My pads from 2010 but if it finally goes Ill replace it...Tippi keeps a backup somewhere hidden for winter just incase...
My love for life is quit simple .i get uo in the moring and then i go to bed at night. What I do inbween is to occupy my time. Cary Grant
Cant count the number of my Thermarests that failed and got replaced by Cascade Designs.
But then, most of my hikes were done in desert environment where everything is thorny, spiky and otherwise harmful to an inflatable.
Once I got a puncture in a Thermarest the first day out and field repairing it was unsuccessful. Back home I tried and tried again and ended up having applied more than 80 patches and it still leaked.
Tried a Z-pad (similar product from Wechsel) and its too volumous to fit inside the pack and I dont like having tied stuff to the outside of the pack, so I'm still using Thermarests
I used to keep a hidden Thermarest cache---in fact I still have a NeoAir All Season out there under a log---but for the last several years I keep a "just in case" NeoAir in my pack on every trip. It's part of my standard load.
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I recently had a pinhole leak on my current Thermarest--a second generation Trail Pro large---and fixed it with some ripstop tape and copious amounts of McNett's Seam Grip---
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Last edited by Tipi Walter; 05-22-2021 at 07:55.
By far the biggest problem in my opinion with Thermarest is the company's frequent tendency to dump pad models and replace with new models. I call it Thermarest Fickleness.
In fact, their best CCF pad and highest Rvalue ccf pad---the Solar---has been discontinued. Why? Who the heck knows.
Here's a small list off the top of my head of Thermarest sleeping pads which have been dumped out of the inventory---
Guidelite
Prolite 3
Prolite 4
Camp Rest (now called Base Camp)
Explorer
Toughskin
Solar as mentioned
Ultralight
A model called "Backpacker"
40th Anniversary
Trail Scout
Standard
Classic
Trail Pro first gen.
Trail Pro second gen.(now replaced with Trail Pro third gen.)
I have not had good luck with air mattresses, such as Big Agnes or Klymit, but only one problem ever with a Thermarest. I was able to seal the slow leak in that Thermarest myself, and recently bought a new one to have a full-length pad.
Don't think I'm meticulous enough to backpack with an air mattress.
Echoing what others have said-
No, I wouldn't trust an inflatable for my survival. I do rely on them for comfort.
For sleeping on snow I bring a closed cell foam pad to supplement my inflatable. In the summer I risk poor sleep if my pad fails. I just ordered a new allegedly 4" thick, 21 ounce Sea to Summit pad. I considered the 30 ounce model which is much more insulated but decided I will still bring the CCF in cold weather for the safety factor.
I've had two irreparable pad failures on trips- leak at the seam and bad valve. It sucked but I still got some sleep.
Over the years I've tried any fix for my leaky Thermarests that came to my mind or heard/read about.
The worst was the patches provided by Thermarest itself, those used kind of a glue that vever dried up and the patch kept swimming off the glue, so the sleeping bag kept sticking to the exposed parts of the glue.
The quick&dirty field repair I'm using now is a patch of Leukotape Classic which I'm carrying anyway, this would not completely seal a leak but slow down leakage to a level so I can come through the night unharmed.
The best repair method for the big service back home I found to be McNett Seam Grip, just i tiny drop on the hole while the pad is deflated.
Takes a few hours to dry up, so no good for emergency field repair.
As a warranty replacement for the Thermarests I've sent in, I got back every time the same model (ProLite plus), but everytime a slightly different batch or generation. Some were more heavy, others more stiff, some had little flaws like a tiny discoloring. Some were of such bad quality that the new pad failed again after a few weeks. Obviously the replacement pads were B-grade production leftovers.
But still, I'd get a new pad every time I sent a broken one in. Can't blame this company.
Thanks everyone for contributing to this thread, you have all given me a lot to consider. In the end, despite swearing up and down I would never again take an inflatable out on the trail, I could not resist the siren song of a thick air mattress that weighed less than a thin foam pad and ended up buying the yellow pad. Hopefully it lasts a reasonable amount of time.
Can't believe how much these suckers cost now though, my first one was a POE Ether 6 that I picked up from REI for less than $30 when they first showed up on the market, prices have skyrocketed since then.