The Elite arrived as promised in two days from the distributer back in Quebec City (I'm on Vancouver Island)as I ordered it through a retailer in Vancouver and had it shipped direct.

Size:
It folds small. The size of a local newspaper folded in half! Seriously, it is less than half the bulk of the Exped Downmat7.

Weight:
I was glad to keep my weight down with the Elite, which weighed in at a swelte 15oz including stuffsack and repair kit. Think I'll keep both with the pad as this pad material is thin! At present, my big 4 is down to 7lbs with the change!

Test:
Took out the POE Ether Elite on a test run last weekend to the Juan de Fuca Trail. Just an overnighter but did 10km the first day and 12km the second. I found the Elite inflated easily in a few minutes with a screw valve that was easy to use, much easier than the Exped. The pad itself is not as thick or luxurious as the Exped, which was hard to ignore as my backpacking companion had one! It is 2.5" thick versus the Exped7 at 2.8" but the Exped did look quite a bit thicker. Laid down on the sand, it felt pretty comfy. It is narrower than the Exped, so my arms were not on the pad. I sleep warm so that's fine. As it turned out it was 13C and 100% humidity so it did't matter! I was awake for quite some time, but that gave me a lot of thinking time to consider the pad as I endlessly turned on my side, again on my back, on my side...

Comfort:
Not quite as plush as the Downmat7. I think I filled it up too full but was too lazy to let out some air. The torso only insulation kept me warm enough. I think this pad at an R-Value of 4 in the torso, but 2 without the insulation would do quite nicely down to 0C. The R-Value of the Exped, at 5.9, would be good down to -10C, which I'm not planning to experience any time soon!

Suitability for Long Trails:
This pad is light and packs small! It is plenty comfortable enough and will be an integral part of my kit from now on. A few mountain passes on the CDT or the PCT might go below freezing but in the main this pad would be fine for long distance. Chris Townsend has chosen this pad for his current trek so I await his review. Apparently POE is coming out with an even better pad so stay tuned. I haven't found the "more advanced" and "better" pads are always lighter.


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Listen to the trees in the wind