Foam Or Inflatable Sleeping Pad, And How Much Warmth You Need
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The sleeping pad is the piece of gear beginners most often under-buy. It’s easy to see why. A pad looks like padding, so people shop for comfort and thickness. But its real job is keeping the cold ground from pulling heat out of you all night, and thickness isn’t what does that.
R-Value Is The Number That Matters
R-value measures how well a pad blocks heat from moving into the ground. Higher means warmer. A thick pad with no insulation inside is still a cold pad, because air that’s free to move carries heat away.
Below about R4, you’ll lose heat into the ground no matter how good your quilt or bag is. That’s why the pad matters as much as what’s on top of you, and more than most people think. If you’re cold at night in a good quilt, the pad is the first thing to look at.
Foam Pads
A closed-cell foam pad is the kind you fold or roll up and strap to the outside of your pack. It can’t puncture, so it can’t fail on you. It also works as a sit pad at camp and a frame pad in some packs.
The Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol is the pick here. At R2, it’s a summer pad on its own. In winter, it earns a place under an inflatable pad, where the two together are warmer than either one alone, and the foam backs you up if the air pad springs a leak.
Inflatable Pads
An inflatable pad has insulation inside, so it can be thick, comfortable and warm at the same time, and it packs down small. The tradeoff is that it can puncture, so carry the patch kit. Actually carry it.
The Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT is R4.5 at about 13 ounces, which is the three-season standard nearly everyone ends up on.
Winter Pads
For snow camping and early or late season in the mountains, you want R6 or higher. Those pads are a little heavier and more than you need the rest of the year, so only buy one if you actually camp in that kind of cold.
Which To Get
- Summer only: a foam pad like the Z Lite Sol is enough, and it’s nearly indestructible.
- Three seasons: an inflatable around R4 to R4.5, like the NeoAir XLite NXT.
- Winter: an R6 or warmer pad, or a three-season inflatable with a foam pad underneath.
