indyfabz

I will let you know soon. The GF bought a rectangular BA Air Core from REI last weekend. It's a shorter version (66", I think), but rectangular. The salesperson said it doesn't take that much to inflate it. We plan to test that this week.

She doesn't have much padding and her TR Pro Lite 3 wasn't cutting it for her. She tried the Air Core in the store and liked it a lot. We are registered for d2r2 in mid-August and will be camping before and after. We will put it to the test there.

indyfabz

20x66 Air Core rectangular brand new took 20 breaths to inflate solid. Non issue at all. Reminds me of the people who say "I don't cook on tour because doing the dishes is a PITA." How difficult is it to wash a couple of pots, a plate, bowl and a few utensils?

clayton c

I have a Thermarest Ultra-Lite 3/4. The weight is great, rolled up is about the size of a grapefruit. The compactness and weight were the key factors in this purchase. Cons would be that the foam material is thin as you climb onto it. Dispite that fear, my body weight evenly distributes over the entire mat once you lay down. The 3/4 length leaves your feet feeling like they are over the "edge" and might cut your bag if a stick or sharp rock were under the foot area.

andrewclaus

I haven't read every word of every post, but I don't think anyone has mentioned site selection yet. I'd rather look for a soft grassy site and carry a cheap CCF pad than carry an expensive inflatable and be able to sleep on concrete. I seriously prefer not to camp on hard surfaces and will go to reasonable lengths to avoid that. (My tent is not self-supporting and I need to drive stakes.) In the event a hard surface is unavoidable, a cheap CCF pad works just OK for me.

A 3/4 length Ridgerest worked fine on the Northern Tier ride I just finished. I stealth camped pretty often, and was able to find lots of grassy or leafy sites where the pad was often not even needed. In thick forest, I often had to kick a pit in the duff to find solid dirt to hold my stakes. Town parks were pretty common on my route, and the grass was usually soft enough to negate a pad, too.

I had nothing else stowed on top of my rack so it was easy to carry the pad there. Size could be a problem for some.

Erick L

All my gear got lighter over time except for the matress. It's also the piece of gear that I've changed the most. I've used an old generation "ultralight" (at the time) Thermarest that I never liked, a Big Agnes insulated Air Core that leaked, a 1.5" Thermarest and now use and Exped 7LW. One reason was to do some winter camping, the other is because I wanted a wider pad, a "queen size bed" of sort. I'm very happy with it.

Piratebike

Once I went to hammocks, I no longer have to worry over pads.

pretzelkins

So I've spent a few nights on my new Exped UL Synmat now. It's definitely not as luxurious feeling as my downmat, but it's 1/3 the packed size and weight (it size M, downmat is LW) and inflates in a fraction of the time with the inflation bag accessory. I can usually get it inflated in two bag fills.

One word of warning though. I slept in very foggy conditions one night and the pad got quite a bit of water in it when inflated with the bag. In such conditions it might be best to use your lungs. Seems to have dried out, but I'll avoid using the inflation bag in such conditions in the future.

Carbonfiberboy 

Another NeoAir user here. They are really easy to inflate. You're just doing it wrong. Most people think they have to blow this pad up, so they work at it. Wrong approach. Just breathe deeply but normally, exhaling into the pad. Don't make a special effort! It takes me about 24 breaths, my wife takes 40, so it depends on lung size, but it's very easy to do. I'd guess 1.5 minutes for me, 3 for my wife. Just relax.

Some people complain that a NeoAir seems to partially deflate after filling. This is true sometimes. What's happening is that part of what you blow into the pad is water vapor. The water vapor then condenses in the pad, reducing the gas volume. Just add some more later. This effect seems to vary with the temperature.

And no, you cannot blow up a down filled pad by mouth. Ruins the down.

