My favourite place to get up is in a sleeping bag, which is sweet as a result of I are likely to get up loads when sleeping in a sleeping bag. It is not the bag, it is the pad beneath me. I’ve tried all of them (it is a part of my job), and whereas some are undoubtedly higher than others, I’ve by no means discovered one which fairly fulfilled each backpacker’s dream—a light-weight, packable sleeping pad that feels similar to the mattress you left at house.
Till now, that’s. The Therm-a-Relaxation NeoLoft sleeping pad is not the lightest at 25 ounces—goodbye, ultralight readers—however the 4.6-inch cushion is a real luxurious, and it gives a fantastic night time’s relaxation, which might be extra helpful than shedding a number of ounces.
The Nice Weight Debate
{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson
There are two issues with carrying an enormous sleeping pad within the backcountry. First, there’s the burden you must carry, after which there’s the quantity of room it takes up in your pack. The ultralight group on-line will attempt to persuade you that camp consolation—that’s, your shelter and your sleeping arrange—aren’t as essential as conserving weight down, so you may transfer quick.
Relying in your targets within the backcountry, which will certainly be true. However after attempting it for fairly a number of journeys, I’ve discovered it is not the case for me. For me, carrying slightly extra weight within the type of a heavier tent and sleeping pad affords me a greater night time’s sleep, which helps me (on common) to hike additional than I do with much less weight however poorer sleep.
Therm-a-Relaxation’s new NeoLoft pad steps into this weight/dimension/consolation debate by leaning closely on the facet of consolation. It’s undeniably huge, relative to one thing like Therm-a-Relaxation’s XLite pads or Sea to Summit’s Ether Mild collection (our two favourite ultralight sleeping pads). For all that, although, the Neoloft is not that huge when packed down, particularly contemplating how huge it’s whenever you inflate it.
The NeoLoft reliably packs all the way down to a dimension that is simply bigger than a Nalgene water bottle—about an inch larger round and an inch taller for the common huge dimension pad that I examined. It is a tight squeeze becoming the NeoLoft in my Hyperlite Junction 40 with the remainder of my gear, nevertheless it works for shorter journeys the place I am not carrying a ton of meals. For journeys longer than three or 4 nights, I would need a 55L pack. (Naturally, this may rely loads on the dimensions of the remainder of your gear. You possibly can see what I carry at LighterPack.)
I will confess that I used to be dreading testing this pad. I did not need to lug it with me, however once I truly loaded it up … I did not actually discover the additional 8 ounces over the Nemo Tensor I normally carry. Once more although, I’m not attempting to win any ultralight prizes. Reasonably, I am searching for the fitting steadiness between weight and luxury.
Sleeping Pad Know-how
{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson
I take a look at natural mattresses for WIRED, and I take advantage of roughly the identical standards to guage sleeping pads. Consolation whereas sleeping comes all the way down to how effectively your pad retains you heat, how effectively it relieves stress, how effectively it supplies assist, and the way secure it’s to sleep on.
