on my pack when not in use. I wonder if it only deflated because who knows how old it was when I found it. I should go to the dollar store and get another and try it again!

[neil d]

I'm a solid fan of the Big Agnes Q-Core. Not the smallest or lightest...rolls up to the size of a quart Nalgene, and probably weights close to a pound. But it is about 3 inches thick when inflated, good stability, not too noisy, and great insulation. As a side-sleeper, I've never been more comfortable.

I'm careful with it, and have not had any leakage issues (knock on wood).

My only complaint is the lack of a dedicated deflation valve, but I see they have addressed that in the latest line. The single Thermarest-style valve sucks to deflate.

[Lumbergh21]

I use a torso length ccf pad underneath the top of a Klymit Static V inflatable pad with my backpack under the leg end of the inflatable pad. The ccf pad serves a few purposes for me. It helps protect my inflatable pad from punctures. It provides additional insulation. It works as a backup if the inflatable develops a leak that I can't fix. And, it is nice to lay or sit on at lunch time. Well worth rhe extra 6 ounces. I also use the Klymit inflatable pillow and it works great for me.

[mrphil]

I tried out my new REI Air-Rail 1.5 a few weeks ago. As expected, it was heavy at 26oz for the men's regular, packed bulky, but got around that by leaving it out of its stuff sack, which allowed it to fit into the top of my sleeping bag compartment nicely. That was the downside. The upsides were that it was incredibly comfortable, stable, more resilient material than some of the lighter pads available, warm, very quiet, the self-inflation of the mattress body and rails took less than 10 breaths to finish off, and, it was only $70.

I slept great and woke up feeling good. Enough that I'm willing to continue carrying it and offsetting the extra weight somewhere else.

[bobby49]

If you have one sleeping pad that is almost good enough, then sometimes you can _augment_ it with some bubble pack plastic. It doesn't weigh much, but it doesn't last very long. It is either cheap or else free if you get a lot of flat packages from Amazon.

Otherwise, I saw a triple-decker hammock arrangement the other day. Boy Scouts get creative when they don't have enough trees close together.

[fishmonger]

Over the last few years I've been using an Exped Synmat 7UL with "schnozzle bag" for inflation. Really the best pad I've ever used, super easy to inflate with that bag (make sure you treat it gently, because that bag is $40 to replace). I sleep on my side, so a good pad is essential for my hips to be comfy.

These pads are not cheap, but weight in at little more than the lightest thermarests, while they are a bit larger. I am tall and like a good night's sleep over saving a few ounces. These pads have some slight R value due to an internal fleece flocking on the ground contact area, which I boost with a thin closed cell foam pad that protects the bottom from punctures as well, plus allows me to pull the plug on the pad early in the am while still in the tent and not sit on the fragile thing, yet having some padding and warmth on the floor. That thin foam pad is something you can find at Granite Gear, although mine is from eBay and meant for upholstery work - same thing.

One thing though, and it may be an isolated issue: one of two Synmat 7ULs failed on me with a tear of an internal baffle last year. It was the older one of the two we had along, Air didn't leak, but the rupture of the baffle went down half the pad length and created a large bulge. The only way I was able to finish the trip was with really high pressure in the pad, and reversing it to keep my feet on the half where the failed baffle was sticking up. I am guessing that it was a flaw in the manufacturing, because there was no excess pressure when this happened. I was laying down motionless and pressure was normal. N

I looked up the warranty and it turns out "EXPED UL products carry a 2 year limited warranty," so when I need to replace the pad I will look long and hard if there are better alternatives. This pad was used for 3 summer trips when it failed. $175 each is quite a bit of cash for something like 40 nights of use.

I initially bought the downmat 9UL from Exped for winter use and really liked that pad, prompting me to look into their summer pads. The down pad is really light for the R value, but you pay for it with a design that makes it difficult to keep the down spread evenly inside the baffles. They keep collecting on the exhaust valve end after rolling them up many times. You need to take time every few days to shake and spread the down inside before compressing those pads. They are very warm and let you sleep on snow just fine, but at about 1.5 pounds they are clearly for cold season use only.

I used to sleep on just a basic foam pad, but as age progresses you realize that that's just not worth the pain levels that come with the savings. I'll always be using inflatables from here on, just because a good night's sleep is so important.

Pillow is a whole different subject - I sleep on my side so I need to prop up my head. So far my solution has been to stuff my insulated jacket into a medium stuff bag. Not perfect, but when you're tired, it will do. I put a clean t shirt (if I have one...) around the stuff bag to make it more comfortable - nylon doesn't make the best pillow cases.

[John Harper]

My buddy brought his new Big Agnes pad up to Cottonwood Lakes. Let's just say it was so noisy I started calling it "Thunder Pad." It was ridiculously loud compared to my Klymit pad. I don't think I could fall asleep on it no matter what, maybe just use it as a groundsheet.

John

[rlown]

Does your buddy sleep soundly or does he roll? I know I roll when I sleep (if that happens) on my Neo-Aire and no complaints. My solution was two different tents as my buddy gets up in the middle of the night and walks around. Got tired of hearing my tent zippers open every 20 mins during the night.
I slept fine when solo on the Neo. Best 2 nights I've had in a long long time. My pillow is my fleece pants or top depending on my mood.

[John Harper]

Does your buddy sleep soundly or does he roll? I know I roll when I sleep (if that happens) on my Neo-Aire and no complaints. My solution was two different tents as my buddy gets up in the middle of the night and walks around. Got tired of hearing my tent zippers open every 20 mins during the night.
I slept fine when solo on the Neo. Best 2 nights I've had in a long long time. My pillow is my fleece pants or top depending on my mood.

IDK, he was in his tent and I was in my bivy sack about 20 feet away. All I know is his pad was the noisiest g-d d--n pad I've ever encountered. I know my Klymit pad does not make near as much noise as his pad. I know I toss and turn all the time and don't get much noise from my pad at all.
I'm pretty sure it was a BA pad, and I think he just got it, so it's probably a recent model. I was just surprised how noisy it was.

John

[MountainMinstrel]

My neo air finally became useless. I picked up a Big Agnes Q-Core SLX Sleeping Pad and this thing is awesome. I now sleep great even on my first night out (never been able to do that before). I'm a side sleeper who rolls a lot and the larger tubes on the outside of the pad keep me centerd all night. Haven't had it in really cold stuff yet but into the low 50s it was quite warm.