Sleeping Pad Recommendations

I've been using a Montbell 90 plus a cut-down ccf pad combo for several years. I'ts more comfortable for me than the only inflatable I've had, the Insulmalt Max Thermo. My Montbell 90 with the strap cut off weighs 9.2 oz. I've combined it with either the 1/4" or 3/8" thinlite pads cut down to torso size for a comfortable night's sleep. Closed cell on top of self-inflator is more comfortable than the other way around but in environments where a puncture is likely, such as the desert, I'll put the closed cell on the bottom. For even greater cush on my next trip I'll be taking a RidgeRest cut down to 35" (6.6 oz.) along the the Montbell 90. The combo will squeak in at just under a pound at 15.8 oz.

Closed cell doesn't add to comfort with a inflatable pad, it adds to warmth. If you got a Large BA Clearview, (25" wide by 72") mummy cut at 14oz, and added a 1/8" Gossamer Gear thinlight at approximately 2oz, there would be your 1lb pad. I don't konw if the 1/8" pad would add enough warmth, or if you'd need to go thicker.

Aaron, just about every pad on the market is 20" in width, which seems to be the industry standard, including the ones from Montbel. Some are even narrower: my Gossamer Gear Nightlight is only 18" wide! The inflatables that are wider also weigh considerably more than a pound. So, being able to sleep on a narrow pad is best described as something of an acquired taste I guess…It's something you can train yourself to do. Also, you can mitigate the problem of your arms falling off by placing some of your gear on either side of your bag to serve as armrests. Works for me! BTW, I purchased and have used the NeoAir and couldn't be happier with it. Maybe at some point REI will have some for rent and then you can road test one for yourself. Happy trails!

Well, with REI's (or backcountry.com's, for that matter) return policy, you could say everything they sell is technically "For Rent." Not that treating it that way would be very ethical. I think Aaron is in Canada, anyways.

MEC carries the neoair and their return policy is just as good as REIs, so I guess I could "rent" one :)

So, let's say I try the Neoair, I guess I'd need a closed cell foam pad for my frame anyways, correct? Unless you could use the Neoair as a back pad but that seems like a stretch to me.

Maybe I'll just go to MEC and try the Neoair out.

What pack are you using. I think I saw that you have a ULA? So the Conduit, I assume? The Gossamer Gear 1/8" thinlight is what I'm going to be using as the back pad for my Gorilla. It's 60" long, so it seems it could also serve inside the pack using the burrito method. Or they have a 3/8" pad for 5-7oz.

At risk of going off topic, I don't think it's a big deal to use REI/MEC's return policy of you have the genuine intention of keeping the product, but then find out in the field it doesn't work as expected. A pad you should be able to figure out at home pretty well though. I work 2 blocks from an REI, so I spend many lunch half-hours wandering the aisles, and particularly in the shoe and backpack depts(2 things its hard to get a feel for without field testing IMO) I hear the staff reminding customers teetering between yes/no quite frequently about REI's return policy, so it's not like it's something they don't want you to know about/use. As I heard one guy tell someone regarding a backpack, you can use it and still return it, just please don't set it on fire or anything, (though he said they could still return it if they did).

The only jerks are the people who buy a tent to use at Burning Man with the intent of returning it after, and then can't even be bothered to even attempt not to cover the floor/fly/netting with burn marks, so REI can't even resell it for a decent price.

Monty, I'm curious about your experience with the NeoAir. Self-inflators and closed cell pads are firm to the edges of the pad. The reviewers of the NeoAir are saying the the effective width of the pad is only just over 16" because the edges are soft. So we're comparing the 20" of a standard pad to the 16" of the NeoAir. Did the NeoAir feel any more narrow to you than a standard pad?

James, I agree completely with your take on liberal return policies.

I have a Conduit and an Ohm, depends on how much weight I'll be carrying.

I'll take another look at the Gossamer Gear offerings and I'll be trying a Neoair in the MEC store this weekend.

Dondo,
I spent two nights on a Neoair Regular and found it plenty wide for a side sleeper and OK for the little time I spent on my back. My 5'9, 175# frame is typically on a Clearview, so I may already be trained to 'sleep straight and narrow'.

Hi Dondo! In a different post I mentioned that I started out with a fully inflated the pad, but because I was on snow the warm air contracted from the cold and eventually the pad was about 3/4 inflated (this was not a slow leak). That turned out to be a boon because the partially inflated pad in effect cradled me! So I can't speak to an effective width, especially since I had some gear banked up on the sides. All I can say is that I experienced no discomfort, cold, anxiety attacts, insomnia,or disorientation…it was a comfortable night. The downside was that when dawn broke over the mountain I didn't want to climb out of the fartsack…usually I'm wide awake way before dawn.

…

There are two reasons I don't use air mattresses, one is I almost never sleep out above 32 degrees and so they are not warm enough and this problem with punctures and then no pad at all. Even with Prolites I have been "let down".

My new current most comfortable, warm and lightweight set up is a cut down 36" Ridgerest under a new Prolite 36" XS. 4.8 R value, 1.625" thick, 14 oz. and very comfortable and durable. When you let out just enough air for hip and shoulder relief it is awesome. I do a lot of desert trips with many camps on rock and winter trips in the east sometimes on hard wooden shelter floors, it is the most comfortable nights sleep these 52 year old side sleeping bones have ever had. If I spring a leak I still have pretty good padding anyway.

Thanks for the feedback, Greg and Monty. I'm proceeding very cautiously with the NeoAir because I've already had to return two pads to REI for comfort issues. One was the POE Uber-lite which was too narrow for me at 17". The other was the much-praised POE Max Thermo which felt too much like an air mattress for me. Another issue I'm looking at is the height of the NeoAir when using my Montbell Diamond. It won't be much of an issue when using the inner tent but when using only the fly, as in this photo from last weekend, it will put my head closer to the wet underside of the fly.