And yes, it would be a bear to inflate with an itty-bitty bike pump. Each normal, rather deep breath is probably a little less than 2 liters, thus I'm blowing about 40 liters into the pad. Looking at a pad, that seems about right. A touring bike pump is probably doing well if it puts out 6 cu. in./stroke. That would make it about 400 bike pump strokes. Besides, deep breathing exercises are good for you.

IME there is no down side to the NeoAir other than . . . expense! The great thing is to have the NeoAir in a pocket of a nylon ground sheet, with a small down bag zipped to it, thus you can't roll off the pad and the down bag is only half the weight of a normal bag. My wife and I use a double version of this system, produced by Feathered Friends in Seattle. I imagine they'd build you a single version.
https://www.featheredfriends.com/Pica...undsheets.html

SparkyGA

I rock a Kathmandu inflatable sleep pad in short length. Hate it, I've replaced it twice. First one lasted 3 days before it began leaking. Second one took about a week to begin to fail. Junk.

robow

So do you carry an underquilt or a pad for your lower insulation?

TheReal Houdini

been using the same 3/4 length therm-a-rest for the last 21 years. don't fix what aint broke

Technique helps. Fully inflate, always put the valve at right shoulder. let out enough air that my arse is just off the ground when I go to bed.

Piratebike

Underquilt, 3/4 length down.

djkenny

I picked up a Big Agnes pad. The Insulated Air Core w/ a 20% coupon at REI.

All I can say is that I laid on everything just about they offered and *nothing* that wasn't pure-car-camping style came close. I cannot lay on a Thermarest or the like. Tried it. Nearly KILLED me.

The 2.5 inches of of fluff will hopefully help. Off on a brief tour next week and hoping for a good night's rest!

Pros:
Thick and a nice rectangle, not the mummy shape (although it's avail)
Thick. Not an inch of might as well be on the dirt.

Cons:
Espensif!
Heard it is a chore to blow up.
Can get a hole, but you can fix those and REI will allow a trade on a new one anyway.

fuzz2050

Just curious, what is it about the Thermarest that you didn't like?

Also, in case you're worried about punctures, all Big Agnes pads come with a repair kit, and it's dead simple to use. Just like patching a tube, the hardest part is finding the hole.

MerriwetherII

Interesting comments.

I have a full-length Thermarest I've used for many years. No complaints. Always a comfortable sleep. I agree with AndrewClaus, though. I'd rather sleep on softer ground on any pad, and I prioritize that preference.

You can't always choose where you sleep, of course, but for me even the full-size aerobed things in a _house_ are not as comfortable on a hard floor as they are on a carpet. So, again, I would say the softer site is the first job. Tent pegs are nice to use, when you can, too, and it's always pleasant not to have to bang them into the ground. Etc.

One note that might well be widely known but that I've not seen so far. The self-inflating pads can roll up very tight with thin tent poles inside of them. If you've got collapsable poles for a two-man tent, for example, you can put the bundle of those on one end of the laid out mattress. Lengthwise the bundle is about the width of the Thermarest. Then you can roll the mattress tightly with the bundle inside of it. I can always roll the mattress-poles bundle smaller than I can the mattress alone, and I've done a lot of trying.

You didn't ask about panniers, but it's worth mentioning here that Arkel's full-size touring bags have a pocket on one side that a Thermarest and poles fit right inside of, with room left over for doodads. It's one of my favorite features on the panniers. You can see it on the GT-54:

https://panniers.com/eu_e/all-categor...-bike-bag.html

Good luck

Rowan

I think the days of the old self-inflating, foam-filled Thermarest are numbered. The concept met the needs of the "instant fix" mentality, but with a little extra effort, I can bypass the need to carry extra foam around, have a vastly more comfortable mattress, and know that have a reliable pad that won't delaminate irrepairably.

I've had various Thermarest pads and various knockoffs and none of them have given me enough satisfaction to not try something else.

Several years ago, I revived the old inflatable mattress concept from my childhood, and in general found it to be more comfortable because it supported all my body off the ground, without it having to be overinflated.

