New EE Pad Cover

[JCH]

Oh boy, new gear to discuss :)

I don’t remember ever seeing a pad cover offered by a manufacturer before, although I have seen a few DIY examples.  They look nice and the materials are interesting.

Who’s excited about this and why?

[Jonathan Patt]

I’ve been thinking about exactly this for a while. I take long underwear bottoms to sleep in so that I don’t stick to my pad uncomfortably, but they’re a bit much when it’s warm, and a sheet/cover might eliminate that need. I’ll have to consider if it’s worth $50 to me, though.

[JCH]

I don’t camp when it’s too hot to wear a (light) base layer to bed…but I suspect there are plenty of people for whom ~1.5 oz is a good tradeoff for clammy pad against skin.

As for being worth $50…well, a lot of us do have $600 cuben tents :)

[Douglas Layne]

I will be ordering one for an thermarest xlite-large. May take a bit before I test it though.
I really like the idea of the cover.

levibarry/Doug

I

[J R]

Thermarest used to make a cover for their pads. That was more of a microfiber “cloth” material to feel nice against the skin. I don’t see anything in EE’s description of their cover of how it feels against the skin, that’s a concern.

[Ian]

“I don’t see anything in EE’s description of their cover of how it feels against the skin, that’s a concern.”

Website says it’s 10 denier nylon.  Alone, as a sheet let’s say, that would be pretty comfortable.  If it stays tight against the pad, my guess it’s pretty comfortable.  Only one way to find out.

I like the idea of tying my pillow to it.  I wish it was rectangular shaped and could accommodate the size large Xtherm Max.

It’d also be interesting to see this as part of an integrated bivy system where the bottom layer is silnylon, then the pad, 10d nylon, human, quilt, then Argon/eVent.

As always, hat’s off to Tim and Co.

[JCH]

Our cover uses 10D nylon for the bottom, micro-ripstop 7D for the top

I bet that 7d top is silky and slick!  I agree with Ian…nice piece of kit. EE comes up with something fairly unique and well considered once again.

@levibarry – very interested in hearing your thoughts after some use.

[Nick Gatel]

For the past 6 or 7 years my primary backcountry sleeping insulation has been a EE Epiphany Cuben quilt. So I guess you could say I’m a EE fan.

That being said, to me this pad cover is a solution to a problem that doesn’t exist and is extra unneeded weight.

[Bob Moulder]

Not something I need, although some folks seem to find the regular pad surface uncomfortable.

If it eliminates the need for a set of longjohns brought along specifically for sleeping, then it might result in a net weight reduction.

I simply count myself lucky that these things don’t bother me. Consequently my pillow and the leg/hip area of my most-used torso air mat are a bit on the gacky side but I don’t care… I don’t want to sell them and, trust me, you don’t want to buy them, lol. :^)

[chris s]

If they’re using the same stuff they’re making their quilts out of, which I think would be a good assumption, then I think it would feel delightful.

[d k]

How protective do you think the bottom of the cover would be against pointy things (rocks, pine comes, sticks that didn’t get cleared)?  Or is it mostly just protective against dirt, and maybe a little scuffing?

[JCH]

How protective do you think the bottom of the cover would be against pointy things…

I would think not very.  10d is a common fabric weight for a quilt/bag or a UL puffy jacket.  I would not lay that directly on the ground and expect it to “protect” me from anything pointy.

I really see this pad cover as a niche product.  Not something I’m interested in personally, but something that could have real value in instances such as Bob mentioned.

[Cole B]

I wonder if it would help at all with the crinkly noise problem some people have with neoair sleeping pads?

[Edward John M]

I’d like to see a couple of UL straps on the underneath to secure an UL foam pad for protection aginst all those pointy sticks and sharp stones myself

[Dan @ Durston Gear]

Neat product. It’ll be interesting to watch this one evolve.

It would be neat if there were buckles on the pad cover so a quilt could clip directly to it, instead of wrapping around the bottom.

It would also be cool if there were a continuous connection system all the way around. This way, they could probably make a much lighter quilt with less girth (40″?) that is just the top half of a sleeping bag. A zipper might do the trick. Velcro probably wouldn’t hold well enough. Maybe a mix with zipper on the bottom half and velcro on the top half for easy exits?

[Paul S.]

Dan you basically described the Big Agnes sleep system, except theirs is quite heavy, especially the zipper.

[Brett]

What Dan described sounds awesome!

[Thomas E]

Hasn’t Exped had mat covers for years already? I definitely have something like that at home collecting dust.

[Richie S]

Exped and thermarest both have covers which work fine but come in at 5 or 6oz.

[Tim Marshall]

We are offering this pad cover as a response to thousands of customer requests.  I guess people don’t like sleeping directly on their pad, i wear a shirt to sleep so I don’t care.

I’m not sure one of these will ever find it’s way into my pack, but for those who want some soft silky nylon between them and their pad, this is about as light as that will ever get:)

will it add much protection for poky things; no.  Will it make you warmer; no.  Will it reduce the horrible noises coming from your pad; no.  Will I ever design a top bag similar to Dan’s suggestions above; don’t you want to know:)

We can’t integrate a quilt attachment system to the pad cover due to a patent already held on that design.  Using our loop straps would allow a foam pad to be held comfortable under the air pad, or you could stuff it inside the cover, but it’d be a tight fit.

If the pad cover ends up being popular we will add additional size support, add rectangular options for common sizes, and add support for more brands, all in due time.

-Tim Marshall

Founder; Enlightened Equipment

[Richie S]

Tim – any plans for a rectangular version?

[Eric Blumensaadt]

Wouldst thee deign to coat the bottom of thine cover with a very light coating of 5:1 odorless mineral spirits and clear GE silicone caulk? (i.e. silnylon coating rolled on W/ a short nap narrow paint roller and wiped down with paper shop towels.)

This coating would perchance create more resistance to slipping on a tent floor and give a bit more puncture resistance.
What thinkest thou?

 

 

[Jonathan Patt]

I just got one of these and will be taking it out on a week trip to see how it works for me. In addition to increased comfort from not having direct contact with the pad surface, I also really like the idea of having something to remove and wash, as I get quite dirty when out working on trails, and even when I change into clean sleepwear, some of that still transfers to my pad.

[Lyle G]

Thermarest made what they called a fitted sheet. I actually bought one but never ended up using it for my Neoair xlite, I just sleep in a lightweight wool baselayer, its more flexible. I think I probably still have it somewhere. I couldn’t find it on their website so maybe its discontinued. REI has some details.

https://www.rei.com/product/766411/therm-a-rest-fitted-sheet

edit: Looks like thermarest calls the new version “synergy” https://www.thermarest.com/catalog/product/view/id/17162/s/synergy-sheets/category/15/

[Jonathan Patt]

I’ve now used my Enlightened Equipment pad cover for about 14 nights since the end of May. I’m really happy with it—it’s a lot more comfortable to sleep on, can live on the pad full time except for cleaning, and the ability to have a removable layer to clean is great.

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