Lightweight Sleeping pad

I have a Neoair XLite short, and place my backpack under my legs. I like this due to low weight of course, as well as being able to keep my backpack in my tent at night without taking any valuable floor space. Before buying a short pad I tried it at home by sleeping on the bottom half of a long pad with my backpack under my legs (with the top half of the long pad extending over my head). Try this and see if you like it.

I have the Neoair Xlite regular. I hated sleeping with my legs on my pack. I also use a EE quilt and my pack under my legs just did not work for me. Especially if my pack was wet from hiking in the rain. I was worth the extra wait to have my legs on a pad. (4oz more)

The klymit does not work with a quilt. You need a sleeping bag on the back side to fill in the gaps.

If you want to save some money check out the REI stratus.

Exped SynMat UL7

It's around 16 oz, so it won't save you as much weight. If you're a side sleeper, the weight will likely be worth it.

Otherwise, get a Ridge Rest SOLite or Z Lite Sol small at around 9 oz and trim it down as needed.

are those the recomended closed cell foam pads on the market?

You don't mention what R-value you're looking for or the type of weather or temperature range you need it for, but if you want 3-season warmth and light weight, you may try the closed foam-egg carton type pads instead of an inflatatble mattress.

You could try the Thermarest Z-Lite and just cut it to size. You don't give your height, but I know the short size weighs ~8 oz. You could cut it down to a torso size (4 panels) for about 3.5 oz. I also have the Gosamer Gear torsolite that weighs the same, but is about 12 inches longer. I'm happy propping my legs on my pack, but again, even the full length will weigh significantly less than any similar length inflatable.

I think everyone should at least try a short pad, if it works you can save a fair amount of weight- I gave it a shot w/ a NeoAir short, didn't work for me and went back to a regular, it obviously works fine for a lot of folks however

if you get used to an inflatable, it will be tough to go back to a ccf imo

I used the 2/3rd length POE Ether Thermo (now sold as the hyalite Peak Elite AC) for many years and since I have tried some other pads (z-lite, neo-air, ridgerest) and I am really wanting to buy a one again.

http://hyaliteequipment.com/sleeping-pads/view/peak-elite-ac-peac

11oz or so. I think mine was 10.5oz

Happy sleeping!

I use a Klymit Xlite short under a 1/8" evazote pad from GG. Works great with a quilt, no need for a sleeping bag to fill in the gaps. The evazote has some tack so nothing slides around. Weight is 6 oz + 2.6 oz, but you could trim the evazote. Used this setup to ~20-30 degrees on a polycro tarp and felt toasty. Doesn't crinkle or slip. I underfill the Klymit for better comfort.

The evazote can be folded/rolled any way you want. I use it as the bottom layer in my pack to protect more sensitive items like my quilt from puncture.

OTOH, this is a bit minimal, so if you are used to big, thick pads you have a hurdle. Also, because of the tack of the evazote and for general comfort, I sleep in silk longjohns.

I just returned from a short trip in Olympic and used something similar to Nathan: a Klymit Inertia XLite sandwiched between a 1/8" evazote pad (from Prolite) and a 1/4" evazote pad. These come long at 83" and I didn't trim them before the trip. Temps were in the low 50s or high 40s (guessing) and I slept fine (even a little too warm) with a loosely draped 20* quilt inside a Skyscape Trekker. For these temps, I don't think the lower pad would be necessary. I put my empty pack in between the pads for the lower half. I plan to cut the pads down some when I get around to it. Overall weight is around 12 oz, but with some redundancy, if the Klymit leaked, I still have enough pad to be comfortable enough.

Just keep your desired R-value in mind. Most three season pads are around R-2.5 to R-3.

The Klymit Inertia is simply R-1.0 (value of an airspace) if you're not using it with a sleeping bag that is filling the gaps. Even with a sleeping bag, the key areas like your hips and shoulders don't have any gaps under them so you've got R 1.0 there. So if you plan to use the Inertia outside summer, make sure you get that R-value high enough with supplementary pads, while ensuring the whole combo makes sense from a weight and simplicity standpoint.

