I mentioned in another recent thread that I just bought a POE Ether pad. I have never slept so well in the woods before. My only concern is that the material it is made of seems a little thin compared to a Thermarest pad, which is what I am used to using. I got really paranoid on my first night out on a 7 day hike a couple of weeks ago. I set up camp in a spot underneath a huge Holly tree (has leaves with little “stickers” or “needles” on them if you are not familiar with this tree). I cleared the spot of all the dead leaves (from last autumn I guess), but was not yet satisfied. So I just laid my pack down along with a few other items in a line the length of the pad, and slept on the pad on top of all that stuff. There was not a comfort issue with doing this, but it turned out to be a kind of finicky setup as I used it the entire trip. The pad would slip off the pack or some other item, and getting up to take a leak was an irritating process as I had to rearrange everything when I got back in to resume sleeping.

So, my question is to other POE or similar air mattress users. How fragile are these things (if fragile at all)? Have you ever had a failure, and how hard was it to field repair?

I have the older version--the POE InsulMat Max Thermo--and have had no problems. However, I sleep inside my tent. I do have a dog (claws), although I insist he stay off my mattress. My 3-year-old grandson has bounced on the mattress with no ill effect. I suspect the thing is tougher than it looks.

Any inflatable pad (this or a Thermarest type) is going to be vulnerable to punctures, so I'm also concerned about anything thorny. If you don't have a tent with floor, a groundsheet might be a good idea. I'd think that policing your sleeping site ahead of time and a piece of plastic or Polycro would do the job.

hey does any one in the south west, specifically new mexico have any experience on the polycro ground sheet versus goat heads?

(for those of you who don't know goat heads, they're caltrop shaped seed pods sharp enough to go through a kevlar reinforce bike tire with two layers of inner tube like they were butter)

Your goat heads sound very similar (at least in effect) to what we call "puncture vine" in eastern Washington. It may be the same thing--I don't know the botanical name. It's truly nasty stuff, and I remember using a metal strip inside my bike tires as well as puncture-sealing compound injected into the inner tube when I lived there. Even with those, tire-patching sessions were very frequent. The seeds of course get tracked everywhere because they stick in your shoe soles. You wouldn't want that kind of thing anywhere near any kind of inflatable pad! I guess I'd need a big thick foam pad (I have one for car camping) or 2 or 3 ridge rests, with hip and shoulder holes cut into the top one. Or maybe a titanium ground sheet?

http://www.socorro.com/fattire/goatheads.html
those things?

though from your description it certainly sounds the same.
but yeah as a 260 lb side sleeper i'm pretty much required to use an air mattress, suffice to say i always sleep in a tent, with a tarp as a ground sheet and am very very careful about where i hike and sleep around here.

Oh I remember goat heads well! I grew up in New Mexico. I use a polycro ground sheet (when I'm not in a hammock) and it is suprisingly tough for something that feels like cellophane but there is no way it could stand up to a goat head.

those nasty buggers have managed to find there way into the rockies as well. Might not be as many of them here but they will be soon I guess. My mountain biker friend is always running into those things.

Yep, that's it! It's known as "tackweed" or "puncture vine" in eastern Washington and Oregon. I'm surprised it won't puncture polycro; it sure punctures everything else!

Yeah, I've been using Thermarests for years, and in general here in the SE there is not much to worry about when setting up camp. I just happened across this "Holly Tree" situation when I was checking the levelness of the ground. I usually put down my ground cloth (1 mil plastic just to keep dirt off my tent), and then lay on it real quick to see how the ground feels. When I did that all the dead leaves on the ground stabbed me in the back. I believe they would go right through the 1 mil plastic and my sil-nylon tent floor (Double Rainbow). So that was my main concern.

I'm probably just being paranoid as I am sure the Thermarests are not any more durable than the POE. I guess it is just a perception thing as the POE is a 2.5" thick air matress and the Prolite 4 (the TR I was using) is only 1" thick. The thinner pad just "seems" more durable.

I remember something similar when I was a kid riding my bike in California. thiings were everywhere. And I am still effecient at fixing flats.