Backpackin'

I’m lusting after those new Therm-a-Rest NeoAir sleeping pads. I could cut a half a pound (!) off my base weight by switching to a NeoAir from my current pad and the reviews say the NeoAir is awesomely comfortable. And they are coming down in price. The day I wrote this I found some online for $120.

But. There is always a but.

Mudpie and I are old. Even our mattress at home sometimes isn’t cushy enough for our ancient hips and shoulders. So we’ve been through the half-inch blue pads, the one inch self-inflating pads, and the one inch self-inflating pads on top of the half-inch blue pads and suffered accordingly.

So we set out to find more comfortable pads, preferably 2 ½ inches thick, the usual 72” by  20”, mummy-shaped to save weight. And I stumbled on these Pacific Outdoor Eco Thermo 6 pads made somehow from bamboo. You know, green. Carbon neutral production, recycled aluminum valve, sustainable bamboo made into both insulation and the body of the pad. Not something I’d read about on the backpacking sites.

We took a chance.

They don’t feel like bamboo. They look and feel like some kind of petroleum derivative. And they seem to act exactly the same way. They’re comfortable enough, easy enough to inflate, strong enough, light enough and fold down into an acceptable size for packing.  

I compared them to the popular and well-respected Big Agnes Air Core pad (same dimensions). The BA weighs 24 ounces and has an R-value of 4.1, which means it should insulate well down to 15 degrees F. The Eco Thermo (sounds like something from a SNL skit) weights 22 ounces and has an R-value of 6.8. Hmmm.

But (there it is again), the Eco Thermos cost me like $145 and the BA’s MSRP is only $79.95.

Yeah, but, the day I wrote this REI had the Eco Thermo on sale now for only $39.93 ( http://www.rei.com/product/751091 sales MSRP is $133).

Still (which is “but” camouflaged), there’s that 14 ounce NeoAir. Cut a half a pound! They sell one that is 25” wide and 78” long – too long for either of us but there is a guy on  http://www.suluk46.com/ who shows you how to cut them down to any length you want and seal them back up. We could cut one down to 72” for me and 64” for Mudpie and save lots of weight and have really wide pads.

But, but, but. The R-value is only 2.5. In the shoulder seasons, in the mountains, along the Appalachian Trail where there are places you can get a freeze in spring and hypothermia in summer, you need to add more insulation, like maybe haul out the old blue pad again. More weight.

And there’s the green thing. I’ve got a nice cushy pad that’s pretty tough and doesn’t need another piece of gear to up its R-value and negate the weight savings, that is about as eco-friendly as a piece of gear can be. I’d say it’s worth a few ounces.

Yeah, but…half a pound!