Was: Backpack with a cot???...Now: Sleeping Pad suggestions :)

I've been looking around for a good sleeping pad for backpacking. Obviously there's lots of options. My one complaint is being a little bigger, it seems I've always ended up on the ground when sleeping on any kind of air based pad. So today I came across the therm-a-lite ultra lite cots as well as the helinox one cot. I know they are a little more money and weigh a bit more than a pad but am I totally crazy to consider one of these cots? Anyone have experience with these?

I've spent a bit of extra money on most everything else and (without actually having everything here) I feel my pack will be quite light. I'll be able to confirm that next week once everything else shows up.

Thoughts?

I like the concept, looks like they weigh 3lbs vs about 2lbs for a pad. I'd probably lug the extra weight around.

If you need it for a good nights sleep and don't mind the weight and it will fit inside your shelter, why not?

I'm not ultralight by any means but it's not worth the weight to me. My tent, bag and pad only weigh 4 lbs combined.

But it's all personal preference and priorities. On my last BP trip almost 10% of my total starting pack weight was whiskey and cigars. So I'm all about carrying whatever you think is worth the weight to you.

- DAA

Im a pretty big guy and I use a large Xtherm sleeping pad and its big enough for me, 25" wide. I can think of lots of stuff I would rather carry then a 3lb cot. My pad is heavy to some and it weighs 1lb 4oz, that's a lot more weight to lug around.

I'm 300 pounds on a bad day, and the Klymit Static V has worked well for me.

This is great feedback guys. I appreciate it. Couple things on these cots, I've found that the legs can put holes in the bottom of your tent and since they are so low, when you sit on them, you're on the ground. My fear would be I'm going to end up on the ground anyways. Hmm, we'll see. I'm going to get my pack all together and then decide if I want the 1.5 lbs or if I'm ok with the 3 lbs. If it keeps me off tinge ground and affords me a good night sleep, like Dave mentioned, the extra weight would be 100% worth it to me. I may order it and see for myself.

There are some stupid light cots out there, but they get quite pricey. I love my cot but I just switched to a nice comfy exped sleeping mat looking forward to sleeping on it for the first time in a week or two. Thing is so comfy I think I might stop sleeping on my real bed

You have me thinking about an exped pad on my cot .

- DAA

I do use an exped ul7 for backpacking btw...

- DAA

Caleb said:

This is great feedback guys. I appreciate it. Couple things on these cots, I've found that the legs can put holes in the bottom of your tent and since they are so low, when you sit on them, you're on the ground. My fear would be I'm going to end up on the ground anyways. Hmm, we'll see. I'm going to get my pack all together and then decide if I want the 1.5 lbs or if I'm ok with the 3 lbs. If it keeps me off tinge ground and affords me a good night sleep, like Dave mentioned, the extra weight would be 100% worth it to me. I may order it and see for myself.

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Hammock? I sleep as well in my hammock as I do on my bungie cot, it's just a little harder to find a suitable place to pitch it. There are some nice self-contained hammock tent setups out there, with built in rain fly and bug net and everything, that might be an option?

I want a hammock but i seem to camp in places that would be too hard to find a suitable hanging spot especially in the desert

Tonkaman said:

I want a hammock but i seem to camp in places that would be too hard to find a suitable hanging spot especially in the desert

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It's tricky for sure. It's easier if you have a truck to tie off to and only have to find one tree . I sleep so much better in a hammock than on the ground though.

For the White Rim trip I knew that finding even one tree was going to be a hassle though, so I ended up buying a Cabelas bungie cot. I gotta say, this thing is super comfy and super warm. I definitely won't be backpacking with it anywhere, but it's great for car camping. I've been bringing it and leaving the hammock home.

DAA said:

You have me thinking about an exped pad on my cot .

- DAA

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See, now you're talking

Tonkaman said:

I want a hammock but i seem to camp in places that would be too hard to find a suitable hanging spot especially in the desert

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I would love to do a hammock but for this particular trip, I don't think it will work for two reasons. This is for my narrows hike, having never done it, I don't envision a lot of trees suitable for a hammock. The second reason is ill have my wife with me, now I have to find enough trees for two hammocks and I'm sure she wouldn't want to sleep alone being she's not much of an outdoor person. I normally wouldn't even take a tent but she's requiring that.

I setup my tent today to make sure it was clean, I remembered how to set it up, and knew how much space I realistically had. After seeing it up, there's no way I have room for two cots, so I'll be on a pad for this trip. The tent is an MSR Skinny Too. I'm still interested in any experiences with these super light cots.

I haven't camped on the super light cots, but I have laid on them for awhile in the back room I don't even know anyone that uses one. So I can't help you out there.

After laying on them I don't think i would like them without a pad. IF I am going to put a pad on them then I might as well just sleep on the pad. That doesn't mean you won't like them. They are also a little unstable for me. I would like to buy one and give it a shot though, just because. In general I am not a fan of cots, but I can see the benefits of one. Mostly for me the benefit would be to have something to sit on, these ultralights don't provide that though so I am not sure.

If your real concern is not ending up on the ground a good quality pad should keep that from happening. Especially if you inflate it with a something other than the super hot breath from your mouth. That hot air has a lot of room to shrink as the night cools off. Every time you raise or lower the temperature of air by 20 degrees celsius you get about 5%-6% increase or decrease in volume(rough estimate). So if you breath is 37C an the ground cools it down to 0C you will lose 10% of the volume of air in your pad. You will end up on the ground. The bigger/thicker the pad the more volume you lose.

As you can see my post is rambling, because I don't have any real answers for you.

Thanks. I'm quite sure I won't be getting one of these cots any time soon at this point I will definitely need to get my hands on one before I'd be willing to spend the money on one. I am now looking for suggestions on good pads. As mentioned, I'm a little bigger (currently just under 200lbs and 6' tall, but that's only after I recently lost ~50lbs). Any suggestions? I see Dave uses the ul7 so I'll be checking that one out.

I'll second the ul7. I have the large size because I'm not small. I like that the outermost baffles are larger than the middle so it keeps me on the mattress. I have about 25 nights on mine and have yet to even have a leg come off in the middle of the night.

I have the UL7 large as well and really like it. I also, have a few different thermarest pads and like them as well. My favorite ultralight pad is the Xlite reg (12 oz). I really like the Xtherm(15-21oz) for ultralight winter. I really like the large UL7(21 oz) for almost Ultralight. It also makes a great base camp pad because it is so darn comfy. You are welcome to try it out.

I have a neo air xtherm and I use it year-round. I love it. I've got about 100 nights on mine so far with zero punctures. It packs up smaller than a nalgene, is super warm, and is about the weight of most other summer pads.

Cool, thanks guys! I'll be checking these all out.

X2 on the xtherm. Comfy, light, warm when it needs to be, and the stuff sack double as an inflator. Expensive, but it flat out works.