New Big Agnes pads - AXL air

[Jordan Budd]

Just got the catalog in the mail and these are pretty appealing for the lightweight crowd. Their insulated 3 season model in regular is 12oz.... it’s also 180$.. but I’d like to get my hands on one this year. You’d have to be pretty careful with them but they’re supposed to be a rip stop nylon.

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[TradLife406]

Just got the catalog in the mail and these are pretty appealing for the lightweight crowd. Their insulated 3 season model in regular is 12oz.... it’s also 180$.. but I’d like to get my hands on one this year. You’d have to be pretty careful with them but they’re supposed to be a rip stop nylon.

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Wow

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[verysimple]

Just dont take them when its under 32 degrees out.. Their R rating is not all that good supposedly..

 

[gabenzeke]

I have one and slept on it in my garage one night when temps got down to 20. I was using a 10 degree quilt, and it was okay, but I tend to sleep pretty warm. Excited to take it into the mountains this year.

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[sneaky]

Just dont take them when its under 32 degrees out.. Their R rating is not all that good supposedly..

That's what I've heard from also. This from guys who sell the pads, said the R value ratings are quite a bit off. They told me the xtherm is still the best option if you sleep cold.

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[sneaky]

They also said a lot of people don't care for the valve on the AXL pads. I'll take a look at one eventually, but I'll take the weight penalty for my 30" wide Klymit. It's like sleeping on a bed with a quilt lol

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[wind gypsy]

These caught my eye but some digging online revealed a handful of people unhappy that the insulated version slept noticibly cooler than the neoair xlite.

 

[hammer0419]

Klymit luxe!!

 

[Justin_the_EDG]

This pad is killing my research-reliant decision making process. I immediately tossed it out the "standard" AXL Air, but have been strongly considering the Insulated as a do-all pad for NM hunting and backpacking in summer and fall (30* and up generally, occasional 25* night perhaps). The reviews seem GREAT on everything but temperature/insulating ability. Everyone seems to love it from a function standpoint (a little slippery perhaps). The temperature reviews, however, are probably 2/3 really negative, and 1/3 seem oblivious to the issue.

You can read through a string of reviews and often see a series like 1 - "So worthless, mid 30s, 20* bag, wore all my clothes, almost froze." 2 - "Got down to 25* and I woke up toasty warm, love it!" 3 - "Started waking up cold at 32*, couldn't sleep anymore at 30*, got up and started doing jumping jacks at 25*. Felt as cold to my hand as the ground. Going back to my Exped/Xlite."

If it was consistently, "I sleep warm and was starting to get cold at 25*, my gf sleeps cold and she was getting cold at 35*." I'd be fine with that. Would tell me BA was a bit optimistic with the 15* rating, maybe 30* woulda been a more reasonable, but as it stands, it's just all over the place. Everything from 15-20 is fine to a 45 minimum.

What's going through everyone else's mind on this? I can get a good deal from BA, if not I'd have abandoned my dreams of an 11oz insulated, quilted design pad and moved on to either a S2S UL Insulated or Xlite... Am I just way over-valuing the 4ozs here?

 

[Jordan Budd]

This pad is killing my research-reliant decision making process. I immediately tossed it out the "standard" AXL Air, but have been strongly considering the Insulated as a do-all pad for NM hunting and backpacking in summer and fall (30* and up generally, occasional 25* night perhaps). The reviews seem GREAT on everything but temperature/insulating ability. Everyone seems to love it from a function standpoint (a little slippery perhaps). The temperature reviews, however, are probably 2/3 really negative, and 1/3 seem oblivious to the issue.

You can read through a string of reviews and often see a series like 1 - "So worthless, mid 30s, 20* bag, wore all my clothes, almost froze." 2 - "Got down to 25* and I woke up toasty warm, love it!" 3 - "Started waking up cold at 32*, couldn't sleep anymore at 30*, got up and started doing jumping jacks at 25*. Felt as cold to my hand as the ground. Going back to my Exped/Xlite."

If it was consistently, "I sleep warm and was starting to get cold at 25*, my gf sleeps cold and she was getting cold at 35*." I'd be fine with that. Would tell me BA was a bit optimistic with the 15* rating, maybe 30* woulda been a more reasonable, but as it stands, it's just all over the place. Everything from 15-20 is fine to a 45 minimum.

What's going through everyone else's mind on this? I can get a good deal from BA, if not I'd have abandoned my dreams of an 11oz insulated, quilted design pad and moved on to either a S2S UL Insulated or Xlite... Am I just way over-valuing the 4ozs here?

