New Sleeping Pad R-Value Standards Have Arrived…

Good article. And don’t forget the information that Rex published back in November:

https://backpackinglight.com/forums/topic/sleeping-pad-r-values-not-that-useful/

All good information.

But still so sad F3340 didn’t apply more thought into actual real world use, especially since ccf pads don’t compress as easily as an air mattresses and whose R value isn’t affected when a person shifts from their back to their side (apparently about 1.6 times an hour under “normal” conditions. I’d wager folks move between side and back a lot more while camping.)

With an air mattress, that simple movement alone can significantly affect it’s R value.

For the interested, here’s a 2017 NIH study about sleep behavior: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5677378/

Well, I see that my Exped Downmat XP 9 dropped from an R value of 8 to 7.8.  Hope I don’t get cold now!  (I am kidding.)

Thanks for the SectionHiker link.  That is a helpful chart.  Finally, the start of a level-er playing field for consumers.

Hmm?!  I guess that’s why my insulated Tensor was on sale!!!!

I was just shopping for an upgrade to my REI Magma 10 (the best 30 degree bag previously on the market) ;)  Looks like I better be shopping for a upgrade pad, too!

Thanks!

Hmm?! I guess that’s why my insulated Tensor was on sale!!!!

I was just shopping for an upgrade to my REI Magma 10 (the best 30 degree bag on the market) ;) Looks like I better be shopping for a upgrade pad, too!

The pads have not changed per-se, their R-values have been recalculated.

Hence, on Thermarest’s site, all the pads have been “updated.” As far as I can tell, nothing about the pads have actually changed except the stated R Values through a new standardized process.

If it has an R-value of 5 you should be OK.  The EN process assumes a pad R-Value of 5.

The Kodiak would be a really warm bag, you might find it good to 10-15* even.  I just wanted you to note that it’s a really wide bag and if you’re on the slimmer side its internal volume may be hard for you to heat. Depending on what sort of temperature you really want to be warm in the Antelope with overfill is  equivalent to most people’s 0* bags, or you could even step up to the Lynx or Puma if you really wanted a near 0* bag and sleep a bit cool.

I’m very interested to see how my two relatively ne REI FLASH air mattresses R values fare.

FLASH Insulated-> R 3.7 (“3 season”)

FLASH All Season-> R 5.3 (winter)

So far both mattresses have kept me nicely warm in cool to cold temperatures. I’m all-a-twitter to see what the new standard does with the above R values.