Sleeping pad questions.

[fear_and_greed]

Does anyone have one of those new Big Agnes or Exped insulated sleeping pads? Any comments on them? How about a Prolite 4? What are your current sleeping pad setups? I use an yellow evazote and/or a z rest most of the time and it kind of sucks.

[fishstick]

My gut impression is as follows:

 

Z-rests work GREAT for summer sans snow.

Pro-lite 4 is more compact, but less warm than their standard 38mm pads. Cold butt and shoulders on compact snow (winter) when used in conjunction with a bivi pad.

Agnes is less warm than Exped, but much more compact. Slippery.

Exped is worth the weight and bulk when skiing. Very, very warm. Worth the expense. Allows use of a lighter bag. Awesome for winter or those in search of comfort. For me, it's the first system I've ever used that absolutely gets rid of cold butt and shoulders on dense snow/ice.

 

GB

[BreezyD]

fear_and_greed -

 

I upgraded a while back to the Exped Downmat 7 and absolutely love it. There is a little getting used to with the pump sack, but it is well worth the additional time it takes. I have never slept so soundly or so warmly on the snow. Before the Downmat, I was using a Prolite 4.

 

Here is another recent thread on this:

 

Sleeping Pads

 

Hope it was helpful!

 

Brianna