Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Therm-a-Rest ProLite > Steve Nelson > Initial Report

Initial Report: Therm-a-Rest ProLite 3 Short Pad
February 1, 2004

Reviewer's Information

Name: Steve Nelson
Age: 43
Gender: Male
Height: 5' 9" (1.75 m)
Weight: 158 Pounds (72 kg)
Email address: nazdarovye at y..oo dot com
City, State, Country: San Francisco, CA, U.S.A.

Backpacking Background:

As an interface design and usability consultant by trade, I'm always excited by analyzing and improving designs and processes; backpacking provides a fertile and fun arena for that. I have been backpacking since I was a kid growing up in upstate New York: we backpacked and canoe-camped in all seasons, throughout the Adirondacks and nearby areas, ranging as far as La Verendrye Wildlife Reserve, Quebec. As an adult, I've backpacked and hiked extensively in California, but also have taken trips throughout the West, from New Mexico to British Columbia, and return often to the Adirondacks.

Backpacking Style:

In the last year I began educating myself about lightweight and ultralight backpacking, and have been applying more and more of this philosophy to my outdoor jaunts and gear upgrades. I like moving fast, and lightening the load facilitates that. I also enjoy urban strolls, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, kayaking, and aviation in addition to hiking and backpacking, so my gear gets exposed to a wide variety of uses and conditions.

Product information

Manufacturer: Therm-a-Rest
Product Name: ProLite 3 Short
Manufacturer's URL: www.thermarest.com
Year of manufacture: 2004 (possibly actually made in 2003, but product officially released in 2004)
Size: Short (available in Regular as well)
Listed weight: 13 oz (370 g)
Verified weight: 12.85 oz (365 g) on a digital scale
Listed dimensions: 20 x 47 x 1 in (51 x 119 x 2.5 cm)
Verified dimensions: As stated, plus a 3/8 in (1 cm) additional flat border around the perimeter of the pad where the two fabrics are sealed together
Listed R-value: 2.3
MSRP: $70

Product Overview

The Therm-a-Rest ProLite 3 Short Pad is a compact, lightweight sleeping sleeping pad marketed for 3-season use by fast and light adventurers. Trading some comfort, size and durability for light weight and compressability, the pad is sized to support a sleeper's torso, leaving lower legs and head to be supported by an empty pack, clothing, and other materials at hand. The ProLite 3 Short is one of the "Fast and Light" series of pads offered by Therm-a-Rest, with the others being the full-length ProLite 3 Regular, and the 4-season ProLite 4 Regular and Short pads.

The manufacturer claims online that the ProLite series pads "weigh less and pack smaller than any mattresses ever before, facilitating the kind of high-speed, low-weight experience that extreme alpinists, adventure racers, and long-distance backpackers have always craved." Of the ProLite 3 series specifically, they say it's "the lightest, most compact mattress ever."

I look forward to testing these bold claims! As someone who's recently moved toward ultralight backpacking, I was drawn to this pad as soon as it was announced—it fills a really important niche in my kit, reducing my load by over a pound compared to my previous self-inflating sleeping pad. Since I can't sleep on thin, closed-cell pads, and also use my pads for support in lightweight packs, this is a significant advancement for me.

Also, if message traffic online is any indication, there is a great deal of interest in these pads in the broader backpacking community. I attribute this to a combination of growing interest in lightweight hiking, plus the manufacturer's good reputation. I look forward to contributing to that discussion.

Initial Impressions

I received a surprisingly small and light box from FedEx the other day—so small, in fact, that at first it didn't even dawn on me that it was a sleeping pad.

But, inside was the ProLite 3 Short Pad, tightly rolled into a 4 x 12 in (10 x 30 cm) cylinder and bound in a plastic overwrap. It was indeed, to echo the manufacturer's statements, the most compact sleeping pad I've ever seen:

(Note: the architect's scale in this picture is approximately 12.5 in (32 cm) long.)

The plastic overwrap provides basic product specifications in English and French. Rolled inside with the pad is a fold-out product instruction sheet (in English, French, German and Japanese), giving usage and care instructions. One of the instructions was to over-inflate the pad (by blowing into the valve) upon taking it out of the packaging, then to let it sit this way overnight to make up for storage and shipping in tightly compressed form. I followed these instructions and the pad "reconstituted" itself as promised.

The pad itself appears extremely well-made, with carefully trimmed and sealed seams, interesting new fabrics (more on that below), and carefully die-cut foam, whose pattern is visible through the orange top fabric. The manufacturer's logo is printed on the fabric near the valve, along with what appears to be a unique serial number.

The pad is approximately rectangular in shape, but with rounded corners and a very slight taper toward each end. Size and weight (as noted above) were consistent with those stated by the manufacturer on the packaging. (As an aside, as of the writing of this report the manufacturer's web site still lists incorrect weights and sizes for the ProLite 3 pads, which they've acknowledged elsewhere online; the measurements on the packaging are correct.)

Here's a picture of the pad, fully-inflated and placed next to my old, well-used, full-length (6 ft, or 1.8 m) Therm-a-Rest pad:

Materials

The ProLite 3 Pad uses differing fabrics on its top and bottom. The top fabric is a thin, orange polyester ripstop that has a very slight rough or napped feel to it. When the pad is overinflated (as instructed to do when first opening the pad, or as you would do in the field to increase firmness), the fabric actually puckers out a bit over the holes in the foam:

The top fabric appears like it may be slightly less durable than that on the older pads—this is something I'll keep an eye on during further testing, but also is exactly what I expected given the weight and intended usage of the pad.

