Sleeping Pads

A sleeping bag is designed to shield its user from the cold air that surrounds him, not the cold ground below him.  Thus, a proper sleeping pad is not a luxury that provides comfort, it is a necessity to retain warmth.  There are a variety of choices available and just like everything else in backpacking, you have to balance weight, comfort, durability and cost.  Thermarest is a leading brand of sleeping pads.  REI has a house brand and there may be others.  I will discuss the Thermarest pads because I am more familiar with them, but other similar pads may work just as well or better.  If you are focused on keeping your pack weight down, you can shave a pound or two on your pad.  The Z-Lite egg crate style Thermarest is very light.  It may not be as cushy as the inflatable styles, but it clearly wins in the weight category and is less expensive too.  Also lightweight, but costly, is the Pro-Lite line Thermarests.  One way they shave weight is by trimming the dimensions, including the thickness, which impacts comfort.  I use the rectangular green Trail-Lite Thermarest pad.  It is big enough that I am not likely to roll off of it at night, even as I roll from one side to the other and it is nicely padded.  I am willing to accept a bit of extra weight in order to be comfortable.  Another plus of these is that there are accessories that allow them to be used as a chair or even a lounge seat.  My son has a Trail-Lite pad just like mine.  He also has a Z-Lite for occasions when weight is a compelling factor.  He carried that one to Philmont.  I have not studied the other brands and would welcome comments from anybody who has.

This entry was posted on 16 November 2009 at 21:31 and is filed under Outdoors & Scouts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.

| Print