Sleeping pads can make or break your night of sleep. Get a crappy one and you’ll wake up even more tired than you were before going to sleep. Get a good one and you will feel like you slept on your on bed at home. But, how do you know what’s the best sleeping pad for you? That’s why we’re here. One of our goals here at The Adventure Junkies is to make your life easier when it comes to choosing outdoor gear. As you know, we like keeping things simple. So think about what type of hiking trip you plan to use the pad for and your budget. Then check out the models that fit those needs. Thermarest NeoAir XthermAir Pad0.93 lbs5.7$$$4.7 Thermarest NeoAir XLiteAir Pad0.75 lbs3.2$$$4.5 REI Air Rail 1.5Self-Inflating1.62 lbs4.2$$4.5 Big Agnes Q-Core SLAir Pad1.21 lbs4.5$$4.1 Sea to Summit Comfort Light InsulatedAir Pad1.28 lbs4.2$$$4.8 Thermarest NeoAir All SeasonAir Pad1.31 lbs4.9$$$4.5 Thermarest Z Lite SOLClosed-cell Foam0.87 lbs2.6$4.5 Sea to Summit Ultralight Air Pad0.78 lbs0.7$$4.8
Klymit Insulated Static V LiteAir Pad1.22 lbs4.4$$4.7 Thermarest NeoAir VentureAir Pad1.31 lbs1.8$4.4 Depending on how you plan to use the mat and the weather conditions you’ll face, there are 3 options to choose from. An air pad is manually inflated and uses air for cushioning. Some of the best models use insulation materials to increase warmth. These mats are the most comfortable ones for backpacking. However they are heavier and not very durable, they can be punctured or ripped easily. A self-inflating pad uses a combination of open-cell foam insulation and air for cushioning. All you have to do is open the valve and the air fills automatically. They are comfy and pack small but they are the most expensive option. A closed cell foam pad is the cheapest, lightest and most durable option. The downside is they’re not as comfy as the other types and tend to be bulky. The R value measures the sleeping pad’s ability to resist heat flow. So, the higher the R value the better it will insulate you from the cold ground.
You need to consider what climate you’ll be camping in most of the time. For cold weather camping, look for a pad with an R value over 5. In the summer months, you can get away with a pad with a lower R value. For very cold weather, put a closed foam pad under your sleeping mat for extra insulation. Like it happens with any piece of outdoor gear you put on your backpack, you need to consider weight. If you’re planning an ultra-light hiking trip, foam pads are the lightest but they take a lot of room. Some of the best air pad models have reduced their weight a lot, making them the best choice for these kinds of adventures. Manufacturers make pads in a few different sizes, which determines its weight and price tag. At a minimum, your shoulders and hips need to fit on a pad. Shorter people can save weight by carrying a short sized pad. Some tall people prefer to carry a short pad and then use clothes to cushion the legs. If you have a small tent, be sure to take the dimensions into consideration when choosing a pad.
How much room your pad will take up in your pack is worth considering. Generally, warmer pads are thicker and take up more space. This isn’t always the case, there are plenty of mats that pack small, but tend to be more expensive than their bulkier counterparts. These are a great option if you’re looking for the best backpacking sleeping pad on the market. Some sleeping pads come in a women’s version. These pads typically are a bit shorter and offer more insulation in the hips and feet. Check out the latest price on: BEST FOR: General hiking and ultralight adventures FEATURES: Air construction, baffled insulation, 2.5 inches thick. PROS: Packs down small. Very warm and comfortable. FEATURES: Self-inflating, foam insulation, 1.5 inches thick. PROS: Wide and comfortable. Side rails keep you in. CONS: Heavy, bulky and thin. FEATURES: Air construction, synthetic insulation, 3.5 inches thick. PROS: Compact, comfortable and relatively light.
