Backpacking Frame options

Just get an Arc Blast.

By the time you add some side water bottle pockets and a mesh panel and the Klymit you'll be close to the weight of an Arc Blast anyway.

I could potentially use the klymit pad as flotation with a short near x-lite plus I am thinking of not getting side pockets among other accessories.

The arc blast is very tempting though…

Just feel like I am not being a true ULer by having a dedicated frame if that makes any sense. But I also love me some inflatable mattress so I am just trying to have it all!

If you're going that route, you can just use a partially filled Neoair as your back panel. Put pack/gear under your legs at night to round out the ground insulation. I do this with the short Neoair and it works fine for me.

I find side pockets and the mesh panel extremely useful. Can't imagine having to go into the main bag every time a clothing adjustment is needed, and you gotta have something to carry water anyway.

But, as usual, there's no accounting for individual preferences, styles and environments…

Experimenting with the partially filled neoair has left me not exactly impressed with its ability to function as a frame.

Instead of side pockets I was going to try out the shoulder strap pockets from packs.

Slimmer profile that way,

I wonder if the zpacks arc slim is simply the way to go…

To address to original question:

First, you failed to address what size of a ZPacks Zero you have or are considering using, or asking about.

I tried putting a Klymit AirFrame inside of a ZPacks Zero (xs,small,medium) and it is just not a viable option as it ends up taking a bit too much volume inside them.

The AirFrame can work on the larger size (52L+) size bags. I threw an AirFrame into my Arc ZIP and it fit in there good, but it still took up a fair amount of volume.

The problem is that we are forced to put it inside the backpack and not in external sleeves like what most of the packs designed with the AirFrame already have built in.

IF you do not mind losing the volume and if you have a larger volume backpack, the AirFrame does work. It will have a bit of moving around though, as there is no way to lock/strap it in place, beyond the gear you have inside the pack.

I've found the pure comfort of the Osprey EXOS 58 harness and mesh back is worth a few extra ounces.

And this comfort lasts all day.

John:
I would imagine the shape wouldn't be quite right and that I would need to upsize to the medium, my apologies for not specifying what size I was planning on using. Thank you for your first hand knowledge with testing this.
Eric:
The exos frame looks comparable to an arc blast system and they look quite nice indeed no argument here but I am unfortunately struck with some desire to lower my weight a tad from my current framed system.
I have gone with an upgraded prophet with the klymit frame upgrade that includes sleeve, load lifters and extra padding. I hope this works!