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Inflatable sleeping pads are the popular trend among backpackers today. I get it. They&#;re comfortable, and the modern designs have become pretty durable. But don&#;t overlook the traditional closed-cell foam pad so quickly. They take no time to inflate, never deflate in the night, double as a butt pad, and don&#;t take up room in your pack. And, I&#;d argue that they&#;re more comfortable than they get credit for. By now you&#;re probably assuming that I&#;m a foam pad purist. But that&#;s not exactly true.
After personally using a variety of inflatable pads and then testing the top closed-cell foam pads to find the best backpacking sleeping pads, I&#;ve come to the conclusion that there is no single best sleeping pad for every scenario. It all depends on what attributes are most important to you.
There are pros and cons to every piece of gear in your pack; here&#;s a detailed look at the tradeoffs of closed-cell vs inflatable sleeping pads.
Pros
Cons
My current favorite sleeping pad is the closed-cell foam Nemo Switchback. Not having to deflate, roll, and pack a pad saves me time each morning, which is invaluable on big mileage days.
Side-sleepers may have already stopped reading, however, I frequently catch z&#;s on my side in the backcountry on closed-cell foam pads. Granted, I tend to turn and sometimes fall asleep on my stomach or back as well. Comfort is always going to be a personal preference. But don&#;t discount all closed-cell foam pads on this one condition; take the FlexMat Plus as proof that not all closed-cell foam pads are created equally. At a whopping 1.5 inches thick, this pad is the most comfortable CCF pad I&#;ve slept on.
Another common complaint for foam pads is their low R value. An R value is a standardized rating of how well your pad resists the cold. The secret to warmth is air. Jackets and sleeping bags aren&#;t puffy just because they&#;re stuffed with insulation. The air trapped inside these downy outer layers is actually what keeps you warm, like a personal bubble of hot air. Sleeping pads are no different, which is why inflatable pads typically have higher R values than closed-cell foam pads.
The way closed-cell foam pads trap air to keep you warm at night is by utilizing nodes and simulating an egg carton pattern. The air is trapped in the depressions between nodes giving you a warm air buffer against the cold ground. The best closed-cell foam pads also offer some sort of metallic coating to reflect cold air back to the ground and warm air back to you. When the nodes on your pad start to flatten out, it reduces the amount of space for warm air to occupy, and your pad will lose more heat. At this point, it&#;s time for a replacement.
Pros
Cons
While inflatable pads might have the possibility of failure, if you do your research, invest in a quality pad, and take care of it, odds are low that you&#;ll experience a failure. Carrying one lightweight pad suited for your sleeping style and the conditions might be best, especially with patch kits and field repairs that could save the day.
Closed-cell foam pads have to be carried on the outside of your pack. Ashley ThessInflatable pads are also far less bulky than closed-cell foam mats. CCF pads have to be strapped to the outside of your pack. Whether secured horizontally to the top or bottom of your pack or vertically in a pocket or through bungee straps, tight squeezes and bushwhacking could catch your extra surface area, scratching the pad and slowing you down. I&#;ve become accustomed to my pack&#;s extra width and height thanks to the closed-cell foam pad, but scrambling through slot canyons still poses a challenge.
An inflatable pad could be all you need, depending on the terrain. Sharp rocks, branches, thorns, or cactus needles all pose threats, but your tent bottom should provide ample protection for a durable inflatable pad. The weight of one heavier pad compared to two lighter pads will, of course, be comparable, and nothing can replace a solid sleep before a double-digit mile day.
More expensive, more comfortable, and warmer, inflatable pads are worth the investment if it&#;s the only way you&#;ll get some shut-eye. Whether you choose a CCF pad, inflatable pad or double up, take into account what features matter most to you in the backcountry.
Dual Sleep System
Pros
Cons
Even if you can&#;t give up your plush inflatable pad on the grounds of comfort alone, there are a few reasons why even inflatable fanatics might supplement their sleep system with a closed-cell foam pad. As team-closed-cell-foam as I am, I certainly won&#;t be doing winter desert trips armed with only an R value of 2. You can set yourself up for all seasons while saving yourself the weight when the weather is warm by rooting for both sides of the great sleeping pad debate.
R values can be combined, so adding a CCF pad underneath an inflatable will keep you warmer and more comfortable. An added benefit to a dual pad sleep system is that your inflatable pad is less likely to puncture or deflate when it&#;s protected from rocks and sticks by the foam pad. If the worst happens and your inflatable pad does experience an issue, you at least have a closed-cell foam pad to fall back on rather than subjecting yourself to the cold hard ground, or worse, cutting your trip short.
The versatility of closed-cell foam pads also can&#;t be underrated. Recently, after cresting a pass I was greeted with a sharply declining talus field. Instead of slowly working my way down shifting and slippery rock, I found a line of snow running the length of the pass. I hopped on my closed-cell foam pad like a magic carpet and installed an ice axe for a brake before sledding down the mountain, saving myself precious time and energy (and having a damn good time doing it). If I&#;d only had an inflatable pad, I&#;d have had to dig it out of my bag (immediately no), inflate it, and then manage to get down without popping it before deflating, rolling, and replacing it in the ultralight version of Mary Poppins&#; purse. Though if I am being honest, no one is going to risk a poppable and pricey sleeping pad to save 30 minutes on day three of a seven day trip.
