I did not bye a neo air but a 79.00 Thermarest prolight. I cannot rave enough about it I slept like a baby this pad. Sleep is one thing hard to put a price on. I did roll off pad one night at 22 degrees, I woke fast from the cold and shifted back on. Neo air has allot of mixed reveiws and scard me off. Cheaper pads from wally world Dicks sporting etc come at a price. Sweat bye day to haul, as they are heavyer! With exception 5.99 Blue closed cell foam pad at wally world. However, I cannot sleep on this pad, Hence, Thermarest! Happy Trails
Why not just cruise the various outlets and sales to find a 2.5in blow up air pad at a price you are willing to pay, often under <$50.00, then put this air pad on top of a reflector surface. BTW I have seen insulated blow up pads for <$50.00 as well.
I'm not trying to ding on the Neo-Air specifically but more on the idea of a $150.00 air pad of any sort. BackPacking at one time was a reasonably priced activity that anyone could undertake without a second mortgage to purchase necessary or even nice equipment. Inflation does not account for the heavy price increases I have seen over the years. Prices will continue to go up as long as we are willing to pay them.
For as light as it will be and as well as it will work, I'll gladly pay the $150. Right now I use a Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Mummy with my bivy setup. It's great, but at 1 lb 8 oz, I can cut 10 oz off my trail weight with the Neo Air. Unfortunately, regular rectangular pads are too wide at the foot of the bivy and just won't work, so I haven't bought a Neo yet.
I do have a question for everyone though:
Has anyone heard any news of a version of the Neo Air that will be shaped like the ProLite? Those do work with the bivy, but I bottom out on them. And I'm not a fan of waking up with a stiff hip. Just not thick enough at 1.5"
Ive read a rumor that the NeoAir will have a 2011 makeover, but nothing more than just that.
Have you considered a short NeoAir in your bivy? Guaranteed fit and even more of a weight and space savings. I use a small and add a pillow (of clothing in a stuff sack) and if needed (seldom) something under my feet. It's important to know the NeoAir is more comfortable when inflated less than a BA/POE. I'll guess even a regular could work in a bivy given the lower air pressure needed.
Cheers,
Originally Posted By jps1021
I do have a question for everyone though:
Has anyone heard any news of a version of the Neo Air that will be shaped like the ProLite? Those do work with the bivy, but I bottom out on them. And I'm not a fan of waking up with a stiff hip. Just not thick enough at 1.5"
Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
I have hip and shoulder issues when sleeping on the ground. After cutting, splitting and stacking firewood, getting the garden in, squatting to pull plant, pull weeds, by the time bping season is going full bore, my body is aching. The small NeoAir works great for me, I'm 6', my lower legs hang off the end, but I can put my empty pack under them if needed. The direction the air tubes run, work better for some me for some reason than ones running parallel with your body. I still don't sleep that good when out, but at least I ache a little less and carry less in the summer especially. Now if I would use the Gossamer Gear pad that is the support in my pack for my sleeping pad, I could shave a little more and bring my Slinglight.:)
I should add, a just retired couple from our CA group are doing the ADT and he is using a NeoAir. They have been out for three months and no word yet on it's failure or issues. They did break a tent pole and bought a new tent. They are not staying out each night, they are using motels, b&b and beds from folks asking them to spend a night. http://www.trailjournals.com/entry.cfm?trailname=9521
No way. It's full length (regular, 72"), all the way!
Bugs my heels too much to have them on the ground. Plus, I roll, turn and move a lot through the night. That would probablly have my ankles digging the dirt, which may be even more annoying.
Well, hopefully I'll only have to wait until Spring '11? I could just get a non-insulated AC, but not enough weight savings to justify the extra spending. The Clearviews are nice and light, but I don't know if I could trust one. Who knows, maybe the Neo won't be, but I want something reliable for the long haul, not something that is simply 'easily field servicable'!
How tall are you? I'm 5'11", and find that the 66" NeoAir is effectively a full-lenth pad for me. I simply put my pillow on top of my shoes (or spare gear), and the pad goes from my toes to my shoulders.
I don't know if 6" less pad would make a difference in whether it fits your bivy or not.
I'm sure the 66" pad would give a proper fit in the bivy. However, that is still the same concept, though possibly switching from feet to head, as with using a half or 3/4 size pad.
If I'm car camping, I can either use the mummy pad with the bivy or use the long rectangular BA IAC in my Eos1 or Seedhouse 2. No need to worry about weight there. But, for the other times, I'll likely be bikepacking and taking only minimal, yet quite adequate, clothing. If this is going under my head, I don't want to make a pillow out of a salty riding jersey and just-too-nasty riding shorts with chamois!
From the first night I used the bivy over the Winter, I started sleeping without a pillow. (I used to take a full-sized bed pillow and fill the top of my Aether 60 when backpacking). But just like taking to the bivy concept, my body has been loving this flat board/pillowless setup. Just give me my OR Novo Watch Cap to keep the noggin warm thru the night (I LUV that 0.8oz thing so much I bought a spare in case I ever wear it out). Hey, Summer in Vegas, means heading to 7-10,000' and much cooler weather for the weekends ...And I'm off for the Bryce/Red Canyon area for a 4-day July 4th weekend!