It was an old Lilo mattress, and it had its shortcomings. It was too narrow and the tubes in it were too big.

I now own an Exped T7 and won't be going back to Thermarests ever again. It rolls down to about the same size as my old orange three-quarter length Thermarest thingie, takes less than 5 minutes to inflate, is warm, and keeps my body entirely off the ground, depending on the inflation pressure (which I keep less than hard because I have hip issues).

If you've used Thermarests or similar for years, then that is fine. But I can't help think that you don't know what you are missing by maintaining the brand loyalty and not trying some different concept.

zoltani

I use a Big Agnes air core and like it, very comfortable. However, they have a new pad called the Q-core, and i gave it a try at REI, even more comfortable than the air core! It is expensive though.

https://www.bigagnes.com/Products/Detail/Pad/qcore

fuzz2050

I'm not going to disagree with you, at all in fact. However, I do take some exception to lumping all Therarest mattresses in with the thin self inflating ones. I agree with you, the old ones kind of sucked; they cost a lot, they were heavy and they didn't provide much comfort.

Up until I tried a new Neo-Air I was set against inflatable mattresses. Then, I managed to get both an Insulated Air Core and a Neo-Air. Honestly, both feel pretty much the same under you, although the Neo-Air does make a bit more noise (But it's also close to half the weight). Both are worlds more comfortable than my old closed cell foam, not to mention the old self inflating ones.

Simon Cowbell

All told, I've slept a couple of weeks on the wife's Big A Air Core. It's nice enough, but I still take my six year old TR 1.5" Prolite on trips, tho'. It's very slightly lighter than the BA and combined with the thermarester kit, makes for a better chair, imo. Her BA started leaking from all over on it's second season too. REI replaced it but I still ended up sleeping on the deck a couple of nights.

djb

spent 7 days recently using my newish Neoair every night. Takes me about 3 mins top to fill with air and was not therefore a burden to me each night setting up stuff in the tent, I always let some air out when I am laying on it so that it is softer and better for sleeping on my side for shoulders and hips. Slept very very well (riding each day from 70-145k will do that though) and was entirely happy with it over a number of days in a row (had only slept on it here and there before) and still even didnt have any issues with the "crackly chips" noise (covered with sleeping bag helps probably, plus my hearing isnt so great in one ear)

time will tell how it holds up over the years.

mm718

Does anyone have an opinion on the comfort of the Neoair Trekker vs the exped synmat UL? I had one miserable night on the trekker but I later realized that I had overinflated and it didn't help that I had a lousy pillow. The trekker feels really good now that I have inflated it just enough so that my hip doesn't graze the ground. My question--I know the synmat is a bit warmer but beyond that do people find it more comfortable than the neoair or neoair trekker?

cyccommute 

I purchased the Q-core and used it this spring. There's a slight weight penalty but it's ever so much more plush. It packs down the same, however.

robow

I like the Neoair Trekker better for the reason that those baffles that run perpendicular to my frame seem to support me better than the typical longitudinal ones of my synmat. Both nice pads and I really can't tell any difference in warmth but then I don't do a lot of winter camping.

zoltani

Yeah, when mine bits the dust I will likely go for the q-core, so comfortable...
I don't mind the slight weight penalty for a good night's sleep

liamof

I also up dated my thermarest and sleeping bag situaltion. And what a difference!

On of my main complaints is sliding down on the thermarest or off it entirely as I sleep.
I purchased a "big agnes sleeping bag with an insulated air pad." Wow, what a difference.
the nice thing is the way it is desinged the goose down is only on one side of the sleeping bag and the insulated sleeping air mattress fits in a pocket on the other side of the sleeping bag.
You save weight on the sleeping bag and I think the air pad is less weight than the therma rest.
I just have to figure out how to fit an adapter on my bike pump so I can inflate the air pad.

Any ideas?
Liam