Nemo Switchback Foam Sleeping Pad

Product Information

Excellent warmth-to-weight ratio: Therm-a-Rest has long been an industry leader on this front. The XLite NXT’s 4.5 R-value at just 12.5 ounces blows the competition out of the water. R-value is a measure of a material’s resistance to heat transfer (i.e., how well it insulates). Mathematically, it’s the temperature difference from one side of an insulating barrier to the other divided by heat flux (the amount of heat flowing through the barrier per unit of area per unit of time). Oh man, you’re going to love the Colorado Trail! And Montana is such a special place, lonely, wild, and beautiful. Women need higher R-values pads because they have lower body mass than men. An additional R-value of 1 is usually a good hedge for women and other cold sleepers To find a suspected leak in your sleeping pad, you will need to submerge it in water and look and listen for bubbles. Inflate the pad about halfway, fold it in thirds, submerge it in a lake or bathtub, and then kneel or press down on it with both hands. Sometimes holes are very small, so this is why you need to apply pressure to reveal the bubbles. When you find the hole, mark it right away with a Sharpie or any other marking tool you may have on hand.

Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads of 2023 - GearLab The 6 Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads of 2023 - GearLab

Although this pad’s insulation factor is impressive, it has limits. If you’ll be out in teens and single-digit temperatures (and/or expect to camp on snow or ice), you’ll want a supplemental foam pad underneath to ward off the chill. Therm-a-Rest instructs using the Z Lite reflective side-up. NEMO says the metallic film points to the ground. In a lab setting, I bet it doesn’t make a difference, but I think it might in the wild. I use such a combination in 3 seasons conditions too, the very thin German army folding mat and a Klymit Inertia O-Zone Recon Sand air mat. The closed cell foam mat protects the comfortable and relatively expensive airmat against the ground and functions as a life boat should the airmat give up.While this pad is insulated – it does not deliver the same cold weather protection from the freezing terrain beneath the pad as well as some of the other pads on this list. When it comes to saving weight, there are always going to be compromises – and the compromise here is the relatively low R value. If you want the comfort of an inflatable without the whopping price tag, the Static V line is your best bet. Noteworthy Features for a regular length and width in a mummy style, or the closest possible option How We Tested the Best Sleeping Pads Note: Mountain Laurel Designs sells a similar pad with more length options, which may be ideal for taller people. Otherwise, the two are functionally similar in most ways. The more you know. Nobody’s Perfect Also, while I generally like the pad’s nested valve design, it makes it all too easy to accidentally let all the air out when I only meant to open the intake valve to add a few more puffs of air. TLDR

NEMO Switchback Sleeping Pad | REI Co-op

With the NXT update, Therm-a-Rest did away with the women’s Xlite, which had a higher R-value (5.4) but weighed the same as the “regular” version because it was smaller. You can still buy a short version of the Xlite NXT, but the R-value is 4.5, same as the regular length. The NXT pads just came out. It will be a few months before any of us know whether the upgrades are as good in real life as they look on paper. Locate leaks by submerging the pad in water and following the trail of bubbles to the pinhole. And on a related note… If you know me, you know that a good night’s sleep is a pretty high priority for me. Though it’s a bit on the heavy side, I bring this sleeping pad on every trip. I have never slept on a more comfortable pad, and I never worry about my sleep system when the temperature drops, given its 3.8 R-value. I’ve found that a warm sleeping pad is more important than a sleeping bag for me. I’ve comfortably slept in roughly 25-degree weather and plan to take it out as often as possible this winter. The Xtherm does a terrific job of retaining heat. Pretty much all of the mainstream gear testers have showered the Xtherm with rewards for the duration of it’s life. I think it is definitely possible to complete the AT or a longer thru-hike while only using one of these sleeping pads. The padding is guaranteed to compress, making it less comfortable than a new pad, but there are probably thousands of thru-hikers, hundreds at least, who have made it five months on the same pad. That said, I have seen many cruddy Z Lites in hiker boxes. Did these people get off trail, buy a new Z Lite, or upgrade to an inflatable? Who knows.Closed-cell foam pads are great for any occasion, including this on-trail wedding in the Winds. CCF Pros: I haven’t used a Steripen in about eight years, but I wasn’t a huge fan and ended up returning mine. Mainly I didn’t like carrying another electronic device (plus batteries). However, I imagine they’ve improved quite a lot since then (lighter, smaller, rechargeable). Maybe I should revisit the technology to see how it’s progressed. An R-value of 2-4 is suitable for spring, summer, and fall trips in warm to cool environments. Most inflatable pads are in this range.

Nemo Equipment | UK | Ultralight Outdoor Gear Nemo Equipment | UK | Ultralight Outdoor Gear

And for shorter hikers or gram-weenies, shortening these CCF pads is an easy way to shave off a few ounces—a difficult, albeit possible, option with inflatables. That said, CCF pads don’t last forever. With extended use, the foam will compress, the comfort-giving dimples will flatten, and the heat-reflecting shine will dull. This is why I choose the word “rugged” instead of “durable”. I think this says a lot about manufacturing variability and does little to inform consumers about which pad is a better choice. And again, CCF can’t pop, so you can be sure that your modest investment will be around for the long haul. The newest version of the legendary Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT again takes home high honors in the ultralight category. The most current version of this pad gained some extra warmth and shaved off a few ounces. Plus, it's now considerably quieter than previous versions — light sleepers who couldn't handle the crinkling sound from this pad can now sleep soundly.More importantly, the relatively rigid shape makes it an excellent floaty for swimming in alpine lakes. If you’ll be using your breath to inflate a sleeping pad, sit down before you start and take your time—especially at higher elevations—to avoid dizziness. If you’re new to exploring and camping outdoors, you might be worried about how cozy your sleeping bag is going to be. It’s important to remember here that a good sleeping bag with a camping pad can create a level of warmth, insulation, and comfort that simply wouldn’t be possible with a sleeping bag alone. Dimensions: 72″ x 20″ x 3″ (Reg.) / 72″ x 25″ x 3″ (Reg. Wide) / 66″ x 20″ x 3″ (Short) / 77″ x 25″ x 3″ (Large) Pros: Excellent warmth-to-weight ratio; easy-to-use one-way valve; comfortable; multiple length options.

NEMO Switchback Review Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol vs. NEMO Switchback Review

The Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XLite Nxt Sleeping Pad is a very light, very warm pad with good comfort and durability. Several of us at iRunFar have been using different versions of this pad for nearly a decade. We’ve only seen it get technically better over the years, with an effective one-way inflation valve and a giant inflation bag.

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But even if you’re going to use the heaviest pad on this list, the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm Nxt Max Sleeping Pad, you should still be able to run comfortably if the rest of your kit is well thought out, with no redundancy and individual items that have multiple uses for efficiency. So, if you prioritize comfort, you may have to spend a little more time dialing in other parts of your kit. From 2020, there is a new industry standard for measuring the R-value (level of insulation) of sleeping mats – ASTM F3340-18. This new standard is the sleeping mat equivalent to the EN rating for sleeping bags. Space blanket” insulation: It really works! I’ve slept directly on snow well below freezing with this pad paired with a 20-degree quilt and slept just fine. It’s one of the lightest none-inflatable mats around but it doesn’t fold up quite as small as I would like, that’s probably the main disadvantage of this sleeping pad.