Sea to Summit  Ultralight Air Sleeping Pad

I was in my final days before a 31 day backpacking trip in the Sierras when my trusty Nemo failed to keep air over night. I struggled with getting a new pad only days before a huge trip. After researching I settled on the Large Ultralight. A) It's quiet. Very little noise when rolling or turning, huge improvement over Nemo B) Good for back, side and stomach sleeping! This is a first in my opinion C) Very light for its size, rolls up easy. D) Easy release valve for quick air removal in the morning! I hate pushing air out of a pad. I did purchase the dry inflation bag as well, being over 10,000 feet for weeks, I didn't want that dizzy feeling blowing up the pad over and over again. Worth every penny.

I just returned from a 4 night 5 day adventure through the Trinity Alps Wilderness in California where I tried several new pieces of gear including the Sea to Summit Ultralight Sleeping Pad. I am giving this product one star because after 2 nights into a 4 day trip the pad failed; it would no longer hold any air on my third night when I made a rocky bivouac at 7,400 ft. REALLY!?!?! complete product failure after 2 uses? completely unacceptable, and frustratingly disappointing. Trust me I had two cold and restless nights in the Alps to think about this product review. Prior to my trip I did a lot of research into upgrading my gear, something I generally only do once ever 10 years, and a new ultralight pad was desired after my Therma Rest Ultralight 3/4 pad from the 90's finally failed last summer (it has since been re-patched and in service again, but first and only time it has failed in 15 years). I was chiefly attracted to the Sea to Summit pad because of its weight, coming in at 12.5 oz, 2 oz lighter than my old TR 3/4 pad. I was also sold by the comfort and technical product descriptions, and when the pad did work for those two nights, yes it was comfortable, when I could get the pad to stay under me, as it had a tendency to slip on my ground cloth and out from under the sleeping pad. The product literature was correct in that it does seem to fit to your body and makes for a comfortable sleep. I wish this product worked. Could I have had the one out of a thousand flawed product? I can tell you I knew I had an air mattress; I took pains to clear out my sleeping spot of sticks, rocks and pine needles, used a Tyvek ground cloth, packed the pad away in my backpack, and even used the pad inside my bivouac bag to protect it from all things sharp, but I'm convinced that taking an air mattress out into the mountains is akin to taking a balloon to a cactus garden, it is inexorable. The material is light, and upon use appears to have no durability. I tried to submerge the pad in a small alpine stream to see if there were bubbles and a leak, I saw none, but this whole test was weak as the water was frigid and the stream too small. I also had my climbing partners try to listen and feel for a leak (as I'm hearing impaired) to no avail. So I have no idea why this pad now will not hold air. Needless to say I am returning this item to REI and questioning my original judgement to bringing an air mattress into the highly variable wilderness backcountry. All the fancy technology means squat when your cold and sleepless at 7K feet, stick to the cheaper, AND lighter closed cell foam pads, at least there you are guaranteed a good nights protection.