The reason for this is not, as you might at first think, the material on the outside of the sleeping pad: It’s what’s inside.

NEMO Switchback Review | Tested by GearLab

As anyone who has been backpacking during a shoulder season knows, the cold from the ground will suck out your body heat faster than cold air, leaving you shivering inside of your 20-degree bag. If you are car camping and don’t have to carry your gear very far then this is a great choice as one of the best camping sleeping pads. Another plus point they found was that the pad was super easy and quick to put up and even deflated and rolled up easily too.Nemo’s stacked two-part valve lies flush against the pad, reducing the risk of the valve tugging and putting stress on the surrounding fabric. Backpackers who use quilts, as opposed to traditional sleeping bags, should choose a pad with an R value that is slightly higher than they think they need. Closed-cell foam sleeping pads are a popular option among thru-hikers and lightweight backpackers on a budget, and the Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol has dominated that market for many years with very little competition. But it also left feet of snow and chest-high water crossings on the Mogollon Rim late into the hiking season - some hikers were snowshoeing that section! Pretty much all of the mainstream gear testers have showered the Xtherm with rewards for the duration of it’s life.

NEMO Switchback Ultralight Sleeping Pad Review: New Take on NEMO Switchback Ultralight Sleeping Pad Review: New Take on

We learned about the closure pretty early on, and decided we would just do half of the trail in spring and then come back in fall to finish the rest. We put our Unbound pack to the test over hundreds of miles in the Sonoran Desert, and we think it’s a big win for long-distance hiking and ultralight backpacking.

The hexagonal node pattern is part of what makes this pad the most comfortable in all sleeping positions. The Nemo Switchback took the classic and already popular closed-cell foam (CCF) sleeping pad and made improvements all around. I've found the Savotta mat to be excellent in all seasons, as it protects the different 'comfy' mat on top of it, which I choose according to the prevailing temperature. The best backpacking sleeping pads made of closed-cell foam sometimes include a metallic lining for an increased R rating.

Nemo Switchback Regular Sleeping Mat | UK | Ultralight

Many people won’t find closed-cell foam pads comfy enough on their own - we certainly prefer air pads. Personally I use combination of cheap foam cell mat and quality inflatable sleeping pad, but it's a different story. I sleep on my side and often find that I wake up with sore shoulders when camping out, the Static V2 is a perfect sleeping pad for side sleepers and I found it very comfortable to sleep on, unlike the X Frame. Pros: Excellent warmth-to-weight ratio; easy-to-use one-way valve; comfortable; multiple length options. This is a sleeping pad made with backpackers in mind and it’s extremely lightweight yet very comfortable.The warmest sleeping bag in the world won’t do you much good if you’re lying on the cold, hard ground without a mattress. I update this post pretty regularly as we are constantly testing new gear so as well as the examples above, there are few other sleeping pads included as honourable mentions in this review roundup. Available in several lengths and widths: So you don’t overpay (or over-carry) for extra material you don’t need.

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

We like both pads for adding warmth to an air pad on frigid trips or for doing double duty as a sleep system and a camp chair. I doubt that it's just sleeping bag filling between two layers of fabric in the Snugpak Antarctic mat without valve, that doesn't work well as far as I am informed. There are very comparable sleeping pads that offer nearly the same attributes for a few bucks cheaper, but the Switchback offers a bit more comfort and packs down smaller than most of the closed-cell foam competition. We all know that getting in some quality Zzzzs refreshes the mind and the body and sets us up for an awesome day out on the trail. Taller nodes create more space for uncompressed sleeping bag insulation, trapping more warmth around your body.You might be better off using a combination of a closed-cell foam mat and then something like an Exped mattress on top. Three of our testers on that trip, where temps along the Oregon Coast dipped into the low 40s, self-identified as cold sleepers, and for them, there was only one sleeping pad that was getting the job done: the Therm-a-Rest Xtherm. When it comes to saving weight, there are always going to be compromises – and the compromise here is the relatively low R value. Although if you do end up with a hole in the pad, they are easy enough to repair it, as long as it isn’t along one of the seams.