Cold weather sleeping pad

[woods89]

I have quite a stash of credit card rewards that are available, and I've been trying to decide where to best use them. One hole in my gear is a cold weather sleeping pad. I've been looking really hard at an Exped Ultra 5R.

I'm curious about opinions on these. Also, how quickly will the synthetic insulation in them deteriorate? If I go up to the Ultra 7 it switches to down insulation. Is that well worth the extra cost?

I currently use an uninsulated Klymit Static V, with a 18* Big Agnes bag. With a Ridgerest under the air pad I'm covered in cool temps, but I'm looking for something nice and comfy in cold weather.

Thoughts?

 

[Northpark]

I have the exped ultra 7. Wouldn’t want anything less once the temps dip below 30 degrees. I use mine with a 10° El coyote quilt mostly.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

EXPED Winter or UL9. R rating of 6. Love the 3 1/2" thickness...super tough mat.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

I use a Thermarest Base Camp 2x30x77" pad for temperatures down to twenty below zero. No problems.

 

[Moserkr]

Ive stacked a R3 rated exped synmat hl mw with a thermarest foam pad and took it down to 0* with a 20* cheapo sleeping bag. Its a way to extend your current gear out further. If you look at some of the hardcore nordic backpackers, they will double stack foam mats plus the winter pads with very nice sleeping bags, and take it down into the -20 or even -40. Seriously cold weather.

The heavier weights of those inflatable pads equal the foam + mild weather pads normally, or come close. Gives you a backup in case of a puncture too. Just a thought.

 

[woods89]

Thanks for the posts, gentlemen.

I was actually doing a search on them on here, and a listing popped up from a month ago of a Downmat 7 a member had listed. I sent him a pm and made a deal. So I wound up saving a bit of money......

 

[Moserkr]

Awesome! Remember exped has great customer service too. Put 3 pinholes in my pad and couldnt find em. Out of warranty, exped fixed them for me no charge, even paid return postage. They dont want their product in landfills.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

Awesome! Remember exped has great customer service too. Put 3 pinholes in my pad and couldnt find em. Out of warranty, exped fixed them for me no charge, even paid return postage. They dont want their product in landfills.

You forgot to add: ...unlike BA. LOL

 

[CO-AJ]

When I purchased mine I debated between the Thermarest and Exped. Went Exped and love it. Super comfortable, durable, sleeping bag stays on top, has the inflation sac, and is quiet. Everytime I laid on the Thermarest it sounded like a space blanket, tinfoil, and painters plastic being wadded up together. Exped all the way.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Interesting. None of my Thermarest pads make any noise, at all.

 

[CO-AJ]

Interesting. None of my Thermarest pads make any noise, at all.

This was a couple of years ago so they may have changed their tech. It was the R-7 Thermarest. Said the noise was due to a "liner" they used inside to reflect heat back upwards.

 

[Mykolaivka887]

Yeah, I don't own the R-7 pads. I'm running with the Thermarest Base Camp XL. Totally different design.

 

[*zap*]

Basecamp is a warm pad, just not light. Right now that is my cold weather pad, plus a ridge rest = R-8. The self inflating pads have foam in them and will offer warmth even if they do not hold air....but they are not light.

 

[TradLife406]

I started using an Exped DownMat HL a couple years ago after a lot of time on the Extherm. The Exped is better in every way! Especially on a UL cot.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Larry Bartlett]

my kids complained that my lightweight ThermaRest pads "sound like we're sleeping on a bag of potato chips" and that "mine always gets flatter at night and I hear you snoring and it makes me mad"

They saw my Big Agnes pad and started calling me a bad dad because they got the "crappy old ones"

Big Agnes wins. https://www.bigagnes.com/Insulated-Air-Core-Ultra_2

They eventually wore me down with constant berating that I caved. I now own four hand-me-downs and four damned BA, What ev...my kids stopped complaining and sleep better in a tent, and they are so easy to inflate they can setup their sleep system themselves (6 & 8 y/o).

 

[mtwarden]

After I purchased my Thermarest Xtherm for winter camping many moons ago (eleven to be exact), I realized that the weight savings with my 3 season pads was pretty minimal and now run the Xtherm year round (well except when I know it's going to be above freezing- I simply couldn't resist when the Uberlight came out! )

After the recent reevaluation of how to get an accurate R values for pads, everyone's pads previous ratings went down, except Thermarest where they actually went up.

Check weight to R value and it's very tough to be beat Thermarest.

 

[dutch_henry]

Exped downmat (TT9) has treated me really well. That particular one is heavy at ~50 ounces, and generally only comes in deep winter when I'm hauling a sled. It's really warm and very comfortable. Made me a believer in down insulated mats.

I also have a UL exped mat with synthetic insulation. It's not nearly as warm or comfortable BUT a lot of that has to do with the construction differences (UL construction vs all the weight-adding bells and whistles the TT has) vs the insulation. I've used it for about 8 years with no sign of the synthetic insulation breaking down. I did blow a weld between two baffles and now have the dreaded bubble. That happened year 2 of use.

I generally pair my inflatable mats with a 3/4 length z-lite closed cell foam pad. Works great as a sit pad, and at night it provides extra insulation and some protection and cushion too.