Gossamer Gear Air Beam Sleeper

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Marc, I think the OP was talking about the Air Beam Sleeper, not the back pad.

These are just un-insulated air pads (R value = 1). What would be the purpose of these when the Neo Air XLites and Xtherms of the world are only slightly heavier but much warmer? Even the burly Thermarest Prolite XS weighs 7 or 8 oz and provides more warmth at a similar weight.

John,

Marc's is wider for the weight.

Maybe – the width of the small through large sizes are 21'' and taper to 14.5''

I can only see this working when paired with a thin foam pad, where the combination might provide a good balance between some warmth and some comfort.

Ah… Oops, re-read the title you're right. Luckily I CAN comment on the sleeper since I just got it last week. I can't give any solid feedback since I haven't used it yet being that it's uninsulated. At first glance though it seems nice. I got the XL version and it is definitely a wide 28" pad which is nice for my larger shoulders. I also like that it trims weight by tapering since Im generally a side sleeper and don't need the extra width at my hips. I also like the fact that it tapers from 2.5" to 1.5" at the torso so that there isn't a huge dropoff from knees to the ground…. Pretty ingenious! I could be wrong but it's the first pad I'm aware of that does this. My only concern with that though is if you're sleeping on a slight decline, would it have you sliding in the middle of the night? Time will tell since its still too cold to use right now here in VA. I'd still need to bring something to use under it so when that weight is added, I'm back up to a heavier mat anyways. It should be really nice though for general 2-3 season use

This my my general impression of the XL. I agree with John that there seems to be little justification for me if I were to use the smaller pads because there are other warmer pads out there at little to no additional weight penalty. I had an email exchange with someone from Exped begging them to make a wide torso length UL7 which by rough calculation would come in around 13-15 oz which IMHO would blow any competition in wide pads out of the water. He didn't entirely dismiss me lol.

I even pointed him to several threads here about the demand for a wide torso pad and people willing to cut up $180 pads to get one that worked, so he saw the market need. Time will tell… It's beyond me how the wide torso length pads have not caught on with pad makers.

I'm in the market for a sleeping pad. I was planning on a NeoAir XLite, but then caught wind of the GG Airbeam Sleeper. The Airbeam is intriguing for summer use, given the weight of a large size at 10.35 oz, but it would normally require a 1/8" Thinlight pad for additional warmth (+2.5oz)since its r-value is essentially 1.0.

I have found a few very preliminary reviews of the Airbeam (all glowing), but generally they were from GG ambasadors. The best review I found was from Will Rietveld on his Southwest Ultralight Backpacking blog spot which was very unbiased. Still looking for other real life experiences.

By far the biggest seller for me is the width of the wide pad.
This would allow me to sleep without my arms and other body parts on the cold hard ground.

I actually have the Klymit Wide torso pad because it is also light and wide.

The width also means it can be used to supplement hammock insulation for those that use a hammock, but also have to go to ground on occasions and so need to have some kind of ground pad.