Yeah I’d like an insulated one for at least a light summer scouting pad. It’d be nice to have something nice and light like that and still comfortable for shorter faster scouting missions. Might talk myself into it and just see for myself what they’re all about.


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[sneaky]

This pad is killing my research-reliant decision making process. I immediately tossed it out the "standard" AXL Air, but have been strongly considering the Insulated as a do-all pad for NM hunting and backpacking in summer and fall (30* and up generally, occasional 25* night perhaps). The reviews seem GREAT on everything but temperature/insulating ability. Everyone seems to love it from a function standpoint (a little slippery perhaps). The temperature reviews, however, are probably 2/3 really negative, and 1/3 seem oblivious to the issue.

You can read through a string of reviews and often see a series like 1 - "So worthless, mid 30s, 20* bag, wore all my clothes, almost froze." 2 - "Got down to 25* and I woke up toasty warm, love it!" 3 - "Started waking up cold at 32*, couldn't sleep anymore at 30*, got up and started doing jumping jacks at 25*. Felt as cold to my hand as the ground. Going back to my Exped/Xlite."

If it was consistently, "I sleep warm and was starting to get cold at 25*, my gf sleeps cold and she was getting cold at 35*." I'd be fine with that. Would tell me BA was a bit optimistic with the 15* rating, maybe 30* woulda been a more reasonable, but as it stands, it's just all over the place. Everything from 15-20 is fine to a 45 minimum.

What's going through everyone else's mind on this? I can get a good deal from BA, if not I'd have abandoned my dreams of an 11oz insulated, quilted design pad and moved on to either a S2S UL Insulated or Xlite... Am I just way over-valuing the 4ozs here?

Carry 4oz less water. Take the tried and true Xlite. One miserable night's sleep isn't worth the chance. Certainly not a week's worth of sleep. I went the other direction, I got a 30" wide Klymit Static V Luxe pad. I already have an Xtherm. The extra pound for the width and length and thickness is worth the weight penalty to me. It's like sleeping on a twin sized mattress from home.

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[Justin_the_EDG]

Yeah I’d like an insulated one for at least a light summer scouting pad. It’d be nice to have something nice and light like that and still comfortable for shorter faster scouting missions. Might talk myself into it and just see for myself what they’re all about.

Well... If you do, you should totally send me a personal review ASAP to ease my poor vexed mind hahah. Not for weirdo reasons fyi, but who wants to wait for that Crossley guy to OK and publish an article (or whoever does it). Sheesh, that could take weeks!

Carry 4oz less water. Take the tried and true Xlite. One miserable night's sleep isn't worth the chance. Certainly not a week's worth of sleep. I went the other direction, I got a 30" wide Klymit Static V Luxe pad. I already have an Xtherm. The extra pound for the width and length and thickness is worth the weight penalty to me. It's like sleeping on a twin sized mattress from home.

See, I'm trying to go lighter so I CAN squeeze more water along hahah. If I'm willing to hoof an extra 20 lbs of water instead of taking half a day to walk my stubby legs back to a puddle, sit for an eternity filtering, and climb back up a mountain, I can probably hunt someplace other people generally won't bother with.

I'm sorta migrating back towards the Sea to Summit, which is what I was eyeballing before the AXLs dropped. Slightly thicker material (and heavier) than equivalent Xlite lengths, but with the same quilted/dimpled baffling as the AXLs. Either way, I'm in for far better sleep that with my 3/4 length Thermarest Ridgerest Solite that I slept on last year.

Actually, saying I slept on it is an overstatement. More like, started the night on it and every hour or so woke up to find myself about 3/4 off rather than 3/4 on the pad. Dang that slick heat reflective paint!

Seriously though, I hope people are hitting up Big Agnes about the temperature concerns. I certainly will if I end up with another brand. No matter how you cut it, it seems pretty ludicrous that they are "Rating" it at 15* when the definite majority of folks can't make it out of the 30s with it.

 

[Beendare]

Yeah but its Big Agnes....pass

 

[elkeaterco]

Yeah but its Big Agnes....pass

Agreed, BA really went down hill a few years ago with their pads. Hope they're doing it right now, but hard to jump back on that horse.

 

[Jordan Budd]

Yeah but its Big Agnes....pass

I had one Q core for 3 years and developed a really slow leak in the valve finally. Sent it to BA and they overnighted me a brand new one no questions asked for no cost. On year 2 with this one now and no problems. Their customer service is awesome. Just my experience with that company.


