I had high hopes for this pad. I bought it because I had called Nemo and their sales rep talked it up as if it were the most amazing thing on the planet. I liked how thick and wide it was, and the idea of having a foot pump sounded efficient and easy to inflate. I did not mind the weight for backpacking as I generally prefer comfort over carrying more weight. When it comes to Innovation, this pad is loaded with it. Although, some of the Innovative things did not appear to work for me. For example, the release valve up near the head of the pad continue to let out air and I could feel the pad deflating when trying out the feature that allows you to just push your finger down on the valve to release a little bit of air. While the foot pump is a genius idea, it did not prove to be as practical as I had hoped, because I have found it is easier to set up a sleeping pad while inside the tent instead of outside of one, and I have yet to find a backpacking tent where you could effectively use your foot to pump up a sleeping pad like this -- it is more like administering chest compressions on a sleeping pad. Since I am a side sleeper, I was expecting the pad to be exceptionally comfortable laying on my side. Unfortunately, it was actually quite comfortable to lay on my back with the cradled mold of the pad but laying on my side was actually very uncomfortable. Another bummer was that it did not come with the repair kit as it stated. This is really too bad, because I have experienced problems with almost every single Nemo product I have ever purchased.
COMMENTS