Therm-a-Rest - MondoKing™ 3D

Our family recently went camping with cub scouts last month, it was my wife's first time camping. She had a horrible night's sleep on the thermarest inflatable pad I had, so bad it was more comfortable to sleep on the ground without it. I've been eying a megamat for a while now, and this was enough for me get ready to finally pull the trigger. Now I'm trying to figure out which one to get. We have another camping trips planned with cub scouts in May, but the REI deals seems like the best time to buy. Do I get the long x-wide for my wife for \~$155? or the duo since we'll always be camping with the kids for \~$251? then will the kids fight for the good pad, and I'll need to get a second duo (also I kinda want one for myself) but now that's over $500 in sleeping pads, which seems egregious. If anyone with a family who's navigated this could chime in it would be appreciated. Thanks!

Until my oldest aunts and uncles got too old for it our family usually had thanksgiving lunch/dinner at a provincial park, there was only one year we had to eat in the snow, but that was trailer camping. Good sleeping bags and self inflating insulated sleeping mats (like thermarest brand) you should be OK.

Have you considered a camping cot? There are a lot of ultralight options now which are about the same price as a good sleeping pad for side sleepers. The only difference being is the weight, you’re looking at around 1.5kg for a cot bed which would be double the weight of a sleeping pad. For me, the extra weight is worth it for the comfort. For context I’ve tried Therm-a-Rest, Big Agnes and Nemo mats. If I’m going for comfort, the cot bed wins every time.

Game changer for us was setting up two Thermarest Mondoking XLs side by side in our tent. Sharing an inflatable mattress is not as fun as you think. Every time someone moves in the slightest the whole mattress moves. On top of that we do have a Kelty double wide sleeping bag.

Two separate Thermarest Mondoking XLs side by side - different air pressures - no waterbed affect when one of us moves/rolls over. Kelty doublewide sleep system (bag).

For one year trip I would use something cheaper, more sturdy than ultralight. Thermarest often listed is great but £50 decathlon air mat is more sustainable, you'll have less stress. To increase R factor, you can add some CCF pad.

It's very simple if it blows up with air and inflates - at SOME point it's gonna get a hole in it. That's life! The whole air mattress thing started with Therm-a-rest's and they were pretty tough back then, now with everybody sporting hard-on's for "ultralight" gear its gonna get worse. Same goes for actual air mattress, you can sleep on them but if you're not in Texas or Arizona yer still gonna freeze your butt off. Here's why ....... People these days buy inflatable pads for the comfort, but you really need them for the insulative qualities they actually provide. Don't believe me go sleep on the actual ground one night. When you crawl in to your sleeping bag you actually crush the down or syntho fill in the bag so there is no insulation there under you and the cold even in summer can seep right in. You need a pad under you to keep you off the ground ..... the best ones for that are still the cheap blue ensolite foamy's you buy at the cheaper stores but yes, for comfort they suck. There is a yellow thicker brand called Zotefoams Evazote and they got up to an inch thick but I haven't seem them for years but they were good quality and tough and CAN'T deflate ! So ultimately if you want comfort you need to go buy a big chunk of open cell white foam four inches thick and 7 feet long like you see in hobby stores - mega comfy and the size of a house! But now you can't pack it anyway so you're back to the blow up pads - and that's it. You can go to stores and look at stuff like Futons and crap but they don't pack well ! Heck even Ikea makes a folding mattress but again good luck carrying it around, right? Pick one but they WILL get a hole in them at some point however you can try to limit that with a cot. I've used them for years and its nice. I'm gonna suggest a Cabella's Lounger Cot but they are $350 bloody bucks and the same goes a real camping pad, something like a Exped Megamat itself is $400 bucks by itself. The two cots I wanna get are gonna cost me $405 bucks so add in two decent pads like Expeds and they're $500 .... great huh? It's nuts at a thousand bucks! I actually might just go get some memory foam cut at an RV store and use that. They can't deflate and its about the same bloody price as these inflatable ones, granted it won't be near as packable and portable but both my Thermarest leak, both my Big Agnes pad leak, even the TWO Coleman air beds leak, you can't win. My tent is 210 sq feet and 10 feet tall so I don't need backpack-ability either ........

Throw a thermarest on top of a Walmart foam pad lol save yourself some money on the process. Otherwise I would just stick to Thermarest.

