So, plenty of people have modified Neoair pads over the years to their desired length. That mat has a fabric is a TPU fabric, ie, its heat sealable. (Eg see Suluk46’s Steve Evan’s early videos on the subject).
I never liked the Neoairs, I’ve tried and owned a few but could never quite get comfortable on them. They felt too balloon like to me, too noisy, and were too high; I had the classic reported issues with arm overhang (feels weird with your arms coming off the side trying to make their way to the floor), and also leg over hang on the shorter pads (I bought the shortest manufactured length and that was bad enough, let alone modifying to a shorter true Torso length). I could never get my favourite pillow (Big Sky dream sleeper) to work well with them either-on the pad meant I lost length and the drop off with my legs was worse (also I had to deflate the pillow a bit, annoying), off the pad at the head end and the crazy thickness of the NeoAir made my pillow far too thin!
I love Torso length pads, and have a large amount of experience with them now. I have various-first was a cut down CCF a long time ago, a BPL (Bozeman Mountain Works) Torsolite (great pad but certainly pushing the comfort dimensions), an XS TR Prolite (sensational pad, I have about 300nights on it), GG Torso pad, a Cascade design works similar version and various thinner ccf/evazotes…
I looked at the S2S pads, and tried one ages ago in a local store. Very comfortable, but seemingly heavy! And no true short option available! The short option is 168cm inflated-its essentially full length. The way they have done the matrix of “cells” is fantastic, it really is a comfortable experience. Being half the thickness of a Neoair, there are no issues with dropoff.
Its a TPU heat sealable pad. S2S brags on with marketing about their fancy proprietary sealing machine doo dad. This had me a tiny bit scared but was hoping it was just marketing hype. Surely a hot iron and careful pressure would do the same?
So last night, I took the plunge.
Initial Pad: S2S ultralight insulated, short: 168cm inflated. R3.3 (spec). Weight (measured): 425g.
Resultant Pad: 105cm inflated. 280.6grams (just under 10oz).
Finished pad next to XS Thermarest Prolite
I sealed the edges about 10mm wide-about three times the original seams. I think this was definitely overkill on my part. I did test runs on the offcuts, and was instantly reassured that this would work. A small 2cm seam on an offcut…I couldn’t pull it apart at all, so peel strength is very high (I can deadlift over 150kg…). I’ve zero doubt this will hold up long term, in fact, my seams are probably stronger than manufacture!
Test seal on scrap
My optimised torso length, with pillow off the pad, I think is 88-90cm. This one I did a bit longer first try…I was a bit worried about the seams (still, after test). But I could save about another ounce by going down to that length. With the taper, and the insulation layers inside (which are also tapered and not full length) its a little hard to accurately calculate the resultant weight. I think for now I will stick with it, and see how I go, and maybe shorten it in the future, or do the same treatment on their ultralight non-insulated pad but to 88cm, for trips where I know the temp will be above 5C (~40F).
Insulation remnants-you can see the reflective layer, which is lightly glued to the ~10mm insulation layer. S2S don’t do a pad with either or, its either both or nothing (non-insulated ultralight version). Be good to see them do a more optimised pad for weight that is short and maybe just has the reflective barrier. This is definitely a warm pad (r=3.3, might be conservative, it feels like an Xtherm).
Oh yeah, resulting packed size is a little less than my XS Thermarest-about 1-2cm shorter and slightly thinner diameter. Despite the extra length.
Go forth and chop chop chop away BPL!!!
