Air Mattress Design & Warmth

I don’t know how to respond to something like this…umm yes?! That concept obviously doesn’t work with quilts or bags without bottom insulation (BA sleep system).

It gets crazy when you consider the types of baffle configurations you can play with to obtain higher R-values. Angles and layers of baffles, all play a part. It seems having reflective layers is also very important to obtaining optimal warmth for the weight compared with synthetic or down insulation inside the pad. Also, the way synthetic can be layered/overlapped plays a part.

Have you had the pleasure of destructing an x-therm or x-lite? Impressive RD/Engineering to find a solution as they have.

I know there are too many factors, but how did you sleep compared with your buddy that night – what is your pad “rated” to??

Eric Blanche,

I think there is some misunderstanding in what I meant, likely due to my too short explanation.

I’m talking about Sea to SUMMIT style air mattresses that are quilted into small tufts with spaces in between, It is those spaces where sleeping bag insulating can fill to some extent therefore giving more insulation. Down bags would work better here due to down being more expandable into smaller spaces.

That’s my somewhat tuition understanding of the advantage of this design of insulated air mattress. I suppose it also works to some extent with Cascade Designs/Thermarest air mattresses like X-Therm with the horizontal ribs.