Therm-a-Rest - Z Lite Series

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.

Z lite. Only about $50 and works great even in wet weather.

The therm-a-rest is the most popular and i have the blue one but depending on the conditions you camp in you could pick the lighter one (yellow). That being said this one and the nemo extreme conditions will have higher denier material underneath which makes them less prone to puncture. I don�t know about the other ones on top of my head. Nemo and thermarest both have good warranties and spare parts, so I�d be leaning towards that. It�s polarizing but both are known to make a lot og noise no matter what they claim.

What's your budget? From the lowest to the highest cost, here are some options: - layers of cardboard - plarn mat (requires time, grocery bags, plus skill in hand or hook crochet. I whittled my hook and tbh still have it). There are YouTube tutorials if you wish to make one. - second hand yoga mats plus a piece of mylar/survival blanket - second hand closed cell foam camping pads - second hand insulated inflatable camping pads - Walmart closed cell foam pads - new closed cell foam pads like a thermorest z lite - new insulated inflatable sleeping pads Have your tarp go under the mat and leave enough to drape over yourself as well. If you're not interested in buying a low profile bivy, duct tape and a tarp work well. Good luck friend. I've been there.

I'd never talk you out of that, maybe only to upgrade the 1/8 to a torso length z-lite (my 1/8 shredded just looking at it). I only have my inflatable shipped out tome in the colder months. I love it. I love plopping down for a nap anywhere!

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

CCFs are almost always strapped on the outside of the pack, no matter the camper, and can also be used in canoes as a seat padding or knee padding. Nothing to be done if the requirements prevent it (I imagine to keep some kids from bringing way too many creature comforts), but I'd argue it's probably one of the most essential pieces of comfort gear in canoe camping. The folding accordion style of the Z-lite is the usual favourite, but there is also the rollable Ridgerest-style. You won't regret getting one for yourself :)

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.

I just Sept on the rei campwell for 7 nights. Best sleep I've ever gotten camping. I've had the klymit static v, and a foam thermarest. This thing is pretty big and not heavy but not light. Had it strapped to my Ibex 450 for the the entire week riding the lower half of the MABDR. I use 2 rok straps and it never moved. Absolutely love this thing. Both of my riding buddies were on blow up mats one Nemo and one thermarest. Both were cold and not sleeping well the whole trip. I'm a stomach and side sleeper.

T�m� on aika p�invastainen vastaus kun mit� kysyit, mutta muut ovat jo suositelleet halpoja vaihtoehtoja, kerron vaihtoehtoisesti premium-vaihtoehdon. Jos haluat kerralla hyv�n, niin Cumulus myy parasta hinta-laatusuhdetta Euroopassa (pl. jos l�yd�t jonkun supertarjous-poistotuotteen jostain myym�l�st�). Esim Panyam 600 on aika varma suomen oloihin. Noiden kokoja voi my�s kustomoida kohtuuhintaan, jos et ole ihan standardimittainen. Jos haluat alustan jolla p�rj�� talvella ja kes�ll�, niin esim. Thermarest X-therm. Jos haluat v�h�n kevyemp��, eik� tarvi olla ihan niin l�mmin, niin thermarestin neoair xlite. My�s nemon tensorit on aika hyvi�. Tai jos kovuus ei haittaa, niin solumuovi on varma, kest�v� ja halpa vaihtoehto, esim Thermarest Z sol. N�m� on toki huomattavasti kalliimpia kuin tuo 200� budjetti. Jos budjetti rajoittaa tiukasti, niin k�ytetty on hyv� vaihtoehto. Katso esim kevytretkeilij�iden myyntipalsta facebookista. Jos vaellus kiinnostaa harrastuksena muutenkin kuin menn� l�hilaavulle, niin osta kerralla kevytt�. /r/ultralight on hyv� foorumi. Jos tulee kysytt�v�� niin kysy, oon aika syv�ll� kaninkolossa.

I really encourage you to think outside the box here, and reconsider the answers you've gotten so far. This thread so far is 100% indistinguishable from a thread on a non-UL forum. If you are only camping in warm weather, and you're prioritizing weight and durability, then you do not need an inflatable. You'll be committing to a relatively heavy and fragile piece of gear for no reason. And the R values you're looking at are hugely overkill if you'll never go below 5C and you sleep warm. You're the perfect candidate for a foam pad. Cut a ~1 inch thick CCF pad with R=2 to fit your shoulders to your thighs. It will be like 5-6 oz, it will last forever, it will be cheap, it will be comfortable, it doubles as a luxury sit pad, you can stretch out on it, and it can be a framesheet for a frameless pack. If you've only ever tried shitty CCF, try a Switchback or a Zlite. If you really want to prioritize comfort, consider this; an inflatable that even remotely compares in weight to CCF will leak. It's not if, but when. And then you're sleeping on the ground until you make it back to town.

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

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.

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.

the z lite and nemo tensor combo has never failed me

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.

