Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Pads

[David Rappolee]

I just bought a medium at Adventure 16 in Los Angeles. They have about 10 left.

[Juston Taul]

Spoke with REI again about getting the NeoAir size Lg. They said again that it is discontinued. :/ Ya got me. They just shipped out a size Rg. It will be here on the 28th. Reviews to follow.

[Roger Caffin]

> NeoAir size Lg. They [REI] said again that it is discontinued.

I note it still appears on the Therm-a-Rest web site.

My understanding is that TaR may be currently out of stock of the Large and are concentrating on producing the other sizes for the moment as they have greater demand.

One wonders whether the REI staffer knew whereof he spoke?

Cheers

[Noel Hong]

Purchased the NeoAir for couple uses. When hanging the hammock is not possible resulting in grounding & for traveling. The NeoAir & BMW UL90 are part of my carry on travel survival kit.

Not into pad use in a hammock. The combination of slipping/shifting, wrinkling, loss of flatness of lay in the Blackbird Hammock make the under quilt my personal choice for bottom side insulation. Obviously the cushioned comfort of the NeoAir is not an important factor for hammock use. Until you end up grounded. So far, only one nights use in the hammock. 57*F, no wind, UL90 top quilt. Bottom side stayed warm. By reducing air pressure there was minimum loss of flatness of lay. No slipping/shifting, no wrinkling.

Our spring temps fluctuate dramatically. Last week high temps went from 38*F to 92*F in 24 hours. Curious to find out how cool the NeoAir can go in a hammock by itself and with a 3/8"ccf shoulder/torso pad. Hopefully the weather will cooperate.

[Brad Groves]

FWIW, the large size is still forthcoming. Not to belabor the point for those who know, but I'm a retailer; despite having the larges on order, CD has told me that they don't expect any in until about September. They're just concentrating on getting the other sizes out right now. I know they had some fun getting a machine that could make these, and am guessing that's where the production limitation is.

[Paul Smith]

Ordered a small and it had a small puncture in the material behind the valve that seemed to be caused by the valve itself during packing/shipping. Going to stick with foam.

[Jared Cook]

trip 3 under mine, 1st was in a basement that was near freezing, the second was at around a 36* low with wind coming off the river and a golite ultra 20 quilt, another this last weekend was around 40 degree and I had to remove the straps from the quilt to be able to vent and reduce the sweating. Overall I'm very happy with it. It is a little on the narrow side for some sleeping positions, but generally If I'm sleeping on my stomach or side my arms are under my head as a pillow or just above my head so they really aren't falling on the ground as stated in the review. I rarely sleep on my back, but when I do I generally have my fingers interlocked on my stomach. Overall it's staying as my main mat for sleeping on bare ground without snow.

[Ashley Brown]

Mine arrived yesterday. I think the durability seems fine, doesn't look like it is going to get punctured unless you do it with something quite sharp.

Kudos to Thermarest for giving accurate, if not conservative estimates on the weight! My regular weighs 13.75oz (390g). It's nice to get something that actually weighs *less* than the specs state.

I've slept on all sorts of pads over the years (except a DAM), and this is by far the comfiest. I was quite surprised at home comfy it was… I wasn't expecting it to be much different to my POE ether thermo. But it is. It's the horizontal baffles that do it. Every part of you sinks into the mattress and it is actually quite "bed-like".

The only minor concern is that for maximum comfort when sleeping on your side, you probably need it to be inflated a little more than you would have it when sleeping on your back. If your side presses through to the ground (or near it) there is literally zero insulation and I can imagine it getting a bit cold. So if you like to switch between side and back, you need to have it inflated sufficiently for a side sleeper.

The other thing is, if you do get a leak, or don't inflate it properly you'll end up literally lying on the ground. It's quite surprising how something so comfy transitions to something so hard when you put all your weight in one spot!

Anyway, big thumbs up from me so far. Highly recommended for both weight and comfort.

[Sam .]

Scored a large at the Conshohoken, PA REI today!

I really wasn't paying much attention. I saw two NeoAirs and assumed (I know) both were regular as I couldn't see the label on the second one. Luckily, Deb checked and sure enough it was a large!

Moral… always bring a professional shopper with you. You never know.

[Frank Perkins]

Got my size S today and it comes in at 9.2 ounces. An easy way to shave a quick 8 ounces off my gear list.

