Camping with back problems - OR Mats?

Hi Gang!
This weekend, we went camping at my father in law's place (he has a huge land). I barely slept. It appears that my back problems don't really like the therma-rest (the MEC kind) and a foamy combo. I often sleep on an inflatable mattress (1 feet thick or so) and I don't suffer, however I don't want to carry that with me and it would leave us with no room in the tent.

I was wondering if there's a happy medium. I was specifically looking at the OR Gear mats: Either the SynMat 9 DLX (3.5in of thickness) or the DownMat 9 (same thickness). I was wondering if anyone has used these and if they thought they were comfortable? I was thinking of renting one soon and trying it out, if that's possible near Qc City.

Thanks!

Fish

Might this be a happy medium?

Big Agnes Air Core - http://www.rei.com/product/707992

It's light, packs small, and while you do have to blow it up yourself (doesn't take long) it's a lot more comfy (imo) than the standard thermarest-style pads.

It's also only $50-60 depending on the size you get.

Mats?


Never hiked or camped with Mats, but read his trip reports. dont think camping with him would help your back problems, probably cause more pain carrying the heineken kegs around!

Oh, you were talking about the other mats. sorry.

I have the pad that griffin mentioned, although the 3/4-length rectangular one because I'm not very tall. It's quite light and packs down to about the size of a 1-L Nalgene and inflates in about 15 full breaths.

I just took it for a week on the Long Trail and thought it was very comfortable. I found it most comfortable if I slightly under-inflated it (13-14 breaths) so that it could conform to the shape of my body. It's not as good as my own bed, but definitely the best I've used in the woods so far.

If you are a cold sleeper you may want to bring your ridge-rest along for insulation as the air-core won't insulate.

-vegematic

I have an Exped Foam Airmat 9 which is one of their inflatable pads (Exped 7.5 maybe) surrounded by a sleave of evazote, a closed cell foam. These don't appear to be available any longer, but the 3 1/2" thickness has allowed me to continue to camp. Period. The drawback is risk of puncture, so I usually put this over another closed cell pad that is light and cheap to add to protection and insulation in the event of a non-repairable puncture. If you were clever you could probably make your own closed cell sleave for the Exped 7.5. I recommend going for it.

I sometimes take 8 hour Tylenol if my therma-rest & foam pad are't enough or if I'm feeling real ache. If I'm car camping I have a single blow up bed that's real nice. I've had two big agness pads, 3.5 inches, nice but they haven't been reliable.

Darvon and Lunesta - works great!

Thermarests come in thicknesses up to at least 2.5 inches. (1.5 inches was the original thickness--the 1 inchers are not quite as comfortable, IMO.)

You might also consider a backpacking hammock: Speer (http://www.speerhammocks.com/ ) and Hennessy (http://www.hennessyhammock.com/ ) are the two leading manufacturers. (I have a Speer myself and find it quite comfortable.)

Doug

Little Rickie said:

I sometimes take 8 hour Tylenol if my therma-rest & foam pad are't enough

Click to expand...

Hmm, I would require morphine (or a derivative) in order to sleep through the pain of sleeping on the therma-rest & foam pad. Seriously, just breathing cause a pinching in my back that was excruciatingly painful.

Fish

DougPaul said:

Thermarests come in thicknesses up to at least 2.5 inches. (1.5 inches was the original thickness--the 1 inchers are not quite as comfortable, IMO.)

You might also consider a backpacking hammock: Speer (http://www.speerhammocks.com/ ) and Hennessy (http://www.hennessyhammock.com/ ) are the two leading manufacturers. (I have a Speer myself and find it quite comfortable.)

Doug

Click to expand...

I hadn't thought about the hammock option, however I think the girlfriend would take it personnal if I didn't sleep with her in the tent!

Plus, we just bought a new tent (OR Andromeda) this winter!

Fish

griffin said:

Might this be a happy medium?

Big Agnes Air Core - http://www.rei.com/product/707992

It's light, packs small, and while you do have to blow it up yourself (doesn't take long) it's a lot more comfy (imo) than the standard thermarest-style pads.

It's also only $50-60 depending on the size you get.

Click to expand...

I would want to be able to winter camp with my new pad. I'm wondering what the R-value of these pads are..."Comfort rating to 35°" would probably mean I couldn't use them in our cold canadian winters The R-values of the OR Gear mats are pretty good though. Can anyone (Chip?) confirm that one would use their mats in winter without fear of being cold?

