Therm-a-Rest - Trail Pro Sleeping Pad

My first winter camping trip is one I’ll never forget, my back was killing me after trying to sleep on a foam pad. The next trip, I brought a Therm-a-Rest Self-Inflating Pad and it literally changed everything. Suddenly, I was sleeping warm and supported, ready for morning hikes. I’d recommend [air mattresses](https://www.reddit.com/r/KeepThisInMind/comments/1ltzxk1/recommend_the_air_mattress_best_for_camping/) for camping to anyone, from lightweight backpacking pads to thick car-camping mats, especially for winter trips.

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.

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!

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 ........

I fly with my thermarest

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 started on the old school thermarest shortie, then a full length, then switched to a big agnes inflatable--which i liked but went through two of them with bad valves. Switched to a nemo a couple of years ago, and love it. It's a little "crinkly" sounding, but otherwise well worth it. Good choice :-)

I havepunctured 2 thermarests on rocks pr thorns. I won’t be using them again.

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

Literally 5+ years on foam mats from Kmart. 2-3 years on a thermarest self inflating and finally in a “normal” bed after buying the firmest possible mattress.

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

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.

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

Nope, have had mine for 10 years, still noisy.

We use two square thermarests connected together with a sort of fitted sheet that thermarest sells for that purpose (synargy sheet I think) if we are car camping the mundokings are incredibly comfortable. If back country camping then a more package one like the trail pro. Then we use a quilt instead of sleeping bags unless it’s getting down below 5c or so at night.  A good sleeping pad and a sheet and quilt instead of a bag goes a long way. 

what brands? i only use thermarest bc they're the most reliable

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

I've had thermarest since their inception. Great product

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.

If you don't mind me asking are you a larger person? I'm around 270 and a side sleeper and have been curious about getting a different sleeping pad. I've been using the Thermarest Trail Pro and it's pretty comfortable, but it doesn't pack down very small

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.

Something like a Thermorest may be a good solution. They pack down small, are lightweight but robust, are an ok size and provide good ground insulation for those chilly Alpine nights

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.

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.

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.

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

Big Agnes build quality and warranty are both poor. I've had two pads and a tent give up the ghost. They took my tent poles for months and sent them back without having fixed any of the numerous cracks.  Buy gear from a company who cares more than BA. Sea to Summit and therm a rest are much better pads.

If i am car camping.... I am crazy bougie. I bring my aerobed and use my big anker solar battery to blow it up. If i am backpacking, i just use my backpacking thermarest.

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.

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.

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

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

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 

I guess we've been extraordinarily lucky. My wife and I have been using the same full-size air mattress for nearly 20 years. I've never had to patch it. (though I always have a patch kit with me) We do always use a tent ground cloth and are careful to keep grit and debris outside of the tent that might puncture it. It sees about 10 nights out a year and probably another 5 per year for kids sleepovers. My wife won't do cold weather camping so the lack of insulation isn't an issue. As a scoutmaster I have Thermarest Trail Pro which is built on the same principle as the Exped that has been recommended so heavily here. It's been great and has stood up to monthly camping trips for the last 6 years.

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!??

We just bought new pads this summer for sea kayaking. Space in our boats was an issue so we found a Thermorest model that folds in half before rolling. If space matters this will help. Thermarest Trail Pro Max. As I recall they about 2.5 inches. Maybe 3. Very nice surface and quiet to sleep on. The really cool bit of kit is an electric inflator I bought for packrafting by Flextail. It’s a small rechargeable 4.5 kpa pump that will inflate a mattress in a few seconds. It also has a light and you can even plug your phone in to the battery to charge if you need to.

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

I like the one I have, it’s as old as I am