The foam inside is die-cut with compass rose/diamond-shaped holes, easily visible through the fabric.

The underside of the pad is covered with an unusual, plastic-feeling, slightly crinkly, black pebbled nylon fabric, noted on the packaging as a "Super-grip bottom":

The inflation valve is made of black plastic, and appears similar to the valve on my older pad. It is easy to operate, and it only took me a few breaths to fully inflate the pad beyond its normal self-inflation volume. The valve appears to seal well—I've noticed no leakage whatsoever from it (or the fabric and seams, for that matter) while using the pad so far.

Initial Tests

I've already spent a fair amount of time experimenting with the pad—here are my initial findings:

First and most obvious, I sat, lay down, and even napped on it. I found it quite comfortable—perhaps even more so than my older Therm-a-Rest pad of similar thickness.

Second, I tried it out in an ultralight bivy sack. Interestingly, the new bottom fabric, which is advertised to provide additional gripping power, was extremely slippery on the silnylon base of the bivy sack. When I placed the pad under me but inside the bivy sack and tried it out with a quilt, the pad squeaked out from underneath me over and over again. I then placed it underneath the bivy sack, and found that the top fabric of the pad actually grips better on silnylon than its "Super-grip" bottom fabric does. This is of some importance to me since all of my current shelters (bivy, tarptent and hammock) have Silnylon or slippery nylon floors—so this will be certainly be one point of focus in my field testing.

I also handled the pad with wet hands, and discovered that the orange fabric is not completely water-repellent. Even slight moisture immediately soaked into it, temporarily darkening the fabric. On the other hand, the black underside appears pretty much impervious to moisture (a good feature for something that will at times be touching the ground or other wet surfaces).

I rolled up the pad to see how small it would compress, and was surprised and pleased to see that it compresses down almost as small as it was in its original packaging. I also purchased one of the manufacturer's stuff sacks made specifically for this pad—the "Stuff Sack 3S"—and it fits inside without a struggle, resulting in a bundle approximately 4.5 x 13 in (11.4 x 33 cm). (One aside: the packaging for the stuff sack lists it as weighing 0.3 oz (8.5 gm), but I measured it at 0.65 oz (18.5 gm), a substantial difference in proportional terms, even if a miniscule weight in absolute terms).

I tested the pad with two of my packs—a GoLite Speed and a homemade pack that's a hybrid of the GoLite Speed and Breeze designs. The latter in particular depends upon a sleeping pad for structure and comfort, stuck inside as a loosely rolled cylinder with pack contents stuffed inside, or folded and placed against the inside suspension side of the pack with pack contents stacked next to it.

I found that the ProLite 3 pad worked best for this purpose when folded rather than rolled. Compared to my older Therm-a-Rest pad, it appears to have less structural rigidity, especially when in loosely-rolled cylinder form (in other words, it collapses more easily when weight is put on its edges). I'll also be looking closely at this issue, as this is an important factor in the comfort of many ultralight packs.

Testing Plan

The ProLite 3 Pad will be going with me on every one of my winter activity and backpacking trips over the next six months. Whenever I'll be sleeping where I could use a pad, I'll use the ProLite 3.

The trips will be primarily in California's coastal and Sierra Nevada ranges, as well as in the Adirondacks and a few other east coast locations, at altitudes altitudes from sea level to 10,000 ft (3,050 m). Trip types will include snow camping, winter hut trips, numerous overnights in a tarptent and hammock, and even some car camping and nights in lean-tos. Weather conditions will pretty much run the gamut, from cold to warm and wet to dry, in winter, spring and early summer. Ground conditions will range from snow to soft forest duff to rock ledges and scree.

I'll be using the pad with traditional sleeping bags, lightweight quilts, and a silk liner, alone and in various combinations, and I'll be sleeping in bivies and various soft and hard shelters.

Issues I'll be testing include:

• General usability and comfort (on various types of ground, tent, hammock, and constructed shelter surfaces)
• Ease of inflation, adjustment of inflation level, and deflation; ability to hold inflation over time (with and without weight on the pad)
• Insulative ability - how well does the ProLite 3 pad insulate in various settings and conditions (e.g., on exposed rock, in a Hammock or while camping on snow; I'll also test it in combination with closed cell pads while snow camping, to see if that helps extend it to full 4-season comfort)
• Durability of materials (including internal foam—does it degrade or lose thickness over time?)
• Suitability of the ProLite 3 pad as a pack stiffener and suspension pad in the field (how stable is it; how comfortable is it?)
• Weather/waterproofness in the field—how well does the pad stand up to the elements? What happens if it or its valve gets wet or frozen?
• Stability: are the "sticky dots" effective; does the pad stay in place, especially on Silnylon and in the shelters noted above?
• Suitability for combining with other pads to make up for the reduced length (e.g., combined in the field with a closed cell foam "sit pad," an empty pack, or spare clothing under shins and feet)
• Effectiveness of the ProLite 3 as a "sit pad" in winter and summer conditions
• Ease of field repair, should that become necessary (which I hope it doesn't, and which my experience with my older pad indicates it won't!)

Summary

The ProLite 3 Short Pad is an exciting combination of high-tech materials, great design, light weight and comfort. So far it appears exactly as advertised, and I'm looking forward to taking it into the field and putting it to extensive, wide-ranging use.

Thanks to BackpackGearTest and Therm-a-Rest for giving me the opportunity to participate in this test.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Therm-a-Rest ProLite > Steve Nelson > Initial Report