Reviewer Information

• Name: Cora Hussey
• Age: 23
• Gender: Female
• Height: 5 ft 9 in (175 cm)
• Weight: 150 lb (70 kg)
• Email address: cahhmc "at" yahoo "dot" com
• Location: Los Angeles, California, USA
• Date: April 20, 2004

Basic Product Information

• Year of Manufacture: 2004
• URL: http://www.pacoutdoor.com/
• Listed weight: 23 oz (650 g)
• Weight as delivered:
  • Pad: 1 lb 7 oz (670 g)
  • Stuff Sack: 0.6 oz (18 g)
  • Repair Kit: 0.5 oz (16 g)
  • Total: 24 oz (704 g)
• Measured Stuffed size: Tubular 5 x 11 in (12 x 28 cm)
• Inflated size
  • Advertised: 20 x 72 x 2.5 in (51 x 183 x 6.3 cm)
  • Measured: Shaped Rectangle 20 x 71 x 3 in (51 x 181 x 8 cm)

Field Testing

For each trip I provide a description of the location, conditions, and use below. I then provide a description of how I used the Max Thermo on the trip, and comments on what I thought about the Max Thermo while testing it.

• Trip One: Kayaking in the Black Canyon of Arizona
  • Dates: February 13-16, 2004
  • Location: Colorado River near Hoover Dam, Arizona
  • Weather: Sunny and beautiful, 75 to 35 F (24 to 2 C)
  • Elevation: 1200 ft (370 m)

  Description: On this trip, I used the Max Thermo as my only sleeping pad. I used it on top of a plastic ground sheet, and that on top of sand and gravel. I packed it rolled up in its stuff sack in my hatch, and left it inflated for two consecutive nights at a main camp in the canyon. I inflated it about 80% of the way each night for comfort (I found that, as the instruction book claimed, it was more comfortable with a little bit of give).

  Comments: On this trip, the Max Thermo was certainly comfortable. It inflated easily, and kept its air well throughout the entire night. At first, I was a bit worried about bringing it since we were sleeping next to and around only about a hundred different spiny plants in the desert canyon, but the pad emerged unscathed. I noticed a few interesting items. First, the pad is so incredibly thick compared to the pads of my friends that when I would roll off the Max Thermo there was no rolling back on by chance while asleep. Thus, a few times I found myself sharing a single sleeping pad with the person to the side of me. The second night, I discovered what is perhaps one of my favorite parts of the pad - I can hook the sides of my feet in the dips between inflated tubes. The same went for my arms, shoulders, and hips. They still received support that way, but it kept me from sliding around nearly altogether. Thus, I would settle down, find nice divot positions for my various pointy appendages, and sleep a very comfortable night. The pad was very warm, although the sand seemed to be quite warm throughout the night on its own. All in all, a very nice first use.

• Trip Two: Backcountry Skiing in the Sierras
  • Dates: February 20-22, 2004
  • Location: Rock Creek and Tamarack Bench in California
  • Weather: Stormy and snowy, 55 to 10 F (13 to -12 C)
  • Elevation: 8000 to 11,000 ft (2400 to 3400 m)

  Description: I used the Max Thermo in conjunction with a closed-cell foam pad on this trip. The two-pad inflatable/closed foam setup is my common system in the snow, and I simply replaced the self-inflating pad I usually use with the Max Thermo. I left the Max Thermo in the tent during the day for reasons described below, and put it on top of the closed cell foam pad at night.

  Comments: On this trip, the Max Thermo reinforced its standing as the most comfortable pad I have ever slept on. I cared less on this trip than the previous one about looking silly inflating and blowing the thing up for a minute and a half because I knew the resulting comfort would be worth it. This trip also gave me the opportunity to test both the lounging potential and the warmth of the Max Thermo. As for lounging potential, I think that in snow this is limited. It does not fold very well to form a chair, nor does the bouncy tube design lend itself to being stepped on and roughly sat on as a seat during dinner. Plus, it is not quite warm enough by itself to be as comfortable (warmth-wise) as sitting on a closed cell foam pad. Thus, though its gravity-defying comfort is off the charts, I was very glad I brought the closed cell pad to lounge on for warmth comfort. As such, it waited for me in the tent for a fantastically comfortable night. When on top of the closed cell foam pad, the Max Thermo makes a great snow pad. Nowhere does any part of me touch the pad below, and thus the warmth is adequate. I never woke up with my hip poking down and getting cold or anything. Plus, being in the snow, I was much less worried about puncturing the pad on this trip. I noticed three additional points.

  (1) Part of the foot end of the pad slid beyond the protection of the closed cell foam pad sometime in the night, and I woke up with extremely cold feet. This confirmed what my chilly rear end had found out during dinner sitting on the Max Thermo alone: the Max Thermo is not warm enough for me to use alone on the snow. However, after warming up my feet and sliding the pads back together, the night went by nicely.

  (2) On the second night a stream of drippy-tent water got channeled into and puddled at the foot end of the middle dip between the inflated tubes. This later froze (and I did not notice its presence) so I again woke up with cold feet as I had carefully placed them in the dip and they were resting directly on top of the ice. Unruffled, I scraped off the ice from the dip area, and had... yes, another fantastically comfortable night. I have never before had a pad which could actually channel water to collect it into solid ice chunks, but apparently now I do.

  (3) The brass inflation valve gets rather cold in the snow. It is nicely covered by plastic so my lips do not freeze to it, but after a few breaths my lips are so numb that I cannot squeeze them tight enough around the valve to keep air from escaping out the sides. Thus, I found I had to inflate the pad by additionally pressing my lips down with my hand, which made me look even funnier, but I didn't mind.

