A backpacking or tenting sleeping pad’s R-value measures its resistance to warmth loss to the bottom whenever you lie on it at evening. Pads with greater R-values do that extra successfully than pads with decrease R-values. R-value isn’t a measure of heat per se, however of a pad’s skill to forestall the lack of the heat that your physique generates. It’s identical to the R-value used to price house insulation.
Sleeping Pad R-Values and Air Temperature in Degrees
What’s the correlation between air temperature and sleeping pad R-values? When do you want a pad with a better R-value? This desk is predicated on Exped’s suggestions in Fahrenheit and Celsius levels.
| 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 |
In addition:
- R-values are additive, so you possibly can mix two pads to extend your heat degree. For instance, it’s widespread to hold a foam sleeping pad (normally R=2) in winter to make use of as a sit pad when consuming and melting snow you can place beneath an inflatable pad to extend their mixed R-value for sleeping.
- Women want greater R-values pads as a result of they’ve decrease physique mass than males. An further R-value of 1 is normally a very good hedge for girls and different chilly sleepers.
- If a pad mannequin has a number of sizes, all of them have the identical R-value except specified in any other case
- EN sleeping bag temperature scores are predicated on utilizing a sleeping pad with an R-value of 5 or greater. If you end up sleeping chilly in temperatures the place you’d count on your sleeping bag ought to preserve you heat, it might be as a result of your sleeping pad has an R-value lower than 5.
Sleeping Pad R-Value Comparison
The following desk offers a side-by-side comparability of the ASTM F3340-18 rated sleeping pads obtainable within the US market. The pad weights listed are sized for 72″ lengthy x 20″ vast pads, although there are just a few exceptions beneath. The R-Value of a pad stays the identical if you choose an extended, shorter, or wider variation of the pad.
Key: Air – Air Mattress, SI – Self Inflating, Foam – Closed Cell Foam
Sleeping Pad R-Value Standard
In 2020, the out of doors {industry} rolled out a global and industry-standard R-value check process known as ASTM F3340-18. This means you possibly can evaluate the R-values of various sleeping pads made by totally different producers and know that they’re all utilizing the identical check process to measure the R-values of their pads. That’s an enormous profit for customers and can ultimately have the identical impression that the adoption of standardized sleeping pad temperature scores had for evaluating sleeping luggage from totally different firms.
The firms which have adopted the brand new R-value sleeping pad normal (ASTM F3340-18) and retested all of their present sleeping pads embody:
- Therm-a-Rest
- NEMO
- REI
- Exped
- Sea-to-Summit
- Big Agnes
- Klymit
What’s New in Sleeping Pads in 2023?
- Thermarest has come out with a brand new NeoAir NXT technology of pads which are quieter, thicker, and have a barely greater R-value than the final technology NeoAir pads. I don’t assume the adjustments actually warrant changing your current NeoAir pad although, however the adjustments must be enticing to new purchasers.
- Big Agnes has a handful of latest light-weight pads which are 3+ season succesful. They’re not extensively obtainable in retail but, however they make good gear and could be an attention-grabbing different.
- Klymit continues to have an impenetrable product naming scheme. I don’t get it.
Status of Industry Adoption
The adoption of the brand new R-Value normal was pushed by REI, which requires that the sleeping pads listed on the market on its important web site have an ASTM F3340-18 R-Value ranking.
Many sleeping pad firms have nonetheless not adopted the brand new ASTM F3340-18 sleeping pad R-Value normal and it’s not clear that they ever will. In reality, many producers don’t check their pads in any respect, however “estimate” the R-values of their sleeping mats and pads. In the absence of a normal definition and check process, it’s arduous to inform if their estimates are correct or whether or not they’re akin to these produced by the usual ASTM F3340-18 R-value testing protocol.
Updated January 17, 2023.
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