Pad/Quilt

It been awhile since I bought a sleeping bag or pad. I don't have a subscription to Backpacker, so I haven't really kept up with new equipments. (Shocker, right?)I'm leaning towards getting Enlighten Equipment Prodigy quilt. (Probably get second rated fabric version.)

I really don't know what pad to look at. Big Agnes Insualted Air Core is all I have ever used. I'm looking at the Q-Core, Exped brand, and Therma-Rest. Any latest model(s) wowing anyone?

I have this pad http://www.rei.com/product/850321/klymit-static-v-sleeping-pad

and used it for the first time recently, and it worked great. We set up one night on a huge flat rock and I slept great, and I am a side sleeper.

If I remember right it was about 4oz heavier than my neo air but longer and less costly.

I've used all three of the brands you mentioned (regular and SL versions of Q-Core; the downmat version of Exped; Prolite Plus and various NeoAirs of Thermarest) - all worked well; my current choice is the Q-Core SL.

I currently use EE rev X quilt and a big Agnes insulated air core, and love the combo. Especially the quilt, it is truly a work of art.

I have a strong preference for the NeoAirs, having prior experience with insulated mattresses from Big Agnes and POE. I find the crosswise air chambers far more comfortable.

Cheers,

I just can't get over the crinklyness (is that a word???) of neo airs.

I can't figure out why people think they are so crinkly.

The noisiest air mattresses bar none have been BA insulated air cores - every time someone turns over on one, they make horrible rubbing sounds audible from 50 feet away. And I hike in groups of 2 - 15 people who invariably buy NeoAir, BA or Exped.

Yeah, the NeoAirs are so noisy I cannot see how anyone can sleep on one, much less within a half mile of one.

If I had a decibel meter, I would go and compare different pads to see which is the noisiest.

I had the BA insulated air core and while it was not silent, the noise was not enough to bother me... and I move a LOT at night.

seriously??? Lets take a look here, I'm guessing your doing one of your reviews and got a couple of neoairs for free so your looking past the insane amount of noise they make?

NOPE.

I have had a neoair since they were issued - years ago - and still use it. I have posted many times over those years each time someone issues a statement that they are crinkly, because mine never has been to the point that it bothered me or was audible to anyone standing outside the tent.

I hike with five hiking groups, and backpack every month.

I have no stake in any brand, no bias, and no bone to pick - it's my experience, and I'll thank you to not call me a liar. Because that's not me.

The Q Core, on the other hand, is not noisy at all, and very comfortable to boot. So much so that when the one I used for a year developed a leak, I contacted the company and they replaced it - instead of what I usually do with broken gear - moving on to something else.

BA insulated air cores are the most frequent pad/mattress in the bin at the REI gear sales until the new neoair models came out... The newer models are made of a different material. I still can't hear them outside the tent of the user, unlike the BAIAC mattresses. Last weekend one of my friends purposely pitched her tent far down the hill and when asked why, she stated that she knows her AC keeps people awake (she only hikes with us once a year, the rest of the time she hikes with other groups) so I know that it is not simply my "biased opinion" on the matter.

I actually have the q core note the air core.

An illustration by way of anecdote: I was soloing (in Desolation, which has no bearing on the story but anyway) and drifting off to sleep when I became fixated on a tink-tink-tink...pause...tink-tink-tink... noise. This became so bloody distracting I got up (which takes a mighty effort once settled in for the night) to investigate. I crept around my camp, waiting for the noise to return [tink-tink-tink] and eventually was right next to it and switched on my headlamp. A miniscule mouse was nibbling at the neoprene wrap around my inverted metal cup, rocking it just enough to make the tink-tink-tink noise on the rock shelf. This was a good twenty feet from my tent.

If I was being deafened by my NeoAir pad, I have grave doubts I would have ever heard the fifteen-gram marauder.

The end.

Regarding "crinklyness" of neo-airs:

When I first tried one in a store, I too was put off by the noise it made. However, I eventually bought one anyway, because it was comfortable and light. What I've found is that I have NEVER noticed the noise when I'm actually using it (and I'm not one of those people who drops off to sleep immediately after getting in the bag, either). Somehow it just doesn't bother me outside of the store. Maybe because I have a pillow between it and my ears?

Isn't it funny how there can be such different reactions to the same item?

Isn't it funny how there can be different RESULTS with the same item?

I react the same to all gear - it does the job. It doesn't do the job. It stays in the pack, or it doesn't.

I may have solved the riddle of how different people could have different reactions/results with the same product - in this case, "crinkleyness" of the Q-Core pads. I was using an SL model, which I've been using for some time, and was out with a buddy who has been out with me before. We set up camp in our usual manner, with tents about 30 feet apart.

This morning, he commented on how noisy my pad was. Oddly enough, I had also noticed a lot of noise last night, every time I rolled over. That was odd, because I've never really noticed it making noise before - and Bob had never commented on it on half a dozen past trips with me using the same pad.

The only thing I could come up with is this: Normally, I prefer my pad rather "bouncy": fully inflated, with just a small bit of air let out after I lie down on it. But, last night, I only inflated it about 2/3 full; I'm not sure why, but I think "lazy" might have something to do with it. (The fact that it's July in Ohio with 70 degree lows might also have factored in.)

Fully inflated: no noticeable noise. Partly inflated: lots of noise. Perhaps the range of reactions depends on how "mushy" you like your mattress: more mushy equals more noise?

I'm hearing impaired; I will not be hearing noisy from the pad. So, I could be annoying nearby campers and scaring bears away at the same time.

My pad from the late lamented KookaBay isn't crinkly, but it does occasionally let out a loud squeak if I turn over too abruptly.

While I had lots of objections to the NeoAir, the alleged noise wasn't one of them. With a sleeping bag hood over your ears, a lot of sound is blocked! (As Glenn has found out in Ohio summers when the thought of a puffy hood about one's ears is enough to produce instant heat stroke.)

I don't think the Q Core was the questionable one - I thought we were talking about the BA Air Core and the NeoAir.

Just got back from another night on the old NeoAir. I took a newer one (someone abandoned it in a campsite, I hauled it home) and it turned out to have a slow leak, so out comes Old Faithful. Used it on a polycryo ground sheet with my quilt and a torso length bugnet on two warm, clear, starwatching nights. Still no crinkling. Nor was there any from my two friends' NeoAirs. (The third friend had a Z Rest. Now, talk about quiet. Unless you count the complaining about how uncomfortable she was...)

You may be right about the particular pad we were discussing, I can't remember; however, I'm thinking the same results may occur with any pad - the more fully inflated, the less noise.

I never had any crinkling with a NeoAir, either. But, again, I used it pretty fully inflated. How do you use yours?