Dang, despite all those words, I did omit one thing, related to issues of a thicker pad and tent height.

I mentioned that sitting up isn't a full 2" height "hit" for a 2" thick pad. What CAN be an issue, and has been for me is a tent that's relatively short and/or slopes aggressively towards the head or foot end of the tent. I find in particular that if I sleep with a 2" inflatable in my Gatewood Cape, when I'm lying down (and thus the pressure is equally distributed along the inflatable), then either the head or the foot end of my sleeping bag is likely to brush against the fabric of this single walled tent. This gets the bag wet from condensation and that's --- a bad thing.

So for such a tent, I'm not a fan of using a full-length thick inflatable. Obviously this is going to vary by the individual and specific tent, but is something to factor in.

As a totally rambling side-note, my gatewood cape is a specific piece of gear that I only use in certain situations anyway. One is for day hikes where I don't expect a lot of rain, it makes a good dual-purpose piece of "10 essentials" kit. If I couple it with a pack that has removable ccf back padding, it's a particularly credible emergency shelter.
The other time I'll use it is on backpacking trips where I anticipate few bugs and not a lot of rain. I can use my torso-length neo-air in it, just don't fully inflate the pad. This is a very lightweight combination when conditions are right.