Yeah I have one of those, I tried laying on it on the carpet in my apt and it�s so uncomfortable I couldn�t sleep on it unless it was an emergency

I like my 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.

Careful about buying used zlites/switchbacks. Eggcrate style CCF pads do have a lifespan, will lose their supportiveness over time, and it's hard to tell via pics. The seller might not even realize that it's lost its supportiveness, since it happens slowly over time. Personally, I wouldn't buy a used eggcrate style CCF pad I can't touch and feel, even from a reputable, standup seller.

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.

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!??

I ordered both mats, the ZLite SOL and the Yamatomichi UL Pad 15+, both in the short one-meter version. After trying them on the floor at home, I honestly couldn�t feel any real difference in comfort. The main advantage of the UL Pad 15+ is the weight. It�s about 70-90 grams lighter at the same length, which is a nice bonus if you�re counting grams. The downside is packing it, because it doesn�t fold nearly as well as a ZLite or a Switchback. What works okay for now is using it as a tube inside the backpack and packing everything else inside that tube. It gives the pack a bit of structure, but I�ll only know how practical it really is once I have all my gear together for the trip. That�s when I�ll see whether the ZLite packs better overall or whether the Yamatomichi tube system ends up being good enough. In the end I�ll go with whichever option integrates better inside the pack, since attaching a pad on the outside isn�t really an option for me at the moment. In terms of comfort they feel very similar to me. The UL Pad wins on weight and the ZLite wins on packability

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 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 use 6 panels of z-lite(shoulders to mid-thigh) with my pack under my legs when temps are above freezing. In colder weather I'll bring an additional full length 1/8" pad to go underneath.

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.

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.

wondering how often you slept in a shelter vs sleeping in your tent? I personally used to love CCF pads but have found them not to work on the hard shelter floors. I switched to an airpad for my thru since I planned on sleeping in shelters more often than not. I really enjoyed my airpad, but will still use my Zlite Sol when just doing short overnighters now

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.

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

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 ........

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.

agree with first paragraph but you don't always need extra gear to protect, just be careful (something-something skills and all). if you can get past that, the small pack size is a big draw for me i do miss the simplicity of my zlite. maybe i should call her

I'm just saying all the ccf pads are essentially the same. Yes the decathlon one is better value than the thermarest or Exped or nemo.

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.

I have been using my thermarest ccf pad for 20 years. Warm, durable, light weight.

I know weight is death, but an option is stacking a second pad to increase your R value. Layering a closed cell pad like a Z Lite would keep you much warmer

There's another viable option you didn't mention; get a Switchback or Zlite. Inflatables are one of the biggest unquestioned dogmas of backpacking, and people don't realize that this is a genuine choice that they're free to make. Choosing to carry such a critical item that can also fail so spectacularly makes little sense to me. CCF doesn't need to be inflated, doesn't need to be deflated, doesn't need to be protected, never leaks or pops, never needs to be patched, can be deployed and put away in seconds, doubles as a luxury sit pad, doubles as a framesheet for frameless packs, doubles as a yoga mat for stretching out, etc. Switching from an inflatable to 6 panels of Switchback for 5.5 oz enlightened me, and I haven't carried an inflatable since. If it was cold, I would. But CCF works for the PCT. Regarding your lighter pack, there are a lot of little changes you could make, but here are the main ones: - your clothing is quite heavy. I'd replace the R1 with an alpha direct hoody. Your puffy is very heavy, and I'd replace it with an EE Torrid, or a cheap Decathtlon MT100, for less than half the weight. Your rain jacket can also be replaced with a cheap frog toggs for again half the weight. - ditch the sleep shirt and sleep pants, just sleep in your midlayers. Alpha direct is very comfy. I hike in shorts, and carry alpha direct pants (for cold mornings, cold passes, camp, sleeping) as well as an alpha direct hoody. I add <2 oz wind pants as needed - you could consider hiking stoveless. Simpler, easier, faster, just as tasty. If not, you can still lighten your cook kit. Replace Toaks 750 with Toaks 550 no handle. Replace the lid with the thin one made by Verkstan on Etsy. Get the world's lightest pot grabber by Grimwood Gear on Etsy. Replace the Pocket Rocket with a BRS3000T - getting a CCF sleeping pad allows you to ditch the sit pad - ditch the crocs - I'd replace the heavy cnoc bag with a platypus or Evernew bag - 1 oz of soap is a ton. You could carry 0.5 oz or less of a concentrated soap like this for the whole trail. I'd ditch the hand sanitizer.

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 exclusively sleep on CCF mats. the best budget, packable and easily available option is the Decathlon MT500. The warmest is the Thermarest Ridgerest but it's bulky. The epxed flexmat, Thermarest Z lite and Nemo Switchback are all good but a bit more pricey. Don't get hung up on R values like you would with an inflatable pad. for some reason CCF mats always feel warmer, i think due to the density of the material. I've slept on ice in the alps with CCF mats. As always though it will depend on the person and you'd need to exercise caution with a young en.