Long Term Report: Therm-a-Rest ProLite 4 Short Pad

 

Tester:  Rosaleen Sullivan 

Age:  54 years 

Gender:  Female 

Height:  5’ 9” / 1.75 m 

Weight:  190 lb / 86 kg 

E-mail:  rosaleen43 (at) aol (dot) com 

Home:  Eastern MA, USA 

Date:    August 14, 2004

 

Tester Background

 

I’m an aspiring Ultralighter.  I do most of my backpacking over weekends in New England.  Additionally, I have been lucky enough to experience hiking to the bottom of the Grand Canyon and a 110 mile (177 km) stretch of the Appalachian Trail from Pennsylvania to northern Virginia.  My preferred gear at this time includes a hammock, alcohol or tablet stove, mini or no-cook home-dehydrated foods, and the least clothing and gear that I can feel comfortable carrying.

 

Product Information 

Manufacturer:  Therm-a-Rest 

URL:    http://www.thermarest.com 

Year of Manufacture:  2004 

MSRP:  about $80.00 USD 

Listed Weight: 17 oz (482 g) 

Weight as Delivered:  15.5 oz (438 g) weighed on an electronic scale

 

Product Description: (Slightly updated and shortened from my Initial Report)

 

The Therm-a-Rest ProLite series is a group of self-inflating camping mattresses.  Within the family, there are choices in widths, lengths, and thicknesses.  The ProLite 4 is the thickest.  I tested the short model in the narrower of the two available widths.  The ProLite 4 (S) measures 20 x 47 in (51 x 119 cm), by about 1.5 in (4 cm) thick, and, at 15.5 oz (438 g), weighs just under a pound (< .5 kg).  The top surface of the mattress is orange urethane coated polyester fabric, and the bottom is urethane coated nylon.  The top material is translucent enough that the die cutouts in the middle layer of open cell urethane foam are visible.   The mattress has a black plastic twist valve that maintains inflation or deflation.  

 

Product Performance in the Field

 

As stated in my Field Report, the two functions I expected from the mattress were comfort and insulation from cold.  Over the course six months using this mattress, I remained very pleased.  It has worked well for both of these functions, plus, it has worked as a stiffener in a frameless pack.  Mostly, I’ve used the Prolite in a hammock.  Hammocks often require a bit more bottom insulation than ground sleeping set ups.  Additional insulation in a hammock was needed to shield my shoulders and arms where they overlapped the pad.  Counted among the “Princess and the Pea” types, I found the Prolite gave me marginal sleep comfort padding on a wooden platform or other very hard surfaces.  Flattened grass or forest duff under the Prolite resulted in a more comfortable rest.  I did find that shifting my torso to a slight diagonal and bending my knees enough that they added weight to the pad helped add to the comfort level.  When I lay on my side, my weight was concentrated between one hip and shoulder, so those areas displaced more air than when I was flat on my back.  Pulling my knees up on to the pad helped even the air displacement, so I was more comfortable.  That will be a little “trick” I need to remember in the future.  As I expected, I did need to use my pack or other padding to raise my feet and legs for comfort and insulation when the mattress was used on flat surfaces.

 

The majority of trail use this pad has seen has been in eastern Massachusetts.  I’ve also carried and used it in Florida and at Trail Days in Virginia.  I had the chance to use the Prolite 4 on the ground and in my hammock in Yellowstone National Park in July.  Someone seemed to have forgotten to tell “Mother Nature” there that July was part of the North American summer.  Most nights in the first week, the temperatures dropped into the low 40’s F (~ 5 C).  The condensation patterns on the car windshield one morning had me convinced that the overnight lows had reached below freezing.  I did keep a reflective “space blanket” hung below my hammock to help thwart cold and wind.  I was really pleased that the mattress insulated enough that I could use my sleeping bag as an open blanket.  (Checking my Field Report, I found that I was satisfied with the mattress at even lower temperatures in late winter in Massachusetts.)

 

I questioned whether the higher elevations where the pad would be used in Wyoming would affect its self-inflation feature.  Eastern Massachusetts and Florida are at sea level.  Yellowstone Park in Wyoming, is at about 8000 ft (~ 2400 m).  The Prolite did seem a bit slower to inflate in Wyoming, but it seemed to do so more because of the cold than anything else.

 

So far, the Prolite has not shown problems from my perspiration nor did it develop any odors.  Usually, I allowed my sleeping bag and padding some time in sunshine before they were packed for the day.  No visible wear has shown, either.  The valve continued to turn easily and smoothly, and to control air flow as it should.

 

The mattress still slipped on smooth surfaces, as I reported earlier.  I continued using a piece of rubber shelf liner as a gripping surface under the Prolite.  It really seemed to help, as did slightly under-inflating the pad when used in a hammock.

 

 

Likes So Far

 

• Cushy
• Very light
• Easy to inflate and deflate
• Good insulator
• Best lightweight mattress or pad that I’ve used
• Most compact foam filled mattress that I’ve used

 

Dislikes So Far

 

• Slips around in use/bottom needs more tack     
• Not enough cushioning for very hard surfaces (There may be no such thing for me.)
• Not always long or wide enough.  (My decision was to go with this pad instead of the larger ones, based on weight.  This dislike is not the pad’s fault!)

 

Many thanks to all involved for this testing opportunity!

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Rosaleen Sullivan