Sleeping Pad Failure – poll

I’ve only had one (an older Thermarest self-inflating) get a hole while on a trip. There were so many other unpleasant things going on that night (frigid, water coming in the tent, friend sick) that I didn’t even notice I’d been sleeping on the ground until morning.

But I’ve had five other holes and one delamination occur around the house. I tend to use my camping equipment a lot around the house — bed not feeling soft enough, want to sleep on the floor because it’s too hot, want to sleep in the yard to pretend I’m camping, etc. My house seems to be a more dangerous environment for pads than the wilderness is. The delamination just happened, to a Thermarest Prolite Plus short I’d picked up for $30 at an REI garage sale and had been using for extra cushioning on my bed. Considering I probably spent 700 nights on it, I’m not too unhappy.

My new shape Neoair x-lite failed after about 50 nights. I started having to add air half way through the night, then twice a night. I put the fully inflated mat in the bath, but there were no leaks from the valve, seams or main surfaces that I could see, and no delamination. Cascade Designs replaced the mat free of charge.

For a long time, used self-inflating Thermarests.  Never a problem, but not so comfy.  Grounded out without enough air, and did not mold to body with more air.   Tried Exped and some other brands, but they were all heavier, and not much comfier.

Tried a Nemo Zor because it was lighter than the Thermarests, and the pad had a gel-like quality, a bit like good memory foam.  It was lighter than any of the others, but with the thin fabric cover, sprung a leak at a thin cut, possibly from the dogs.  Also carry a tiny repair kit, but when the Zor was discontinued, got a slightly heavier pad from Nemo with similar design.  Paid a small weight penalty for a more durable fabric cover.  The Nemos have corrugated foam to cut weight, so probably not as much insulation as some others.