Because this sleeping pad is so warm and well insulated, it is the perfect mat to combine with a quilt or wool blanket because you don’t need any extra warmth beneath you. One problem with down sleeping bags is that when you lay on them the down compresses and loses some of its performance – a sleeping pad like this solves that problem. With it having down feathers inside, we highly recommend using a pump instead of your breath to inflate it and avoid any condensation spoiling the down. When I inflated the mattress I found the dimensions to the outer edges of the mattress to be 20.50 inches wide by 78.50 inches long, which is in agreement with what is advertized by BA for this model of the Insulated Air Core Ultra. Your pad is covered by our warranty against manufacturing and material defect. Your pad is not covered against punctures made by exposing it to the elements. Cowboy camping is phenomenal, but put some protection (like a footprint) under your pad first. Your pad is intended for many warm, comfortable siestas. Your pad is not intended for glissading, Jet-Boiling, or rafting. At 6 inches deep and with a flat surface on top, this is as close as you can get to your mattress at home while you are camping. I am a side sleeper and you can let around 25% of the air out of it and still sleep like a log. I like to do this with all deep sleeping pads as I just tend to sleep better. Some people think that it is sleeping bags that keep you warm in a tent, but without a sleeping pad, your sleeping bag will only keep you warm from the top. Sleeping pads are what keep your underside warm, and they serve a very important role in resisting heat loss through the ground. If you can’t prevent losing heat through the frosty ground, you won’t last very long in winter. Is R-Value 2.5 Good for A Sleeping Pad?

I don't expect I'll take it much below 40°F and will generally be well above that. Will the insulated pad be too warm in the summer? I don't see a denier listed for either but presumably the heavier, uninsulated pad uses a slightly heavier fabric and is more durable. I use a sleeping bag, not a quilt. You can use a second sleeping pad underneath your primary pad to gain some extra cushion. A closed-cell foam pad will probably serve this purpose the best. The shape of a sleeping pad is another important characteristic to consider. You usually have two options: Mummy and rectangular. Now that I have used this 20 x 78 inch Insulated Air Core Ultra for the last couple of months, I find I really like the longer length and I would recommend this length mattress to anyone close to or taller than six feet. If you are looking to camp when temperatures fall into the teens (F) and below, I recommend going with a sleeping pad that has an R-value at 5 or higher. That being the case, the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir XTherm is the sleeping pad to beat. Sleeping Pad WeightRectangular pads offer more space, but they will be heavier in general. The couple of extra ounces may be worth it to you though. Sleeping Pad R-Value The photo below helps demonstrate this point. When you measure across the crest of the tubes on the mattress you find that this dimension is only about 18.0 inches compared to the 20.0 inch overall width. The same holds true along the length of the mattress as the length along the top of the tubes is about 75.50 inches before it rolls off to the 78.0 inch overall length. One week later I received the new Insulated Air Core Ultra. Kudos to impeccable warranty service. Now only time will tell, but it's holding air at home. There is one area where the Insulated Air Core Ultra didn’t live up to what I would have expected and this was with the insulation feature of the mattress. I have always had a good experience with my older Insulated Air Core from an insulation perspective in that when utilizing a down sleeping bag, the older mattress seemed to be providing a beneficial level of insulation. I have tested the new Insulated Air Core Ultra down to 26 degrees F and it really didn’t seem to provide much benefit at all.

The better option in winter may be to combine your inflatable pad with a foam mat which will lift your r-value and comfort. How Much R-Value Will a Foam Sleeping Pad Add? An insulated winter sleeping pad can keep you warm in two ways: by limiting radiative heat transfer with reflective foil or by limiting convective heat transfer with synthetic or down-fill insulation. Don’t let the R-value of a sleeping pad go by the wayside! In the list above, I mentioned several other sleeping pad options that will work well for side sleepers, but the lower R-value ultimately kept them off the list. R-values are now standardized by law for sleeping pads, and so you can rely on them to be fairly, if not totally, accurate. You can use R-values to judge the temperature limits they will be suitable for using our chart here.To alleviate discomfort at your knees, it is a good idea to place a pad between them when sleeping on your side. You can bring a second pillow for this, but a sit pad can also do the job. The Nemo Tensor Insulated Sleeping Pad, like the previous models mentioned above, does have a non-insulated version with a 1.6 R-value, which again, doesn’t make the cut for a good 3-season sleeping pad in my opinion, so the insulated version wins again. Why this sleeping pad is great for side sleepers Reflective foil is the general term used to describe this type of insulation that prevents radiation and convective heat loss. It will line the entire inside of the air chamber and adds very little bulk or weight. In my experience with using the mattress the one-way valve worked well and never leaked any air while I was filling the mattress. The in port is also designed to accept the Pumphouse Ultra sleeping pad pump available from BA. I have not had a chance to use the Pumphouse Ultra to know how well it works, but it looks like an interesting option for people who don’t want to blow up their mattress after a long day hiking.