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[Beendare]

I had one Q core for 3 years and developed a really slow leak in the valve finally. Sent it to BA and they overnighted me a brand new one no questions asked for no cost. On year 2 with this one now and no problems. Their customer service is awesome. Just my experience with that company.


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Since you brought it up
and it doesn't take much of an internet search to see that the failure rate on these BA products is high.....

Tested my Qcore at the house before using it...glad i did...failed on the first inflate. That was in Sept. They said send it in....did that. A couple weeks later, "yeah, that Lg/long is no good but we are out of stock you will have to wait. Loooong story but finally in about mid March of the following year they sent me a new pad.

6months Jordan..... I checked in with them regularly........kept saying problems in production [well no chit] ...thats effing ridiculous....and no note or anything in with the new pad when it FINALLY arrived. Not even a thanks for waiting....

[BTW, I really started looking at WHO I purchase from too...as IF I would have bought that crummy pad at REI....i take it back no questions asked]

Frankly, After that, I really started looking at all of the Big Agnes stuff....bags, tents....and its cheap chinese garbage...crooked stitching in my buddies Copper spur, etc.... you can buy that crummy knock off junk for 1/3rd the price on Ebay.


so when you see a brand new never been used Qcore in the classifieds for a ridiculously cheap price...now you know. I'm actually afraid to sell it....i don't want some other guy ticked off at me.

 

[sneaky]

Since you brought it up
and it doesn't take much of an internet search to see that the failure rate on these BA products is high.....

Tested my Qcore at the house before using it...glad i did...failed on the first inflate. That was in Sept. They said send it in....did that. A couple weeks later, "yeah, that Lg/long is no good but we are out of stock you will have to wait. Loooong story but finally in about mid March of the following year they sent me a new pad.

6months Jordan..... I checked in with them regularly........kept saying problems in production [well no chit] ...thats effing ridiculous....and no note or anything in with the new pad when it FINALLY arrived. Not even a thanks for waiting....

[BTW, I really started looking at WHO I purchase from too...as IF I would have bought that crummy pad at REI....i take it back no questions asked]

Frankly, After that, I really started looking at all of the Big Agnes stuff....bags, tents....and its cheap chinese garbage...crooked stitching in my buddies Copper spur, etc.... you can buy that crummy knock off junk for 1/3rd the price on Ebay.


so when you see a brand new never been used Qcore in the classifieds for a ridiculously cheap price...now you know. I'm actually afraid to sell it....i don't want some other guy ticked off at me.

Why the attitude with Jordan? She simply stated her experience, nothing more, nothing less. No need to jump all over her for that. A pretty condescending post from you on this one. Lots of people use, and like, BA gear. Your experience was obviously different.

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[Jordan Budd]

Since you brought it up
and it doesn't take much of an internet search to see that the failure rate on these BA products is high.....

Tested my Qcore at the house before using it...glad i did...failed on the first inflate. That was in Sept. They said send it in....did that. A couple weeks later, "yeah, that Lg/long is no good but we are out of stock you will have to wait. Loooong story but finally in about mid March of the following year they sent me a new pad.

6months Jordan..... I checked in with them regularly........kept saying problems in production [well no chit] ...thats effing ridiculous....and no note or anything in with the new pad when it FINALLY arrived. Not even a thanks for waiting....

[BTW, I really started looking at WHO I purchase from too...as IF I would have bought that crummy pad at REI....i take it back no questions asked]

Frankly, After that, I really started looking at all of the Big Agnes stuff....bags, tents....and its cheap chinese garbage...crooked stitching in my buddies Copper spur, etc.... you can buy that crummy knock off junk for 1/3rd the price on Ebay.


so when you see a brand new never been used Qcore in the classifieds for a ridiculously cheap price...now you know. I'm actually afraid to sell it....i don't want some other guy ticked off at me.

Whoa dude, didn't post that to hit a nerve with you. I posted that because I haven't had bad luck with those pads and their customer service was awesome. Not saying they don't have their issues... I've heard other stories and read other reviews talking about leak problems. Your experience was different than mine, and both should be known so when these pads get searched guys can look at both sides and make their own decision.

 

[SHTF]

They also said a lot of people don't care for the valve on the AXL pads. I'll take a look at one eventually, but I'll take the weight penalty for my 30" wide Klymit. It's like sleeping on a bed with a quilt lol

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Couldnt agree more Sneaky. I love my 30 inch Wide Klymat

 

[killerloop]

Sneaky, your inbox is full

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