Oct 6th : Madison Dragna The following Gear Question was pulled from the Appalachian Trail Thru-Hikers Class of 2015 page on Facebook. If you have a question you’d like answered, simply let your trusty Gear Aficionado know in the comments below. Question: Should I Get a Foam or Inflatable Sleeping Pad For My Thru-Hike? Answer: A great night’s slumber is important for a thru-hiker for muscle recovery and mental stability! Sleeping on the ground for six months doesn’t have to be brutal. As in all gear choices, the best sleeping pad will depend on your preferences. However, as a thru-hiker, weight, packed size, durability, heat reflection, and comfort should all be considered. There are two types of backpacking sleeping pads: foam and inflatable. Foam pads will be the cheapest option for those looking to save some money and/or weight. What you save in money you do forfeit in comfort. However, foam pads do come in a variety of textures, offering some comfort variability.
These pads are durable and provide great insulation. Do consider these pads will not typically fit inside your pack and will have to be strapped to the outside (either rolled up or folded accordion style). Inflatable pads can be expensive but are worth the comfort, especially for those who sleep on their side. There are self-inflating pads and manual inflatable pads. The manual inflatable pads will be your thickest option but do consider that you have to blow-up the pad by mouth every night. However, this does allow you to adjust the pad’s firmness. The thickness is also great when rain decides to infiltrate your tent, leaving you dry on your thick pad. Some inflatable pads do come with a pump but that is just another thing to weigh down your pack. An inflatable pad is the top choice if you are concerned about comfort but do realize there is a risk of puncture. Inflatable pads can be heavy. However, some models have “cut-out” portions of the pad to save on weight. Although these are lighter than the average inflatable pad, heat reflection is lacking.
This type of pad is perfect for summer but might cause cold nights during the winter. Once you decide on either foam or inflatable, size is next to be considered. Sleeping pads vary in length, width, and thickness. Inflatable pads will offer the thickest choices. If you tend to roll around in your sleep, a wider pad might be perfect for you. If you are shorter or simply want to cut on weight, you might find a shorter length to be your best option. Some pads are targeted specifically for women by a shorter length and more insulation at the feet and hips. If no sleeping pad seems right for you, you just might be a hammocker! However, some hammockers do use a foam pad for added insulation and nights slept in a shelter. I always recommend an inflatable sleeping pad for a thru-hiker because it is more comfortable, less bulky, insulating, and lightweight options are available. Inflatable pads might not be as durable but I have never had a problem with my inflatable sleeping pad.
Review of my sleeping pad, Thermarest’s NeoAir Review of a “cut out” inflatable sleeping pad, the Klymit Inertia Reviews of Men’s Top Sleeping Pads Review of Women’s Top Sleeping Pads REI’s How to Choose a Sleeping Pad Have a burning gear question regarding your upcoming thru-hike? Put your question in the comments to be answered in another Q&A post! This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any product or service you purchase using the links in the articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price as they would otherwise, and your purchase helps to support The Trek's ongoing goal to serve you quality backpacking advice and information. Thanks for your support! To learn more, please visit the About This Site page.Before I thru-hiked the AT, I scoured the internet and barraged my thru-hiker friends with questions such as these. Since completing my thru-hike, I’ve been asked these same questions by a number of prospective long-distance hikers.
So many factors go into selecting a sleeping bag, and there are so many options to choose from. To answer these and other sleeping bag/pad questions, Appalachian Trials creator Zach Davis surveyed 54 long-distance AT hikers, 47 of whom were thru-hikers.1 I had the great pleasure of analyzing the data, and here’s what I found. (Feel free to skip to the TL;DR at the bottom). There are two basic types of sleeping bag insulation – down (typically from ducks) and synthetic (aka fake down). Naturally, there are pros and cons to each. Down bags tend to take a long time to dry out and to cost more, but they are usually warmer and usually weigh less. Synthetic bags tend to weigh more and retain less warmth, but they usually dry more quickly and cost less. Our survey found that the vast majority (85%) of AT long-distance hikers use sleeping bags with natural down (compared to only 15 percent using bags with synthetic insulation). Furthermore, our survey showed that AT hikers with synthetic insulation were less likely to be happy with their choice of sleeping bag.2
In addition to sleeping bag type, temperature rating is a crucial factor. Our survey showed that some hikers endured the cold in sleeping bags rated as high as 41⁰ F (or 5⁰ C) and others enjoyed the comforts of sleeping bags rated as warm as – 4⁰ F (or -20⁰ C). However, the average cold-weather/all-weather sleeping bag temperature rating for AT long-distance hikers was 20⁰ F (-6.7⁰ C).3 Furthermore, we found that, the warmer the temperature rating, the more likely hikers were to be happy with their choice of sleeping bag.4 Based on our survey responses and my own experiences on the AT, I would recommend that a 20-degree bag is most likely sufficient for most conditions on the AT. Still, keep in mind that, for the same level of comfort, women usually require bags of a warmer rating than men do. Beyond insulation type and temperature rating, we also asked hikers what brand of sleeping bag they used in the colder months or from start to finish. Twenty-one sleeping bag brands were represented, but the most popular brands of sleeping bags were Kelty, Marmot, and Western Mountaineering.
Most Kelty bags were from the Cosmic series. Common Marmot bags included the state-of-the-art Helium and more economical Trestles models. The most popular Western Mountaineering model was the UltraLight. Although most hikers (87%) said they were happy with their original sleeping bag choice, around half (45%) of the hikers switched their sleeping bag out for the warmer months. It was not clear from our survey why some hikers chose to switch while others didn’t,5 but most of the hikers who switched were happy with their warm-weather choice (82%). Ten percent of hikers who switched – 1 in 20 hikers overall – just used a liner without a bag during the summer. The hikers who switched to a warm-weather sleeping bag chose from a variety of brands. As with the cold-weather bags, Western Mountaineering was again a popular brand. However, no particular model was especially common among warm-weather sleeping bags. Kelty and Marmot, though popular cold-weather or all-weather brands, were not common among the summer bags.
Most of the hikers who used these bags said they were happy with their choice, so most likely, they were satisfied enough that they didn’t feel the need to switch. Although sleeping bags tend to get more hype as one of The Big Three backpacking gear items, sleeping pads are likewise extremely important for both warmth and comfort. The two basic sleeping pad types – inflatable and foam – each have pros and cons. Inflatable pads take up less weight and space, but foam pads are less time-consuming to set up and won’t run the risk of puncturing on sharp surfaces. Of the hikers in our survey, the vast majority (83%) opted for foam sleeping pads. While AT long distance hikers used a variety of sleeping bag brands, they showed a clear preference when it came to sleeping pads. Across both foam and inflatable sleeping pads, the most popular brand by far was Thermarest. Hikers chose a variety of sleeping pad models (and many in our survey didn’t remember which model they used), but the most common Thermarest foam pad was the Z-Lite.