Chuck
The Thermarest NeoAir (www.cascadedesigns.com) has been the big talk among the internet chat rooms and forums on “What is the best inflatable mattress out there?” Thermarest has won many awards for this very advance mattress and here’s why…
(words in italic are from Thermarest)
The NeoAir mattress represents the world’s most advanced engineering in ultralight comfort. Beyond being the lightest air mattress available, we’ve utilized two patent-pending internal technologies, making it up to three times warmer and far more stable than any other uninsulated air mattress available. And when it comes to space in your pack, you’ll appreciate that it’s no bigger than a one-liter water bottle. Revolutionary by design, the gossamer NeoAir mattress makes comfort one less thing you’ll need to compromise when traveling fast and light.
Ultralight & Compact: Weighs just 14oz. and packs down to the size of a 1-liter water bottle.
Unrivaled Warmth: Our patent-pending reflective barrier returns warmth to your body and reduces heat loss to the ground, keeping you three times warmer than any other uninsulated air mattress.
Sleep Stable: When inflated, patent-pending Triangular Core Matrix technology creates an internal truss system, resulting in the most stable non-self-inflating air mattresses.
Lasting Performance: Achieving thermal efficiency without down or fiber insulation means the NeoAir mattress can be inflated directly without the added weight of a pump, or worrying about exhaled moisture wetting insulation and decreasing performance.
Made in USA
Here are the Specifications:
Color: Limon
R-Value: 2.5
Weight: 14 oz.
Width: 20 in.
Length: 72 in.
Thickness: 2.5 in.
Carry Dimension: 9 in. x 4 in.
Outer Fabric: Nylon
Inner Core Fabric: Nylon / PU
I received the Thermarest NeoAir as a test product and was amazed immediately at the light weight of it. It came in a display box already folded up and to me was amazingly light in weight. I received the Regular size which is 72 in. long and I noticed on the packaging that it comes in three other sizes. Small, which is 47 in. long. And Medium which is 66 in. long and both are the same width as the Large at 20 in. wide. They also have a Large which is 77 in. long but it is 25 in. wide.
I pulled it from the package, unfolded and unrolled it. I could immediately tell that it did not have any type of foam inside the mattress, at least the type that I am used to. I unscrewed the valve and began to inflate the mattress. This took about a minute to completely inflate the mattress. It seemed to inflate pretty fast. The material feels very soft but I can tell it’s thin. Caution will have to be used to make sure I don’t have any sharp objects near the mattress as it wouldn’t take much to poke a hole or puncture the material.
I laid it out in my living room floor and laid on it. It had some crinkling sound to it as a moved about on it. But the comfort well outweighed the noise it made. I am 6 foot tall (72 in.) which is the same length as the pad but it felt much longer than that. I flipped over on my stomach and my toes hung off the end but didn’t touch the ground. This will be nice when I have it on cold grounds that my feet won’t touch the cold ground. The comfort is very nice and I can’t wait to have it under a sleeping bag in the outdoors to get the real feel on the comfort and warmth of it.
I released the valve and started to fold and roll the mattress back into it’s packed size. The air released very easy as I rolled it up as there is no foam inside to prevent the air from escaping. I was able to get the mattress back to its original package size in less than a minute.
I am very excited to be reviewing the Thermarest NeoAir and look forward to getting it out into the backcountry.
UPDATE: March 16, 2011
From the time I received the NeoAir to when I actually got to take it out in the backcountry was quite a bit of time due to the winter weather we were experiencing. I finally got to take it on a camping trip with my son where we stayed in the same tent. I knew this was going to be a good trip to try it on because the weather was getting milder but the ground was still very cold.
The sleeping bag that I use has to use a pad for the insulation under the bag. For this night, I used the NeoAir to see how well the insulation properties of the pad worked. I inflated the mattress as usual and inserted it into the bag sleeve. I laid on top to get the right inflation for my comfort by slowly releasing some of the air until the comfort was to my liking. I took notice of the temperature which was 48 F before I fell asleep. I did wake up in the middle of the night due to some road noise nearby but I noticed that I was nice and toasty in my bag. I looked at the temperature gage and it read 39 F and this was about 5:00 a.m. I was very happy that I had slept through the night and stayed warm and toasty.
I wanted to try something so on the second night I switched mattresses with my son which was NOT and insulated mattress. He had no complaints the previous night of being cold but I wanted to see for myself the difference from an uninsulated mattress and one that has a reflective barrier such as the NeoAir. Both mattresses were the same thickness, width and length. I did wake up a couple of times chilled and the chill was coming from underneath. The temperature was 41 F on the first occasion and 37 F on the second. And both times were due to me being chilled. I can’t professionally diagnose that it was strictly because I was on an un-insulated mattress but it seemed as if that was the problem.
As it stands right now the NeoAir is one of the most comfortable and warm mattresses that I have ever slept on, and I’ve tried many. I will be going on another trip in a couple of weeks where I will be sleeping on a cot and I am curious to see if the cold air has any effect on the NeoAir and its warming capabilities to my body. Laying on cold ground and being suspended in the air where cold air can penetrate from underneath are two different things and I look forward to coming to a conclusion on this.
UPDATE: April 21, 2011
After sleeping on the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir on two seperate outings on a cot, I have defenetely come to the conclusion that the warmth factor to weight ratio has far exceeded any mattress that I have ever tried. The ease and mobility has exceded my expectations.
On both of these trips the nights temperatures dipped into the mid 40′s (F). Now I understand that at that temperature, it’s not all that cold but when you are suspended in air whether it be a cot or hammock, the air temperature ‘seems’ to be colder than it really is. I slept perfectly fine even in a 40 F rated bag.
Packing up the NeoAir is also very easy and what I like about it is since it doesn’t have a foam core, I don’t have to try to keep the foam compressed as I roll it. I just loosen the valve and with my bag still on top of the pad, the pad deflates almost completely. I just remove it from under the bag, fold it once or twice length wise and roll it towards the valve and close the valve. I don’t have a stuff sack to put it in so I usually just tuck in a pocket or in the bottom of my bag somewhere and it stays rolled up.
I still feel like I have to be careful with it when its inflated as the material seems thin and could puncture very easily. Overall I have truly enjoyed the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir and it has lived up to its reputation for winning so many awards. This pad is going to be very hard to beat when it comes to lightweight, compressible and warmth rating. But until that comes along, the NeoAir will continue to go with me and offer a good nights sleep.
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