When solo hiking, I try to choose soft 'stealth camping' spots with a dish shape. So I can get away with a torso sized Ridgerest and pack under my feet. When hiking with my wife, soft spots with the ideal shape are hard to find, so bring an Exped SynMat UL7.

Dan,

I think you're right about r-value, although with the mild temps I had, this was enough. I don't think the Klymit XLite has a part in any shoulder-season or winter kit; it's just too small. I do think for much of the U.S. for much of the year, this pad + a CCF on top of it is a good system.

I think the Klymit pads are designed so that the bottom part of a sleeping bag (under the person) will fill the holes of the mat. My thought was by "sandwiching" it between two CCF pads, the holes would be effectively sealed off. I was going to bring a small portion of space blanket, cut to go under the portion of the pad with holes but I didn't get around to it. I thought this might work a little like the inside of a neoair (which relies on dead air spaces and reflective layers.

I am really considering going this route with a 1/8th evarest pad…

Just got back from 10 day Ca Sierra trip, fairly comfortably used a Prolite XS( 36"length and 8 oz); with 48" length 3/16"thick foam pad( 3.5 oz)=11.5 oz. Worked fine w/Zpacks quilt/bag..

Hey Yes, if you're interested in getting a new sleeping pad, check out this thread/spreadsheet I made comparing the warmths/weights of many, many sleeping pads:
http://www.backpackinglight.com/cgi-bin/backpackinglight/forums/thread_display.html?forum_thread_id=68163

My first post in that thread includes the link to the spreadsheet and an explanation of the math involved. I recommend you download it and sort it based on whatever you're looking for; whether you want to get the lightest sleeping pad available, save money, compare only inflatable pads, or get the warmest pad for the weight.

Almost all of the inflatable pads listed are available in a small or torso length, and any foam pad could obviously be cut down to size.

I saw the Hyalite Peak Oyl Elite (short) listed on The Clymb yesterday for 50% of the list price and almost bought it–unfortunately its sold out now.

Let us know what exactly you're looking for: cheapest, lightest weight, warmest, or a mixture of the two. If you have the cash, I'd recommend looking at the Neoair X-therm, for its unbeatable combination of warmth and light weight.

Nick, thank you for putting together the data, I think I might go with a Xtherm or Xlite, don't think I would opt for a torso length pad.

Another option to consider is getting a women's pad. Therm-A-Rest makes women's versions of almost all their models. They are a bit shorter, so save some weight, but aren't as short as the torso-length pads. Sometimes they have a greater R-value (as in the NeoAir X-Lite) because women sleep colder. They're also usually a few bucks cheaper since they're a little smaller. If you make a great big Excel scatter plot like I did, the advantages are clear!

+1 on Laura's comment.

I use the women's size on the pads as I don't like the shorter pads that stop at my knees (or worse at my hips) but don't want the weight of the 72 and 77" pads (I'm 6' tall). I actually find having my feet hang over the edge more comfortable, as long as I have my feet in the closed box of my quilt.

BTW, I also use women's hiking poles to save weight. They have proven plenty strong and I weigh 245 lbs (unfortunately!). The only poles I've actually had break/bend on me were men's pole. Go figure…

I have the Peak Elite AC and it is extremely comfortable. I swear it emits heat as well, it's incredibly warm. The price is quite competitive as well. The one downside with this pad is the low flow rate of the inflation valve.

You have many good suggestions here already.

All I want to do is to make a specification correction about the Klymit pad.
On this thread, the Klymit pad was referred-to as having an R value of 1.0.
According to the BPL testing which was done on these pads, the R value varies from R 2.0 – R 2.8, depending upon where you measure it.

So according to independent testing done right here on BPL, the notion that it is R 1.0 is not correct.

+1 on the Peak Elite AC. I have that pad and IMO it's a great value. It's feature competitive to the Neo Air XLite but half the price. It's available in 3 different lengths for the men's, and one length for the women's size, I believe. The Men's regular is 12.9 oz/ $80 on Hikelight.com. The NeoAir Pump Sack works on it, also, if anyone uses one as a dual purpose pump and pack liner.

I have a Peak Elite AC, but I can't recommend it because of the behavior by Hyalite/POE. I'd only recommend it if REI starts selling it, but with the price REI will probably sell it at, it won't be very competitive.