Glad you had success with it! I was super hyped about it from all the accounts of its comfort. Right now my “light” ground sleeping loadout is a klymit insulated paired with Nemo switchback (most comfortable combo I’ve found outside of self inflating) with tarp and bivvy. If I’m going less than 8 miles for an overnight and either the weather is extreme winter or I have a camping partner I haul my stupidly heavy mondo king pad and split the weight of the 3 man tent between us. Been leaning towards just going fully back to my hammmock but I think I’ve determined that I need an open cell/self inflating style pad to prevent hip pain on the ground.

Well if you need quality, comfort and light easy portable one… term a rest is just the best in the market. We use those for 20 years down here wile fly fishing in bariloche, patagonia Argentina. Good luck!??

The classic self inflating thermarest pads are very comfortable and durable, particularly if paired with a cot

Op zolder liggen 2 thermarest matten waar ik als kind nog op geslapen heb toen ik met m'n ouders kampeerde, 20-25 jaar geleden. Basic matjes, niet enorm dik maar tot ik m'n huidige (totaal niet compacte) tweepersoons van Redwood kocht altijd goed op geslapen.

If you plan to sleep in shelters at all, you definitely want something under your pad to protect it from splinters and nails. My first thermarest popped in TN due to me raw dogging it in shelters. For my second pad, I got a sheet of tyvek and it made it all the way to Maine without any issues.

I'm partial to the Therma-Rest Mondo King.

I did the same on a motorcycle trip. No mat in my 20s, thin minimalist air mattress in my 30s. Now, nothing less than a top quality Thermarest or Exped. I'd suggest hitting the stores, trying out the mats and buying a mat just a notch better than you need or go all in. Unless you are backpacking I'd go for the aforementioned's Mondoking or Megamat

Cot and thermarest is boss. I use a folding wide, heavy duty woods cot. It’s heavy and has some bulk, but I’m usually near my truck or boat.

Excellent mattress! I used it with pleasure but then switched to the thermarest which is lighter and I feel great with it.

We use separate air mattresses so we can adjust how we want. Thermarest Mondoking. Expeds are nice too. I think both make double mattresses too if you want to go that route.

Have you actually tried the Klymit? I’m pretty sure it’s up there with thermarest in terms of popular backpacking mats. I’ve always used thermarests. That Coleman mat looks like it’s made for car camping, not backpacking. You should be able to find the R-value of the Klymit pad on the packaging to find out if it’s insulated or not.

Comfort being your only concern and posting something that is not light in an ultralight forum, I'd recommend the MondoKing 3d by Thermarest. XXL comes in at 5lbs, 8oz. 7.0 R value usable year round. [MondoKing™ 3D | Car Camping Sleeping Pads | Therm-a-Rest® – Cascade Designs](https://cascadedesigns.com/products/mondoking-3d-sleeping-pad) Neoloft is only about 2lbs. But what's the point going light if you can have more comfort. Time to rename this forum r/ultracomfort.

I haven't had a good night sleep until I started to use the Rapid SL. It has a good weight I think, the R rating is valid on it, only need higher for winter camping (for that i'm using the therm-o-rest, which is crazy good, except the shape, where i much prefer the rectangle shape of the Rapide with the raised sides, because I'm turning around a lot). To fit the pump you do need to be a bit aggressive with it but doable. Side note: a non fully inflatable pillow made a big difference for me to get comfy 

This comes up a lot. Search the sub for ‘mat’ for loads of replies. For me, thermarest, but I’ll break your budget unless you can get one second hand.

How much is it ? I have a mondoking xl that I never want to pay that much for again :)

I used this last year to buy my Thermarest MondoKing and My Exped MegaMat Queen. Thanks for the concerted and continued effort.

XL rooftop tent. She sleeps on a Therma-Rest Mondo King mattress. I sleep on the built in pad in the RTT.

i used a cot camping a few times with a thermarest on top. pros: off the ground and good on my back. cons: arms hung over the sides and hurt in the morning, pillow kept sliding off, wobbled long ways (not side to side) a lot when i moved around. i recommend an extra wide one to help w the arms hanging off the sides or use a sleeping bag. in the end it was heavy and not worth it for me when camping

My thermarest is over 25 years old and I think had one leak that I patched. maybe?

We sleep on two Mondo Thermarest pads strapped together. They’re 5” thick and wider than conventional Thermarests. Very stable and comfortable to sleep on.

I like my Thermarest. ???????

