Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest pad > Owners Review by Susan Davis

Owner's Review: Ridge Rest 3/4 length foam sleeping pad

Personal Information

Name

Susan Davis

Height

5'10" (177 cm)

Weight

230 lbs (104 kg)

Age

237 dog years (33 metric years)

Gender

Female (metric female)

Email

futabachan@yahoo.com

City

Rochester, NY

Date

11/13/02; actual tests done in July and August 2002

Background

I've car camped for years, but have never done traditional-weight backpacking. I discovered ultralight backpacking this summer, and have been refining my gear load through a series of solo test hikes.

Product Information

Product

Ridge Rest 3/4 length sleeping pad

Manufacturer

Cascade Designs

URL

http://www.cascadedesigns.com

Listed weight

8 oz. (227 g)

Weight as delivered

8.6 oz. (244 g)

Dimensions

20"x48" (51 cm x 122 cm)

MSRP

$18.00

Field Information

Test Locations

Back yard in Rochester, NY; Shenandoah River State Park in Bentonville, VA; Appalachian Trail near Hot Springs, NC

Elevations

From over 4500' to below 300'

Weather

Hot and brutally dry

Backpacking experience

Raw beginner

Style

Ultralight

Report

I should preface my report with a disclaimer: I no longer regularly use this product to sleep on the ground. I've found that I sleep so much better in my Hennessy Hammock that it and its associated truck reflector pad have become my primary shelter. Most of this report is based on my experiences with the Ridge Rest before I switched to the hammock, though I do plan to use the Ridge Rest as a supplementary insulation pad for cold weather hammocking.

The current generation of ultralight backpacks seem to be designed to be used with one specific closed cell foam pad: the GoLite Breeze wants a Ridge Rest, the GVP G4 wants a Z-Rest, et cetera. I selected the Ridge Rest first and foremost to match my choice of packs (the Breeze), rather than on its other merits.

In my car camping days, I tended to only go camping in relatively benign weather. Until I bought my Pontiac Aztek, in which I've been doing most of my recent car camping, I tended to eschew air mattresses in favor of just sleeping directly on the ground. I prefer firm mattresses in town, and adding an air mattress, Therm-a-Rest, or foam pad in the field never seemed to add any value in terms of sleeping comfort: whatever I used, I tended to wake up several times during the night, and get my sleep in a series of two- or three-hour catnaps. When I discovered ultralight backpacking, I wondered whether I could save some weight by deleting the sleeping pad altogether, but finally relented due to the need for insulation in cooler weather. The Ridge Rest's good insulation-to-weight ratio (R2.6 in an 8 oz. pad) made it a good fit for my otherwise Spartan requirements.

My experiences with the Ridge Rest in the field have borne this out: sleeping on the Ridge Rest feels no better and no worse than sleeping directly on the surface on which the Ridge Rest is set up. On soft, spongy earth at stealth campsites, I can get a halfway decent night's sleep in spite of myself; on gravel tent pads, hard wooden shelter platforms, or on dry or rocky ground, it can take some time to find a comfortable sleeping position, and I lose enough sleep that I find myself needing to halt for a mid-day nap. My experiences may not be typical of the average user, but light sleepers might want to consider the "deluxe" model, if not the Therm-a-Rest, for use in shelters.

As a stiffener for the Breeze, the Ridge Rest seems to take up an inordinately large fraction of the main compartment. The standard advice is to roll the pad up, place it in the main compartment, and let it unroll. When I do this, the pad winds up three layers thick, and the resulting hole is narrow enough to push my standard load up into the extension collar, making the pack top-heavy. The pack also winds up barrel-shaped, which exacerbates the Breeze's tendency to pull on my shoulders. Since I switched to the hammock and its accordion-folded truck reflector, my Breeze has become significantly more comfortable.

On the other hand, part of the problem may have been that my pad was brand new and less supple -- lately, I've noticed that it folds up into more of a flattened cylinder than a true cylinder. Several months' worth of break-in period might make the Breeze/Ridge Rest combo work better and be more comfortable. I don't plan to find out, unless I decide to shoot for an ultralight approach on next year's thru-hike, and leave my hammock behind in favor of the Ridge Rest and a tarp/poncho system.

Lately, my use for the Ridge Rest has been as an adjunct to my truck reflector pad in my hammock in cold weather. The top surface of the Ridge Rest is shiny and aluminized, which helps reflect heat back toward the sleeping bag, and the bottom surface generates enough friction to stay on top of the slippery reflector. So far, I've been warm enough in my 3-season bag within its comfort rating; I haven't tested my winter two-bag combination in subfreezing weather yet.

Pros

• Light weight
• Is the recommended adjunct to the Breeze suspension system
• Ridges provide R2.6 insulation, better than other pads in weight class
• Aluminized top surface reduces heat loss through radiation
• Low price

Cons

• Too bulky and round when carried inside Breeze
• Comfort suffers on hard or uneven surfaces
• I sleep fitfully when on the ground, which may not be this product's fault

Suitability for Beginners

Nothing to inflate or puncture, but you do need to find just the right spot and carefully preen it.

Bottom Line

Good insulation-to-weight ratio, but I still switched to a hammock anyway.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Therm-a-Rest Ridge Rest pad > Owners Review by Susan Davis