Don't most (if not all) of their other pads come with the stuff sack included? My other thermarest pads came with the stuff sacks included. Besides, stuff sacks this size are pretty cheap out there. It does not cost them $14.00 to make and market the stuff sacks. Now its just another source of profit.

My inflatable sleeping pads from other manufacturers have come with stuff sacks, but not any from Therm-a-Rest.

CM

I've never had a Thermarest come with a stuff sack. However, once someone figured out they could be folded in half before rolling, I've never felt that the sack was mandatory. I've rolled them, put a webbing strap around them (or not), and put them inside the pack. They don't unroll enough to cause a problem.

Then came chair kits. Now, I just let the air out and roll them inside the folded chair - which puts a layer of nylon around it, just like a stuff sack does. Question: have I just rationalized the need for a chair, or am I just carrying an extremely heavy stuff sack?

Maybe stuff sacks are getting like tent stakes, everyone has too many, why sell them with a piece of gear, keeps the price and weight down.

Guess what?!?

Sleeping pads don't need to be rolled. All a tight roll does is give you a hard, cylindrical shape that doesn't pack well with other items. Just fold it in half or thirds and stick it in your pack before stuffing other items in. It will conform to whatever you are packing and take up less effective volume in the end. And you don't have to worry about messing around with a stuff sack.

The fundamental concept is that bags are good for packing items together that you want keep together and keep from disappearing into the far reaches of your pack. But using a stuff sack for a single, non-losable item? Neither necessary nor lightweight.

(Same goes for a sleeping bag, too.)

I don't roll my inflatable pad, either. With the late (censored) NeoAir and with my POE Insulmat Max Thermo (older version of the Ether Thermo) I fold the thing and put it in the internal pad pocket of my SMD Comet pack. Why add the weight of a stuff sack when my pack provides adequate protection? I do try not to fold the pad in the same place every time.

Call me paranoid but a tightly rolled inflatable pad presents much less surface area to be possibly punctured or abraided than one that is loosely folded in my pack. I don't use a stuff sack either, I just wrap it in extra clothes or whatever I have. Ditto for the sleeping bag. It can't be punctured so it just gets stuffed in the pack. Unless it's raining heavily, which is another story......

I'm with you, Trailrunner. The neoair appears to be a bit more delicate than a typical inflatable, so by rolling it and protecting it in something I feel more confident that it will survive a lot of trail miles.

I haven't used mine enough to settle on a final packing approach for it; the next thing I'm going to try is to leave it unfolded longitudinally (i.e., don't initially fold in half or thirds) and after it's rolled up then roll the result in a thinlight ccf pad, put the result inside a black plastic garbage bag (that I carry anyway) and put the result either vertically in my pack or strap it externally. But rolling in half or 1/3 width and then just putting the result inside some unused clothing sounds like a good option. I did find that at 1/3 width I could fit my size regular neoair inside a gallon ziplock bag without too much finessing.

For four or five years, I used my TR LE 3/4 pad as the support inside my Golite Gust pack, still have the pad, sold the pack.

Abrasion was the only reason I ever used a sack - and that was when I used an external frame pack, with the pad lashed to the outside.

Leaving the pad inside the chair kit (which, at age 60, I no longer consider a luxury) and rolling the chair kit around the stays serves the same anti-abrasion function as the stuff sack. I agree that the NeoAir seems like it needs more protection, but that may be wrong (when I laid it next to a Prolite, I'm not completely convinced that the nylon covering is any more or less fragile; a technical analysis might prove that it is.)

By the way, I used some silnylon (and flattering comments to my wife such as, "I owe you big-time") to modify the Compack chair into a full-length "lounger" type chair, so I didn't have to remove the NeoAir every time I wanted to sleep on it. It only added an ounce or two, and greatly improved convenience and function.