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Camping and backpacking sleeping pads have R-values that measure how a lot insulation they supply towards the chilly floor. Sleeping pads designed for chilly climate use have excessive R-values whereas ones designed for hotter climate have low ones. This is illustrated on this desk which reveals the R-values beneficial for various nighttime air temperatures.
| Air Temperature (F): | 50 | 30 | 25 | 10 | 0 | -15 | -25 | -40 |
| Minimum R-Value | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
| Air Temperature (C): | 10 | -1 | -4 | -12 | -18 | -26 | -32 | -40 |
| Minimum R-Value | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 |
If you solely camp in temperatures above freezing, a sleeping pad with an R-value of two or 3 will likely be enough. But what occurs if you happen to purchase a sleeping pad with a better R-value for winter tenting, like a Thermarest NeoAir XTherm which has an R-value of 6.9. Could you employ it in hotter temperatures and with out overheating and sweating all night time?
To reply this query (initially posed by a reader), I reached out to my technical contacts at Thermarest as a result of they’ve an elaborate in-house temperature testing facility for sleeping pads and sleeping baggage. I knew they’d present me with a solution primarily based on information, not conjecture as a result of they’re all engineering nerds. Got to like out of doors nerds.
I requested Brandon Bowers, who’s the class supervisor for sleeping pads, whether or not you may use an XTherm for tenting in sizzling climate. He informed me “Using a high r-value pad in summer is a strategy some people use so they can eliminate the need for multiple sleep pads. I would not recommend this if nighttime temps are above 75 degrees, but this is a personal preference.”
While there are certain to be particular person variations with that threshold, it supplies a great baseline to assist decrease the amount of cash you spend on sleeping pads if you happen to plan to camp in summer season and winter. Take me, for instance: I keep away from winter tenting in temperatures under zero as a result of it’s simply no enjoyable freezing your ass off exterior under that when melting snow for consuming water, which might take some time. Zero levels, no downside. But I’m over tenting in actually excessive chilly.
If you’re like me and 0 levels is the coldest winter climate you need to gear up for, relatively than shopping for a NeoAir XTherm (R=6.9), you’d be higher off shopping for a Thermarest NeoAir XLite (R=4.2) for three-season use and stacking it with an affordable Thermarest Zlite Sol foam pad (R=2), for winter use (4.2+2=R6.2), since R-values are additive. You may even use an inflatable sleeping pad with an R=3 score and a foam pad. You at all times need to carry a foam pad in winter anyway, so you’ve gotten insulation to take a seat on whilst you’re cooking and melting snow or for an emergency.
In sizzling summer season climate, you’ll most likely be high-quality with the XLite as much as nighttime temps of 85 levels (F) or so. If you do mix the XLite and ZLite for winter, you wouldn’t have to purchase an XTherm in any respect as a result of it’s actually solely good for very chilly climate use and never for summer season temperatures.
I suppose that’s type of a nerdy evaluation. I’ll most likely be promoting my XTherm quickly.
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