Cheers,

Fish

hikingfish said:

I would want to be able to winter camp with my new pad. I'm wondering what the R-value of these pads are..."Comfort rating to 35°" would probably mean I couldn't use them in our cold canadian winters The R-values of the OR Gear mats are pretty good though. Can anyone (Chip?) confirm that one would use their mats in winter without fear of being cold?

Cheers,

Fish

Click to expand...

I think BA makes a winter version of the AirCore. Heavier than the standard, still looks lighter than most of the competition - can't speak to the R-value of them, but there do seem to be a fair number of reviews out there.

griffin said:

I think BA makes a winter version of the AirCore. Heavier than the standard, still looks lighter than most of the competition - can't speak to the R-value of them, but there do seem to be a fair number of reviews out there.

Click to expand...

The local MEC store seems to have both the BA insulated mat and the OR Gear versions...I will swing by this week and go take a nap to try them out . The BA seems to getting really good reviews to on MEC.ca's website.

Cheers guys

Fish

What about one of the Exped down pads? http://www.backcountry.com/store/OD...l?CMP_ID=SH_FRO001&CMP_SKU=ODR0361&mv_pc=r126

A bit spendy, but everyone I know who has one loves it...

hikingfish said:

I hadn't thought about the hammock option, however I think the girlfriend would take it personnal if I didn't sleep with her in the tent!

Click to expand...

Tie the head ends to the same tree...

I suspect a double hammock might be uncomfortable--both occupants would constantly be pressed up against each other.

A Speer hammock can be used in cold weather with a few adaptations. (Eg Speer sells a tubular sleeping bag that goes around both the hammock body and sleeper. I've tested mine at 20 deg with some extra foam pads.

Doug

hikingfish said:

Can anyone (Chip?) confirm that one would use their mats in winter without fear of being cold?

Cheers,

Fish

Click to expand...

The set-up I described above is used almost exclusively in winter with no worries. My only "complaint" with the thicker Airmat is that it seems to create a little cold air pocket along the edges of the mat where the sleeping bag is compressed and drapes over, you follow ? I normally use a nylon bag cover however, which solves that. Still worth the comfort. SO...if I think it's going to be 20 degrees F at night I'll bring my 30 degree bag, the evazote sleaved Airmat, a closed cell pad for under that and the bag cover to keep the whole package together. Toasty and comfortable.

WinterWarlock said:

What about one of the Exped down pads? http://www.backcountry.com/store/OD...l?CMP_ID=SH_FRO001&CMP_SKU=ODR0361&mv_pc=r126

A bit spendy, but everyone I know who has one loves it...

Click to expand...

That's actually the one I was talking about.

Actually, Exped and OR Gear are the same company. Or Exped is a line of more rugged (and expensive) gear. I believe my tent is made by OR, and the model is the Exped Andromeda.

Maybe someone can confirm?

Fish

BA makes an insulated air core with an r-value of 15 degrees. I agree with griffen. I've got one and it 's comfy. Packs small, usually stuff it in water bottle pocket, and fairly lite. Having to blow it up is an insignificant downfall (to me) due to its' packability, liteness and comfort

gooly said:

BA makes an insulated air core with an r-value of 15 degrees.

Click to expand...

Just a nit: 15 degrees is a temp rating not an R-value

A temp rating is someone's estimate of the minimum usable temp. Temp ratings are very variable (particularly for a pad)--for instance, did the person have a high or low metabolism, how warm was the sleeping bag, what was under the pad, how optimistic the evaluator was, etc. They are rather inaccurate for comparing different pads.

An R-value is a measurement of how fast heat flows through the pad. (R-values are also used for house insulation, etc.) They should allow accurate comparison of the insulating capability of pads.

Some sample published R-values:
2.2 Thermarest Z-Lite (closed cell foam)
2.3 Thermarest Prolite 3 (1 inche of foam with cutouts)
2.6 Thermarest Ridge Rest (closed cell foam)
3.2 Thermarest Prolite 4 (1.5 inches of foam with cutouts)
3.8 Thermarest Trail Lite (1.5 inches of solid open-cell foam)
7.0 Thermarest LuxuryCamp (2.5 inches of solid open-cell foam)

(The reason that the above list features only Thermarest products is that they are the only supplier that I am aware of that publishes R-values. (I wish they all did...) The above numbers are from REI's website, they are also available from the Thermarest web site.)

Doug

Sorry doug, you're right...just checked... r-value is 4.1...sorry for the wrong information