• Trip Three: Backcountry Skiing in the Sierras
  • Dates: March 4-7, 2004
  • Location: South Lake, Inyo National Forest, California
  • Weather: Near-springtime sun, 75 to 16 F (24 to -9 C)
  • Elevation: 8000 to 10,000 ft (3000 to 3400 m)

  Description: Again, I used the Max Thermo along with a closed cell foam pad. I again used a tent, and I also again left it in the tent until nighttime since it served me best there previously.

  Comments: By this trip, I was a pro with this pad. I knew to: (1) Inflate to 80% full by sealing lips around valve with force from fingers, (2) Offset current silly looking effort to blow up big thick red raft-looking pad with knowledge that I will be more comfortable than anyone, (3) Leave in tent until bedtime, (4) Stick closed cell foam pad carefully under all edges of Max Thermo, (5) Clear any ice from dips between inflated tubes, (6) Wiggle into sleeping bag and stick feet and shoulders in dips between tubes, (7) Enjoy a night's comfort equal to home. I do not have much else to say about this trip, other than I am glad I have an excuse to take this pad with me for the next few months. As the snows clear later in the test series, hopefully I will have more opportunity to test the Max Thermo all by itself.

Comments by Attribute

Comfort: Excellent

I'll admit, I was skeptical. After all, I've laid around on those six-dollar plastic inflatable loungers in the pool for hours (which look uncommonly like the Max Thermo) and I considered them none too comfortable. Now the Max Thermo is a little bouncy due to it mostly offering support from air alone, and positioning my various appendages on and around the inflated tubes took a bit of getting use to, but on these three trips I have had my most comfortable nights in the backcountry. Ever.

Insulation and Warmth: Great

On one hand, I would not be (and was not) comfortable using the Max Thermo alone on the snow. But simple dead air space means little in snow, whereas it means a lot on things like cold dirt (with a good thermal-slowing layer of dead air, I can warm up an inch or so of dirt below me, but with snow I just melt the layer below me and move on to more cold snow). But then again, in my opinion, nothing really beats a closed cell foam pad in the snow. My other open-celled filled self-inflating pads are also colder than a closed-cell pad, though I have found that those open-celled filled self-inflating pads alone are warmer than the Max Thermo alone. However, this gets a bit sticky, as the added thickness of the Max Thermo on top of a closed cell pad is warmer than anything else I have used. But minor details aside, I consider the Max Thermo to be a fine exchange warmth-wise for a my self-inflating pad in the snow and gain a lot of comfort for it. As for sleeping on sand in Arizona, despite the fact that the nights were chilly, I was very warm. All in all, it has done a fine job insulating me with a little help in the snow.

Durability: Great

One thing I have noticed only over these few trips is that the insulation in the tubes no longer lies flat and fully from edge to edge as it did when first out of the packaging. Yet this seems to be only a cosmetic issue, and I have not noticed the pad getting colder or developing non-homogeneous spots in comfort. It has also only been the short way; the insulation does not shift the long way (from head to foot). Time will tell more. Here are two images to describe what I mean. This one is from the top when the pad is deflated. I have pointed out the width of the shifts from the side and numbered them:

Only one of the shifts is big enough to stay shifted once the pad is inflated. This is the same shift that I have been fiddling back into place after every trip since my Initial Report, but it seems to want to stay out of place. To demonstrate the gap while inflated, I held the mat up to a fluorescent light and took a picture of the light shining through. The other two perfectly linear light lines are the through-bonds between the inflated tubes.

I will keep my eye on these, but as I have said, they seem to so far be only cosmetic shifts since I have noticed no cold spots and the shifts are somewhat easy to put back into place. Other than this issue, the durability seems to be great. My fears of taking the pad into a spiny-plant-infested Arizona canyon proved to be unfounded, and I have stood on the pad while it is inflated, sat on it, and even slid around on the snow a little bit on it, and it still seems new.

Ease of Use: Great

This pad is super easy to use. Compared with other big (down) insulated pads, it is a great relief not to use the stuff sack to inflate it. The valve opens and seals easily, the tubes expand and fill nicely while inflating, and it packs down easily by first rolling to squeeze all the air out, and then folding into thirds and rolling again. I only have two nit picks. First, the inflation takes a lot of lung air. It may be shorter than using a stuff sack, but I certainly get more light-headed inflating this pad than any other I've used. Of course, what do I expect for filling up a big thick air mattress (after all, it's worth it)? Second is how cold my lips get from filling it up in cold weather. I appreciate the sturdiness of the brass, but the fact is that my lips become numb after filling the Max Thermo up. Again, to me the comfort has been worth it.

Weatherproofness: Excellent

Not much to say here. I found that water can be channeled into the welds between the inflated tubes and freeze there, but it scrapes off easily. The fabric has not wet out or become overly stiff and unpliable in cold weather, and the insulation likewise has fluffed up nicely on every trip even in the cold. The valve has not frozen shut, and continued to work well after many inflations and sealings in below-freezing weather. It did not absorb water from the few times I sat on it on the snow, and all in all it has performed very nicely in very messy, wet, and cold weather.

Summary

• Upsides for me so far:
  • Comfortable
  • Surprisingly warm for a pad full of air and fluff
  • Comfortable
  • Packs down very small
  • Comfortable
• Downsides for me so far:
  • My lips go numb on the brass-based valve in the cold
  • Hard to fold and use as a chair
  • Synthetic fill has been shifting within tubes

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Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Insul Mat Max-Thermo > Cora Hussey > Field Report