Changed my mind about inflatable sleeping pads after 10 years of foam

I always swore by closed cell foam pads because I figured inflatables would pop on the first night out. Then I borrowed a friend's Therm-a-Rest NeoAir at Harriman State Park and slept through a hailstorm without feeling a single rock. Anyone else make the switch from foam and find it worth the risk?

2 comments

2 Comments

aaronrobinson16d ago

Getting up to pee at 3am is the real test, and @oliviapatel nailed it with that beached whale thing. I switched after a bad back trip in the Adirondacks where my foam pad felt like sleeping on a parking lot. My wife got me a Sea to Summit pad for Christmas and the first time I used it on some lumpy ground in the Catskills, I woke up actually rested and not sore. The only downside is I'm paranoid about poking a hole, but I just keep a little patch kit in my pack and it's been fine so far.

oliviapatel17d ago

Sleeping through a hailstorm without feeling a single rock is basically the dream. The thing nobody talks about is how much easier inflatables are on your joints when you're getting up to pee at 3am, foam pads make you roll like a beached whale. That alone sold me.