My $40 sleeping pad let me down on a rainy night in Shenandoah

I bought this cheap inflatable pad off Amazon for the price, thinking it would get me through a weekend trip. First night was fine, but on the second night a slow leak left me on the cold ground by 3 AM. I woke up shivering, packed up early, and drove home miserable. Has anyone else had a budget pad fail on them like that?

3 comments

3 Comments

angela89027d ago

Used to be one of those "a pad's a pad" people myself, you know? Picked up a $30 knockoff for a trip to the Smokies and thought I was being smart. First night was fine, second night I woke up on a deflated raft with my hip digging into a root. Cold and cranky by morning. That experience taught me the hard way that you're really paying for the reliability, not just the air. Cheap gear can be a gamble you only lose once, but that one time is enough to make you rethink your whole approach.

ellis.felix27d ago

Duct tape on the seam before you leave can sometimes buy you an extra night but it's a gamble. Leaks usually start around the valve or a seam that's folded wrong during storage. Best trick I've learned is inflate it at home, submerge it in the bathtub and look for bubbles before any trip. That way you find the slow leaks before you're freezing on a mountain.

logan26328d ago

Yeah this is EXACTLY the kind of thing that happens when you try to save a few bucks on gear that has to actually WORK. Reminds me of how people buy the cheapest tires for their car and then wonder why they slide in the rain. The problem isn't that budget stuff never works, it's that you only find out it doesn't work at the worst possible time. You're not paying for the pad, you're paying to keep the cold wet ground from ruining your sleep and your trip.