troutbert wrote:
Does anyone have any good tips on camping pads, to cushion you from the cold hard ground?
Back in the day Therma-Rest self-inflating pads were the common thing. Are they still the go-to camping pad? They have a lot of models, some of which are pretty expensive.
Are there other companies that make similar pads that provide better values?
Are self-inflating pads prone to leakage? Can they be fixed?
Are foam pads a better option?
I will probably be car & tent camping most of the time, but may be back-packing occasionally. So I guess I'm looking for something in the medium range of size and weight.
I own a couple of different models of Therm-a-Rest pads. I have some Camp Rests, for car camping, or for the periodic times I feel like lugging along the extra weight on a backpacking trip. I have some of their lighter pads from a few years ago, that are not solid foam but have triangles of foam cut out, to save weight. They seem to do the trick, despite not being solid. Their newest models are ridiculously expensive, IMHO, so I usually try to find the the previous year's model somewhere. I picked up an REI-branded light Therm-a-Rest awhile back (before they came out with the Prolite series) and that pad has worked well. If you're really conscious about weight, you can go with a 3/4 length pad, but I usually like having my feet off the ground (especially if the ground is wet and cold), so I go with a full-length pad.
I've had one leak on one of the Camp Rests (it may have been a defect and purchased that way) and one leak on a Therm-a-Rest pillow (spark from a fire, or more likely a larger ember). One leak was fixed with the Therm-a-Rest leak kit - the other with some AquaSeal.
I've never had to use their warranty service for a sleeping pad, but Cascade Designs customer service is top notch. I have had a MSR stove pump and a MSR Dromedary bag bite valve and tube replaced, at no additional cost to me (MSR is owned by Cascade Designs).
In the past five years, even with a sleeping pad, I found that I was waking up with a horrible back ache. I bought a Therm-a-Rest lumbar pad for a camp seat and to double as a pillow, but that didn't solve the problem. One time, I carried the other Therm-a-Rest seat I bought (the ember hole burnt one) AND the lumbar pad by accident, but ended up using both of them as pillows - no sore back. I put them underneath the sleeping pad; and that extra incline solved my back problems.
I had a Ridge Rest as my first camping pad; it was ok, but I think I gave it to my brother.
