Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Pads

Right. Easy enough. After all, the only time that tape ever sticks to itself is when you are down to the last piece…

Not sure if this would solve the problem with arms falling off the side. Just a suggestion. Sleeping in a hammock with a pad can be not the most convient. One issue is cold shoulders and hips due to 20" wide coverage of pad. A solution designed by SpeersHammock is the Segmented Pad Extender. Would add 10" of width in addition to keeping an inflatable and ccf neatly together. Weight penalty would be 3.5oz for the SPE and whatever for the four 5"x20"ccf side inserts. Can stuff an assortment of soft gear into the sleeves if the ccf inserts are too much of a weight or volume issue.

Used my REI -20% and rebate on a NeoAir med. Still searching for the "Holy Grail" pad for hammock use. Hopefully this pad will not have been a waste of $$s.

Have used "tyvek" tape for patching an assortment of gear. Seems to stick well. Lighter than duct tape. Feels like a thin mylar substance. Doesn't stretch. Have only seen it in red. Bad news is the smallest roll is a life time supply and expensive relative to duct tape.

I still think it's a huge shame they didn't make the pad in a nice mummy/coffin shape. It wouldn't have weighed any more, and would have provided enough width to keep most of your body on the mat. Nothing worse than having your arms hanging 2" off the pad :( The thicker the pad, the more important it is to have room for the arms IMHO. Not so bad with a one inch torso pad, but higher up is a problem for me. I imagine the problem would be even worse for folks who use quilts vs mummy bags.

Roger, Enough of this taunting us about an upcoming review. BPL must have an editorial calendar that can at least tell us when. Or is BPL going to wait until it has been available for a year or two like the Terra Nova review? So when can we expect to see a review? If not soon there will be no point as we who have spent the money are reviewing them now. So?

Ken, I would guess that "very soon" = this week.

I believe the review was actually scheduled for last week but it got bumped by the April Fools reports.

okay, I'm making that up ;-)

I bought one Friday and it seems very comfy. It most likely will replace my BA Clear View and BA IAC.

I do have to say as have others that for $150 it should come with a stuff sack and repair kit.

Ed

Hopefully, they're easier to deflate than a BA Clearview. Is it just me, or is it a pain to pack those things down? There'll be a day, when it's the last day of a trek, that I just take my pocket knife and…

I just roll mine towards the valve, and then close the valve when I get there. Then I unroll it, fold it, and roll it to fit the sack. And when I get to the end, I open the valve so the last bit of air comes out.

I have found these easy to roll. Just roll it once, close valve, fold up and roll again. Let last bit of air out and finish roll.

Ok, I unrolled it all the way and found the info sheets. Talks about a "Fast and Light" repair kit. Is this different than a regular Thermarest HotBond kit? I can't find an item of this name on their site or on MEC or REI.

Mine weighs in at 392g/13.8oz

…

Hi Richard,

I found the repair kit here: http://www.backcountry.com/store/CAS0517/Therm-a-Rest-Fast-And-Lite-Repair-Kit.html

I have not bought one yet but looking at the picture it looks like a very simple peel and stick type of repair.

Dan

Me, I reckon the patch kit should be included with the mat at that price.

I might grant you that on the basis of reasonableness.

But from the point of view of pricing for the market … based on the the level of gearwhoreing we're exhibiting about this pad it's priced just about right.

BTW, Roger's earlier post about not buying V1.0 of anything has saved me from this purchase (for now). But it'll have to bomb bigtime to stay out of my gearlist in 2010.

NeoAir was 5 years in development…I don't think it's going to bomb…MSR is a serious operation.

I'm waiting for the Carbon Reflex (steal of TT DR!) and Hubba HP series to bomb, solely because of cost.

.

I just had a great visual… me standing on the side of a river relaxing as my gravity filter is doing it's magic. All of a sudden, some guy on a NeoAir goes floating by with a frightened look.

Geoff, what a cool idea! I'd only be worried about puncturing the "raft" against a sharp rock that protudes near the surface (say about 4-8" under water or anything at or above water level), especially when you get near the other side shore.

I'm wondering if a large size Neoair might do the trick for the odd river or lake crossing.

Long long before NeoAir, but …

Colin Fletcher writes about doing that on the Colorado (The Man Who Walked Through Time).

I did that once in Alberta's Jasper National Park. D*mn cold water … and not especially stable.

Where's the NeoAir available now, and is it available anywhere now on sale? Looks like I missed a few good recent sales.

Has anyone thought about organizing a group buy? With so many people interested, it shouldn't be hard to get a limited time special 25-30% group buy/pro deal from the manufacturer, for an early adopter evangelist community.

I'm kind of surprised we don't organize group buys more often, especially from the larger gear companies, for much anticipated new products.

Does anyone plan to use a thin torso length CCF with their NeoAir as a backup in case of puncture?

I don't plan on carrying a ccf for just in case… I might get a patch kit… or if the center section that reflects the heat works like a space blanket, then I should survive the night.

UL = very little, if ANY backup gear = no "in case of puncture" mattress will be carried by me. :)

Yeah, for warmer weather I'd go with no backup. In winter, there's no way I'll use an inflatable without at least a torso length CCF.

BTW, I've had friends who've had punctures, but I've never had a puncture on a Therm-a-rest, and I've had my current ones for close to a decade. Then again, I wasn't putting them through anything near constant use, rather, occasional backpacking and car camping, and some around the house use for extra guests.