Big Agnes Air Core Mummy Pad

Product Introduced In Year 2002
Review Written October 25, 2002
www.bigagnes.com

 

Reviewer Information

Reviewer: Helen Hillberg
Email: hhloth at msn.com
Gender: Female
Age: 56
Height: 5'5" (1.65 m)
Weight: 115 pounds (52 kg)
Region: Auburn, CA

Reviewer Experience:  A hundred years ago I started out with no pad, moved to the blue, closed-cell pad and eventually bought a 3/4 Therm-a-Rest (the orange one) when they first became available.  I thought I was happy with my Therm-a-Rest but every time my husband joined me, he brought along his full-length camp rest and during the night I would somehow wiggle my way onto his pad.  No easy feat since he outweighs me by close to a hundred pounds.  I then tried a Ridgerest, a Guidelite and a Mt. Washington trying for that perfect trade-off between weight, comfort and bulk.

Big Agnes Air Core Mummy Pad - color:  black, size:  20 x 72 x 2.5 inches, weight:  20 ounces.

Test Location, Conditions and Findings.

The Air Core Pad was tested in California, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Oregon and Washington in temperatures ranging from too darn hot to well below freezing.  The pad was used in conjunction with the Big Agnes Horse Thief Sleeping bag while sleeping in a Hennessy Hammock, an Integral Designs Mountaineering Tent, directly on the ground or in the back of my SUV.  On all occasions, I was accompanied by at least one of my dogs.

I have to say I love my air mattress.  What I found was that the air core pad beats every other pad I tried for comfort, weight and bulk.  I have discovered that I prefer the pad not be fully inflated and that letting out some air while lying on the pad is the best way for me to judge the perfect degree of firmness.  The pad is more comfortable than my bed!!

During the summer, I was suspicious that the pad would sleep cold if the temperature dropped.  The air core pad is rated to 32F but I'm not willing to give up on a good night's sleep just to prove that I'd be cold so I'll just state that I feel the 32F degree rating is optimistic at best.  In temperatures below 40 F, I placed my jacket under my feet, wore long johns to bed, and remained quite warm (except for one night of sub 0 F temps - the bag I was using is rated to 35 F).  My intention for mild, winter weather is to place a cut-out of space blanket and a bit of Tyvek below the pad and insulate myself from the pad by utilizing clothing and, at this time, feel that will be adequate down to at least the mid twenties.

I got caught in some rather brutal weather, so cold that all the doors on my car were frozen shut within minutes after stopping.  The mattress, along with everything else in the car, was exposed to well below freezing temperatures for about ten hours.  The mattress remained pliable and showed no ill effects to the materials from the deep freeze so I am confident that there is no danger of rupture due to freezing temperatures.  I, however, did not remain pliable and darn near froze to death – my feet did partially freeze and the itching over the next few days about drove me crazy.  Don't thaw your feet by running your car heater directly on them J.

I have used the pad a lot, at least 30 nights over the past six months, and under less than ideal conditions.  After careful examination of every inch of it, I can't see any breakdown of the materials.  The air core pad, despite my best efforts to treat it gently, has been exposed to a bit of abuse from one of my dogs.  At times, I kept it inflated and standing on edge, encased in the sleeping bag, along the side of my SUV.  A few times the sleeping bag and mattress fell over due to bumpy roads and the little dog took full advantage of a nice soft bed until I would have a chance to stop.  She also has used it, and me, as a springboard as she took off after something (actually nothing – she's a bit hyper).  I would not recommend allowing your dog to step on, or sleep on, the air core but I am happy to report that the mattress seems to be quite durable since it has not sprung a leak.  On one occasion, the only flat spot around was a bed of sharp shale; I almost didn't inflate the pad fearing (knowing) that the sharp rocks would puncture it but decided to risk it rather than have the rocks puncture me.  The pad survived the night with no damage and I had a comfy night's sleep – sometimes it's nice to only weigh a little over a hundred pounds.  I will point out that through all the abuse the pad was protected from the worst of it by being encased in the nylon sleeve of the sleeping bag.  I don't know how it would fare without this little bit of protection.

Summary of Likes and Dislikes

The pad is supremely comfortable, the material is of a sort that doesn't seem to attract condensation - the old style vinyl air mattresses get wet and you'd be better off with a bit of cardboard - and it does not require an excessive amount of effort to blow it up.  It packs up very small and fits easily inside a backpack.  The one and only drawback that I have found with the air mattress is that if it ever gets a hole I'm going to wish I'd carried along the patch kit (I'm one of those eternal optimists who feels that emergencies never arise).  The air mattress is now my sleeping pad of choice and I will use it for all but deep winter camping.