I use Thermarest mondoking XL and camptime roll-a-cot. Inflatable + foam mattress is very comfortable and you can deflate it to your liking without the air mattress “sinking” to the middle feeling. The cot also has some give to it (also adjustable tension) and can even be slept directly on in hot weather. I usually put 2 bins under the middle. The cot is pretty light compared to most instant ones. Also I bring my usual pillow from home. I honestly sleep better camping. I’ve camped a few times below 0C and no noticeable cold coming through the mattress.

Both times I’ve hiked the PCT my thermarests have popped in the desert . The first time it was an older thermarest that had already seen a bit of action . The second time it was early on in my hike and it was the one I’d replaced the previous one with! After that I went CCF pad and was absolutely fine with it. In many ways, I prefer it.

I just switched from expensive Thermarests over to these crazy cheap Night Cat hand pump pads and I am never going back to thermarest/self inflation. My arm goes dead without fail sleeping on the Thermarests and they take up nearly twice the room in my gear. The only benefit of the Thermarests I can see is that they are really tough, which could be great for some hardy adventures maybe. But nothing a couple patches can't fix IMO... So Choo choo I'm on the air pad train. These newer cheap designs are legitimately very good, they roll out crazy long and then shrink up. I probably can't share amazon links but "Night Cat Inflatable Sleeping Pads". There's a bunch of brands making this style now too, I'm not trying to spruik any particular brand, this was just the one that was affordable where I live.

We also have just two car camping pads side by side! Enough for snuggles without disturbing each other as much. We have Mondo King pads/mattresses. Not sure if they still make them but feel like they were less expensive than the Expeds seem. And option to still use it for a solo trip.

we each have a folding cot with a thermarest and a sleeping bag. we go car camping so it all fits in the back seat and the trunk. We also have (what they call) a seven person tent, but it fits our cots and a folding table comfortably, and we can stand up in it.

Yeah it’s been great. But car camping only really with it

The foam wants to be its full size, which creates the self inflating effect and adds insulation. When you roll it up tightly to get the air out, you are compressing the foam. This also makes them heavier. My son has the exped megamat. I have the thermarest mondoking. Both are great. Comfy and warm. Let them decompress and add a few breaths to your liking, and close the valves.

I did the PCT with just the thermarest and it was fine. I did the AZT with Thermarest and 1/8" foam pad and it was awesome. I slept much warmer and it was very nice to have the foam pad for breaks.

We have a similar cot and thermarest. Very comfortable, and keeps us warm. We only camp in winter, early spring and fall.

Exped Megamat or Thermarest Mondoking. I have hip/shoulder issues too. These resolved that.

The Exped Megamat is insanely comfortable and keeps you REALLY well-insulated (R Value of 8.1, most cold weather pads are R-value of 5). Not to mention it will last decades before it needs to be replaced, and it's backed up by a lifetime warranty. All expensive sleeping pads are. Ive had both ThermaRest and Nemo send me free replacements when my pad developed a leak The Nemo Roamer is similar, as is the Thermarest Mondoking. But what makes me love the Exped Megamat is that the top layer feels like it stretches, sp the pad contours to your body like memory foam, just less thick https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-camping-mattress#an-exceptionally-comfortable-mat

Yup. Those thick air mattresses are horrible to share with another person. I go with a good, solid cot with a thermarest for some padding and will never look back. For excursions where the cot is too bulky to bring along, the thermarest works fine.

I have the MondoKing 3D. Love it, but it isn't the smallest.

Exped and Thermarest MondKing. I have both, queen in the exped.

I’ve been using. Therma-rest for years. There might be better tech out there these days, but they’ve always served me well.

Two separate Thermarest Mondoking XLs side by side - different air pressures - no waterbed affect when one of us moves/rolls over. Kelty doublewide sleep system (bag).

When I’m solo at a state park it’s nice to raise the sleeping pad up. I use a coleman packaway with a thermarest mondoking 3D for a great night sleep. When the SO and baby comes along we use a queen aerobed. Edit: am side sleeper

Thermarest Mondoking and the Exped Megamat (Queen). I'm the same age as you and slept 18 nights last yr on the Thermarest. Great sleeps. I picked up the Megamat this winter so I've only tried it for a few nights on the living room floor, but again, a great sleep.

I have no complaints about my thermarest. I can even sleep on my side without hip pain. OK, well it is a little noisy.

Get a thermarest sleeping pad. They hold up long term. I had one for 10 years and it's fine, but I upgraded to a thicker, wider, and longer model with a better R value as I got older and fatter. You can inflate them by blowing into them, no air pump needed.

I am twisting and turning around a lot even after I fell asleep and with the mummy shaped pad I often found myself halfway off the pad in the middle of the night.