Personally, my pillow consists of my Dromlite 2L water bladder filled with air (the small flip-top makes a perfect inflation valve) or water. I put that on top of my hiking shoes, and find it's just the right height.
I missed the no-pillow part of your previvous post. If that's how you prefer to sleep, then you're right - nothing but the 72" will work.
I started using a NeoAir this year after using Thermarest pads for many years and I have never slept more comfortably in a tent. It really has made a noticable difference in my sleep quality and I don't have a problem rolling off of it. However, I have not used any Big Agnes pads to compare/contrast and I have not overnighted in below 30 degrees with it yet.
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“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere.” -- Frank A. Clark
I have had two because the first one had a catastrophic failure in the field. The second one now has a slow leak I can't find. MSR will replace it but what an absolute pain. In regular form it is also too narrow and the sides do not hold enough pressure. No surprisingly, MSR is coming out with a version with stiffer sidewalls next year.
Much like the Hyperflow, I believe this product simply needs more design work.
I am not sure what my next pad will be - still searching.
I really like my Neo Air. I do have to sleep on the wrong side of it, the silver side. I move around at night and when I slept on the greenish side I'd move but my bag stayed put so I turned the pad over and now it works for me. I also carried a foldable (soft) silver car windshield sun blocker to put under the pad, for Alaska, but I didn't need it, the temps were pretty mild. Never had nor slept on a BA so I can't compare.
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Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. Helen Keller
My wife just got a Large NeoAir for our 25th Anniversary... she's thrilled with it. She normally doesn't sleep all that great when we backpack. On her last trip she slept great. Far more comfortable than her horizontal baffled air mattress.
I'm next in line to get one...
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There Is No Bad Weather, Just Bad Clothing...
Registered: 03/17/03
Posts: 501
Loc: Puget Sound, Washington
What kind of nose does it have???? Having once lived in the Napa Valley, we spoke of wine "having a good nose" not to mention "having good legs." (Don't feel the need to answer. It's late and I couldn't help myself. I'll log off now.)
When I bought mine, in Seattle, having demonstrated the mat to my two companions, they promptly bought one too. We all had a mat for the walk but I could not resist the price, well below staff price here in Australia.(M size RRP $300) The first morning as my mates got out of their shelters I asked about it. They were very happy with it. So I asked "what about the noise ?" They both replayed " what noise ?" (no it does not bother me either...) Franco
Registered: 02/26/07
Posts: 1149
Loc: Washington State, King County
CWF said: "I have had two because the first one had a catastrophic failure in the field ..."
Interesting, that. I thru-hiked the AT with a 72" neo-air this year and it's still in great shape, nary a leak (slow or fast).
In fact, I've never had any sort of leak from an inflatable, and I attribute this to always putting at least a thin ccf pad underneath the inflatable. On the AT this year I used just a 1/8" gossamer gear ccf pad underneath --- initially in part for thermal protection in the snow down south in Feb/March, and later as a pretty lightweight way to protect the pad from anything sharp on shelter floors or on the ground. I'm also somewhat careful too when rolling up the 1/8" pad to feel for any sharp bits of debris that might embed itself in the ccf pad and poke the neo-air later. Not really much effort, just a habit in putting things away in the morning.
I'm not saying that this approach guarantees a leak-proof pad, just saying that I used mine for months this year and it's still a firm pad in the morning after each nights sleep.
As to noise --- either I'm totally accustomed to it by now, or maybe after enough uses it gets a bit less noisy as I don't even think about that.
The neo-air still seems like a great piece of gear to me, just heavier than I like in the full length format. I'm considering the torso-length version for the CDT next year but might just stick with the full-length, dunno yet.
C The neo-air still seems like a great piece of gear to me, just heavier than I like in the full length format. I'm considering the torso-length version for the CDT next year but might just stick with the full-length, dunno yet.
Interesting, See that was my take on it too - and up here, MEC only carries the full length. I recently needed a light pad for a trip and after toying with the idea of the neo-air I bought a torso length prolite plus for the same weight as the full length neo-air - My main concern here being durability as if I'm on the ground (as opposed to hammocking) I'm in some pretty gnarly places.
Registered: 02/23/03
Posts: 2124
Loc: Meadow Valley, CA
Three of us were having a little mild humor over noise comments we had all read about. I just got back from 6 days in the Wind River Range and was having a break with two other bpers who I had ust met at a junction. They both had NeoAir's also. What noise? It has been over a year since I received my replacement short NeoAir and it seems they make some noise the first time inflating or somewhere in the very early stages. I know for a fact, that other brands make more noise when being used, I was on a trip to the Lost Coast last year and one of our party had a very noisy one, can't recall the brand so I won't libel it. Like other manufacturers, they have had some leaky ones also and my first one had a really slow leak.
I started a thread last Fall on the NeoAir and commented that mine had worked fine in single digit temps on dry sand/dirt. I know it was that cold due to the ice on the slow moving creek. No other pad was used under it like I would for winter camping.
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