Welcome! Welcome! We have a review of a very fine sleeping pad here. It may be the most used and most well received blow up pad by hikers (which, for the record, is why I bought one to begin with). Check out the video on YouTube below and for even more details check out the post below that.

What’s Included and for How Much?

All of the specs here are for the Regular Size Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite: Cost: $185 Weight: 12oz / 340g Packed Size: 9in x 4.1in R-Value: 4.2 What you get: – Pad – Repair Kit – Pump Sack (to blow it up without using your breath) – Stuff Sack (though I never use this)

Closer Look!

This thing is 2.5 inches thick when fully inflated. This provides enough space that I never felt the ground when I was sleeping on it; whether I was on my back, belly, or side. This amount of insulation from the ground also grants the Xlite a 4.2 R-Value rating. This means it will help keep you warm on chilly nights getting down to a bit below freezing. The ground sucks away a lot of heat without any insulating barriers between you and it.

The regular size 72in (6ft) long and 20in wide. For me, that means my arms hang off the sides. This was uncomfortable at first because I wasn’t used to it. In my bad everything is on the same level, but after a couple nights I had no trouble adjusting and found it comfortable and easy to fall asleep. Some people I’ve seen have bought the extra-long-extra-wide for a full body fit up top, but then cut it about 4 ft down leaving the bottom of the legs off of the pad; this way it saves weight and space. I don’t know about that, I haven’t tried it, I liked having my feet on the pad though.

Alright. I mean. It’s not that beautiful I guess. But it is pretty great. The Therm-A-Rest NeoAir Xlite air valve is a one way valve that changes direction with a twist of the extended small green prongs seen in the pic above. When they are closed as seen in the pic, the valve is one-way in. When you twist the green prongs counter-clockwise a half-twist, it becomes one-way out. This makes it very easy to fill with air to max capacity, which is where I like it for complete comfort.

A broken baffle from too much weight 🙁

One of the only problems I found with it is that the baffles will break with too much weight. My hiking buddy and I were both sitting on the pad one rainy day spent in a shelter. And then, as I was getting ready to sleep that evening, I noticed these two bubbles popping out of the pad. Apparently it is only made to hold the weight of one person – fair enough 😉 However, these bubbles have not altered the comfort of the pad for me. I have never actually noticed the bumps as I’m lying down, sleeping, or sitting on my pad.

Final Thoughts

Overall this thing is worth it to me. Sleep is incredibly important for muscle recovery and over well-being. So I spent a little bit more on a good pad and a good sleeping bag (well quilt) to make sure I could find myself sleeping sound. I used this almost everyday on a 131 day AT stint, and it never needed patching and was fully inflated every morning. There aren’t many negatives to add here. I personally didn’t find the pump sack overly useful as a pump sack (it did become my handy-dandy pillow at midway through the AT) and felt it was more convenient to use my own breath – but I do think I am in the minority on this one. Thanks everyone for checking out this review. I hope you found helpful in your own gear decisions. Let me know if I missed anything or if there is something else you’d like to know by leaving a comment or sending me an email 🙂 Check out the Support Me page to find out how you can help out me and help grow this website <3