My NeoAir adventures.

What? You haven't tried the Neoair XTherm? You NEED TO try it!!! :)

The Gear Enabler- back at it

Are you kidding me Ben!? At potentially 151 g extra, i'd rather have a frosty bum…

hehe :-)

How tall are you?

I just wish there was more of an offering of wider sizes.

I love the small packed size of these new air mattresses.

Sure it is one more thing to take care of and keep track of as well as a slight amount of weight, but those pad inflators, like the Microburst makes having a large air pad easier to live with. I start the pad inflating and go do something else. Easy.

Ken, I'm 185 cm. The Original NeoAir reg. was fine, the Xlite reg. was too short and slim for me. The Xlite Large is perfect for me both in length and width – and not to long either, so i don't "waste" any weight on superfluous material.

About inflation. I've been looking at the microburst as i remembered how annoying it was to inflate the old Original Large NeoAir, but as stated above, i find the transparent Xlite Large very easy to inflate!

Have anybody else noticed the same?

I can add my own neoair story to Peter's

In chronological order:

neoair small

I wasn't gonna spend that much $$ without losing weight from the prolite small I was using. Still own it and use it for backpacking.

neoair regular

Caught a good deal on gear swap and picked it up for use when weight was less important (canoe or car camping). But decided I'd prefer a large for that use and sold it.

neoair large

works OK but just slightly too large for a SMD Meteor bivvy which I'd often use when taking the large (can zip it closed but it pushes hard at the seams)

Similar to Peter, I can feel a slight chill from below at about 30F. A thin CCF pad (1/8" from GG) on top makes it cozy at least to 25F (haven't found the limit yet)

The Xtherm would be tempting for real winter except that I already have a Kookabay GoosePad.

I used a Neo-Air All-Season, then an X-therm. I used the All-Season for 30 days straight, blowing it up every night and deflating and folding it every morning.

Then I tried a Neo-Air Z-lite Torso, slept great…. and sold my Neo-Airs. All I use now is the CCF pad. I love it to death.

The only times I use my z-lite is in desert conditions where puncture risk is high. Otherwise I find it too thin and not enough insulation power.

Love the neoairs myself. I used to rock my original rectangle neoair with a 1/8" ccf down to 25 degrees and with a quilt…never a complaint…probably a dumb decision by me to sell it.

Trying out the xtherm this season, love everything but the dorito bag crinkle.

I have had two NeoAirs and they leaked after only a few uses. They were used inside tents or bivvies. Sad really and apparently I am not alone.

Inflatables will leak eventually. For the most reliability, a closed cell foam is best and can be doubled up but are supremely bulky.

For inflatable, I have an Exped UL7 Synmat which I have found warmer than the standard NeoAir and which has not leaked yet. However, there is a 3 oz weight difference.

I own both the large and the small NeoAirs but have used the small size almost exclusively on my trips. My small weighs 9 oz (exactly) which is lighter than the listed weight. Since my small NeoAir only weighs 1 oz more than the new Xlite, I so no reason to upgrade (I like the rectangular pad and it's worth the 1 oz difference in weight).

My large weighs exactly double the weight of my small NeoAir and even though it's extremely comfortable, I just can't make myself carry the extra 9 oz since I find the small NeoAir very comfortable as well. I've never had a leak in either pad but I carry a CCF bum pad anyway, so that is my backup mat (would work as a small torso pad in an emergency).

One of the great things for me, going from internal frame to frame-less backpack, has been the use of a 4 segment Zlite ccf, that acts as:

-frame,
-great coffee break pad,

and at night, i put it under my tent floor at my hip/butt area, where the pressure on the air-mattress is highest. This has 5 "sub-functions":

-less chance of puncture of air-mattress,
-protects the tent floor
– In case of puncture, and I can't find the hole, can be a part of a backup mattress combined with backpack, pants and more gear…
-quickly relocate to vestibule to act as knee pad/sit pad when going in or out of the tent
-prevents my butt from sinking through the air-mattress and on to the cold ground when sitting up in the tent.