FEATURES: Air construction, AirSprung cells, synthetic, 2 inches thick. PROS: Warm, very stable and packs down small.Not as comfy as other pads. PROS: Compact, durable, warm and comfortable. CONS: A bit noisy. Edges collapse under load. FEATURES: Closed cell foam, 0.75 inches thick. PROS: Lightweight and warm. FEATURES: Air construction, AirSprung cells, 2 inches thick.Packs down very small. CONS: Not very warm. PROS: Warm, cheap and relatively lightweight. CONS: Noisy and not very durable. FEATURES: Air construction, baffled insulation, 2.25 inches thick.Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads of 2016 Weight and packed size continue to dominate the sleeping pad conversation, but the comfort dial also is turned up in our top picksEarlier this year, I was awarded a National Geographic Young Explorers Grant to spend four months driving around the United States documenting nocturnal culture with my partner and collaborator, Kevin Weidner (who helped me write this piece), and our two dogs (check out my piece on late-night Vegas).
Because the grant mostly covered fuel and food, and because we needed to cover a lot of ground in a relatively short amount of time, one of our first tasks was to figure out a reliable sleeping situation that would be both efficient and cost-effective. Finding a place to camp, for free, or nearly free, every day seemed a daunting task that was bound to set us off course. And since we’d be driving and working at night and sleeping mostly during daylight hours, campground and hotel checkout times wouldn’t work for us. We researched our options. Staying with friends would work in some cases, but would require advance planning. We couldn’t afford to rent an RV, so we had to make the most of the vehicle we had. Towing a trailer would be ideal, but what if we needed to go on a rough road or up a steep mountain? And what about the gas mileage we’d be sacrificing for the extra comfort? Then we found a solution that seemed perfect: we would turn our 2008 Honda CR-V into a camper.
The simplest way to explain the process is that we built a table. An ugly table, made of plywood and two-by-fours, that fit in the back of the car. A table under which we could store all our stuff, and on top of which we could sleep, for free, almost anywhere. After three months, 15,000 miles, 31 states, and sleeping through about 60 summer mornings in the car-bed we built ourselves, we can tell you this: it was pretty great. Challenging, yes, and sometimes frustrating, but worth it. We could park the car — at once bedroom, office, tripod, living room, and kitchen — set up the bed, and be asleep within 10 minutes. We woke in parking lots and trailheads and tiny rest areas, atop a mountain in New Mexico, beside a blue lake in California, and about 100 meters from a Dunkin’ Donuts in Maine. If you’re interested in following suit by turning your own SUV into a camper, here are the basics:We first removed the back seats. For our car, we removed a total of eight bolts and the seats were free, but you may consider having a professional help you out.
After removing the seats, we cleaned the inside of the car and cut a tarp to spread under where the sleeping platform would sit. Traveling with two big dogs, we knew the ability to remove the tarp and shake it out without having to move the whole platform would be a big plus.We began by looking around online (search “SUV + sleeping platform” and see what you find) and cobbled together a design based on our particular needs and wants. Because we wanted to maximize our gas mileage (and because our carpentry skills are pretty basic), we were looking for a simple, lightweight design that would be easy to set up, and outfitted with compartments to help us stay organized on the road.Our final design required sheets of ¾-inch plywood, two-by-fours, hinges, screws, cabinet-lid stays, carpet, staples, D rings — all of which cost us about $150 at the hardware store. We had some tools and borrowed the rest from kind friends: a drill, table and miter saws, and a staple gun.It took us about six hours to complete our project.
Knowing what you’ll need and being prepared pays off. That, and having a couple good friends who happen to be woodworking geniuses there to help guide you through the process (okay, we were really lucky that way). Here’s what we came up with: Our design featured a main storage compartment (accessible from the back of the vehicle), a top-loading hatch compartment, and a bed extension that flipped up when the front seats were pushed forward. The total storage area under the platform was 40” wide, 58” long, and 14” tall. The sleeping space, with the extension, was a little over 40” wide and 74” long.We attached D-rings to the underside of the platform and used a ratcheted tie-down to secure it to the cargo area of the CR-V.We had a futon mattress that happened to fit perfectly. It was thick enough to be comfortable, yet thin enough to fold in half so we could access the hatch compartment. Other options include inflatable or foam camping pads, or a foam mattress from a military surplus store.