My hiking partner brings a closed-cell foam butt pad along with his inflatable pad, but you can maximize space by using a CCF sleeping pad as a butt pad and hot pad. Ashley ThessClosed-cell foam pads can also be used to fan a fire or as a hot pad when you&#;re too hungry to let your pot cool (every meal), a butt pad for breaks, and extra insulation in a pinch. Versatility, reliability, and efficiency are the keys to selecting backpacking gear, making a closed-cell foam pad an easy addition in my mind.
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If you&#;re looking for a budget option or a sleeping pad for two people , we&#;ve got recommendations for those, too.
After sleeping on more than 35 sleeping pads&#;carrying them on a total of eight car-camping and backpacking trips&#;we concluded that the Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap Sleeping Pad is the best choice for car campers. And we found that the Nemo Quasar 3D Lightweight Insulated Sleeping Pad is the most supportive pad for backpackers.
This sleeping pad isn&#;t small, and it isn&#;t light. But it&#;s the most comfortable pad in the game. If you&#;re driving up to your campsite, this one is a wilderness luxury.
Basic but reliable, this pad is lightweight, durable, and inexpensive. But it&#;s not our most comfortable or our warmest pad.
With enough thickness to support your back and hips, this durable sleeping pad is the most comfortable option we tried that was still light enough to carry for long distances. But it&#;s not warm enough for the winter.
This 3-inch-thick, notably warm pad is the most comfortable one we tested. And it&#;s easier to inflate, deflate, roll, and store than any other car-camping pad.
After a long day, the last thing you want to deal with is a complicated valve or a sleeping pad that takes forever to fill.
The self-inflating Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap Sleeping Pad has long been a favorite with our testers, and it has stood the test of time&#;six years of car-camping trips, to be specific. This 3-inch-thick pad has extra foam, with an air pocket on top, placed exactly where the body exerts more pressure; this increases comfort and helps prevent the pad from bottoming out overnight. Side-sleepers, back-sleepers, and stomach-sleepers all found this pad to be comfortable and supportive.
With an R-value of 6 (R-value is a measure of how well a pad insulates), the LuxuryMap pad is more than twice as warm as our backpacking pick. In our tests, the LuxuryMap pad&#;s face fabric seemed to reject lint and dirt better than fabric on rival pads. And its carry bag was refreshingly easy to stuff and tote around (this is not often the case with larger sleeping pads). The only downside: This pad is heavy. But as long as we parked close to our campsites, that didn&#;t bother us.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTIf you&#;re looking for a sleeping pad that&#;s supportive yet still light enough to carry&#;for backpacking trips in the spring, summer, and fall&#;the 3½-inch-thick Nemo Quasar 3D Lightweight Insulated Sleeping Pad is a solid choice. It has an R-value of 3.3 (comparable to that of its competitors), and it comes with customized baffles that contour to your body. Compared with most of the other backpacking pads we tried, this one felt more like a supportive mattress.
It&#;s also very durable. During testing, we blew up the pads and let them sit. After three weeks (during which they were jumped on by little kids), the pad showed no wear and tear or deflation. The Quasar pad comes in regular, regular wide, long wide, and double sizes. At 1 pound 12 ounces for the regular size, this pad is heavier than some of the other backpacking pads we tried, but it packs down small.
If your top concerns involve cost or durability, the Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol Sleeping Pad is a standout choice. This lightweight pad (14 ounces) is durable and inexpensive. Even so, it&#;s no surprise that this pad is not nearly as comfy as our other picks, since it&#;s made with basic foam and is the thinnest of our offerings (less than an inch). Still, the pad has an R-value of 2.6, which is impressive considering how thin it is (though all of our other picks are still warmer). If you ever decide to upgrade, the Z Lite Sol can become a go-to backup or a loaner pad you can expect to use for decades to come.
Here&#;s the thing: The Exped MegaMat Duo 10 is not easy to pack. It&#;s not easy to inflate. And it&#;s not easy to carry around. But it is absolutely the most comfortable double sleeping pad you can buy&#;it&#;s so comfortable, in fact, that many of our testers found themselves using this pad for guests in their home, instead of a typical air mattress. The MegaMat Duo is 3.9 inches thick and weighs about 7½ pounds (the Duo LW+ model is almost 10 pounds), and it has an R-value of 8.1, making it the largest and the warmest option we tested.
Over the course of two years and dozens of camping trips with small children, our testers observed no damage to the MegaMat Duo. There&#;s enough padding to support side-sleepers&#; hips and shoulders. And stomach- and back-sleepers appreciated the bed&#;s lower-back support. The MegaMat Duo also stays firmly inflated for several days, but we do recommend giving it a pre-sleep top-off of air. If you&#;re headed out on a car-camping trip where weight isn&#;t an issue, this is the couple&#;s pad to choose.
This air pump works much faster than using a pump bag or your own breath to blow up a sleeping pad.
$37
fromREI
Many sleeping pads have to be inflated with your breath (as you&#;d inflate a balloon) or with a sack (called a pump bag). But there&#;s another option: a lightweight air pump. The Exped Widget Pump isn&#;t directly compatible with non-Exped beds&#;its seal works best with Exped pads. Yet the airflow is so powerful that we found it still works on other picks, even without a direct seal, and it sped up the inflation process tenfold. We were able to inflate a single pad in about 30 seconds, and this pump added just 7 ounces to our pack weight. You do need to use a USB charger to charge the pump before a backpacking trip.
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