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Spent $210 on a sleeping pad for a trip to Big Bend and it kept me warm at 28 degrees
I grabbed a Nemo Tensor two seasons back mostly because my old pad left me shivering at Guadalupe. First night at Big Bend it got down to 28 and I slept fine in just a base layer, which I honestly did not expect for the money. My buddy had a $40 pad from a big box store and he was up half the night. Now I want to know, is the R value stuff real or did I just get lucky with one cold trip? Trying to decide if I should trust the rating for a winter trip or just bring a foam pad under it anyway.
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thompson.reese1mo ago
Skip the guesswork and trust the R value because it is real and it is tested. Your body heat gets trapped by the pad and the number tells you how well it does that. Twenty eight degrees is not even that cold for a pad rated around five, so you were not lucky, you just bought the right gear. Your buddy froze because a forty dollar pad has almost no insulation, not because he got unlucky that night. For a real winter trip you want to bump up to a higher R value pad, or just stack your foam pad under the Nemo and you are set. The rating is a tool, so use it instead of hauling extra foam everywhere you go.
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