I'm can't wait to try it out. My last attempt at a lightweight pad was with a Gossamer Gear Nightlight Torsopad + 1/8 pad and it broke my back [5.4 ounces]

What I like about the NeoAir is that it packs down to nothing.

[Sam .]

My large came in at 17.8 with the stuff sack, which puts it an ounce+ under advertised weight. I remember the regular came in light too. That's half the weight of the Prolite 4 I was carrying!

Or, my scale just sucks ;-)

[Mike M]

"That get's me to thinking: Who's going to be the first brave soul to cut down their neo air? It May not be that difficult." (from an earlier post)

has anyone successfully done this yet? the idea of a wide Large, cut down to length sounds very appealing (if doable)

danke

[Lynn Tramper]

"the idea of a wide Large, cut down to length sounds very appealing"

Yeah, cutting it to length AND into a mummy/coffin shape would be perfect.

[Jim Colten]

My large came in at 17.8 with the stuff sack, which puts it an ounce+ under advertised weight. I remember the regular came in light too. That's half the weight of the Prolite 4 I was carrying!

Or, my scale just sucks ;-)

An error of 1 oz in 19 is 5.25% … not horrible for many applications but for an audience as weight compulsive as we are … probably unforgivable! (LOL)

Not so hard to check … place a decent quality 2 cup measuring cup (500ml for the metric parts of the world) and tare it.

Carefully fill to the 1/2 cup line (with 60*F water) … does the scale read 4oz? Carefully add water to the 1 cup line … does the scale read 8oz? Carefully add water to the 1.5 cup line … does the scale read 12oz? Carefully add water to the 2 cup line … does the scale read 16oz?

Metric folks use 15.5*C water and the 125ml, 250ml, 375ml and 500ml lines … the water weighs 1 gram per ml

Just writing this gives me the urge to check my own scale!

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

How important is it to have the water temperature bang on? It doesn't seem like the weight would change signficantly if you were 5 or 10 F off….no?

[. Callahan]

I emailed the manufacturer and they sent some large to the dealer whom I'd ordered from.

Its hard to believe that a large pad could pack so small and light! (o:

[Jim Colten]

How important is it to have the water temperature bang on? It doesn't seem like the weight would change signficantly if you were 5 or 10 F off….no?

Water temp isn't TOO critical … water density at 50*F and 70*F is only about 0.1% different from that at 60*F. That is probably gonna be less than the error in the volume of water weighed if you use measuring cups as I suggested.

But if you are going thru the effort to check the scale you might as well eliminate as much error as you can.

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Good to know….I've got a new scale in the mail so I'll definately be checking out the accuracy when I get it. It's just a cheap digital scale from eBay ($4) that goes to 2000g. I'll be impressed if it's within a few percent.

[Mike M]

bump for the first brave soul to cut one down (and share how they did it) :)

[Steven Evans]

Hey Mike,
I'm on it…the fabric is capable of being heat sealed. I have successfully sealed the lower 2 corners of my pad, inflated it, and it holds strong (picture an inflated pad with each corner sealed at an angle so no air enters the chamber).
When I get some time, and the cohonies to do it, I'll seal it off at about 30" and cut the rest off. I'm nervous as heck to do it, but I think a few beers will fix that. ;)
Steve

[Jesse H.]

may the force be with you, steven…
I await the outcome, are you using a commercial heat sealer? or something else

[Steven Evans]

Jesse, thanks for the force. I'm just using a thermal impulse sealer…nothing special, 10" length. Give me a few days and I'll find some time to get'er done.

[Ashley Brown]

Ooh, I look forward to the pics and the test results! Have you tested a 20 inch wide seal yet? I guess if you are cutting it down quite a bit you've got a bit of length to play with… might be worth doing a horizontal seal further up than your intended 'final' seal just to confirm it works. If you stuff it up you'll still be able to have another crack at it.

If it all goes badly and you need to do 5 or 6 seals and cuts you'll end up with a really expensive sit pad! ;-)

[Mike M]

Steve- sounds good, anxiously awaiting your results and methodology

a 25" wide large cut down to 48-50" would be poifect! :)

am I correct in my assumption if you cut off ~ 1/3, you'll net ~ 1/3 weight saving?

the valve looks pretty light weight, not sure if there is something else I'm not thinking about

Mike

[Steven Evans]

Mission complete…modified it today and it actually worked (whew!)…the force WAS with me. Check out the MYOG section. :)

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