Sea to Summit  Ultralight XR Insulated Sleeping Pad

I took this pad on an overnight trip in Big Sur and was seriously impressed. It packs down incredibly small but is still super comfortable. After a long hiking day, having a wider and stable sleeping surface made a huge difference. It’s easy to inflate, lightweight, and feels very well built. A great option for long-distance backpackers who care about both comfort and weight.

This is a solid content in the ultralight air mattress arena. It seems to have a solid mix of being lightweight, a small packed size, and a good r-value. This pad inflates very, very quickly. The design of the mattress allows it to require less air to inflate. Using the pump-sack, I had this inflated in three bagfuls of air. Combining this with the express valve, this is the quickest, easiest inflating pad I've tried. Very well done. I was worried that with how thin this mattress is, I might have issues. I didn't bottom out on this thing though. I'm a side sleeper, and my hips didn't touch the ground. Lounging before bed, propped on my stomach and elbows, my elbows didn't hit the ground either. I also had extra clearance in the foot area, so my feet didn't touch the slope of the tent. I took this out for a couple of nights in the low 30s and experienced no cold spots. Really the only gripe I have with it for now is when rotating in my sleep, sometimes the pad wants to kick out on whatever end doesn't have weight on it. Pretty common issue, but it seems exacerbated with this pad, I'm assuming because the sprung cells act as fold points. Overall I'm very happy with this pad and look forward to testing its durability over many nights camping.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I've been a huge fan of Sea to Summit sleeping pads for years - I've bought every single person in my family one and had zero complaints. But, I'm always looking for new was to slim down my bike packing and backpacking setup. The fact that this mat is lighter, much smaller and somehow thicker and warmer just blows my mind. And it truly is noticeably smaller than my previous pad - by about 50% which makes a huge difference in my pack!

It’s a decent pad, but not revolutionary. I like the price, weight, durability, width, and quietness, but I don’t know how well it would work for a heavier person. It bottoms out pretty easily as it's only 2.6" thick. The dimpled baffles feel comfortable when you’re lying flat on it, but it just feels super thin and bottoms out if you put a point load on it. I'd have preferred that they sacrifice a bit of durability by going from 40d on the bottom to 30d and increasing the thickness to 3". I think it could be a great pad with a little more height.

The sleeping pad is amazingly light and comfortable.The cinch/pump bag works great. It is a simple concept that works well. Deflation was quick. The dual purpose inflation (with seal) and deflation cap is well engineered and well positioned to squeeze the air out as it is rolled back to restore back into the cinch bag.

Used this pad in the mid 40's and was not cold. I like it way better than Thermarest and any other horizontal baffled pads, but not as much as the updated Ether Light pads. I still bottomed out a few times on this pad, especially when on my side. It is not a super noisy pad, but does make some noise, nothing like the first Ether Light though, that is a noisy pad! Overall, I would use this pad if size and weight were my main concerns. Sea to Summit sent me a small and a large pad to test out.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I took this bad boy camping in washington state in february. Boy was it cold outside, but at night this pad kept me so warm! Paired it with a sea to summit UL air pillow, and my rei sleeping bag (i could use an upgrade😉) I loved how small it packed up and the color is also something to behold. But all in all it held up great, we camped for a 3 nighter, and i had no complaints. Can’t wait to use it some more!! Bikepacking trips are in the near future and i know what pad i’m taking along!

When I first inflated this sleeping mat in my living room and laid on it, I didn’t think I would be impressed with the comfort due to the quilting of the pad that creates significant dips in the surface. The dips were noticeable lying directly on the mat in normal clothes. I have a degenerated spinal disc and stenosis so any mattress that doesn’t provide sufficient and even support for spinal alignment can be problematic. Once using this pad with a sleeping bag in the wilderness the quilting was barely noticeable and not the slightest bit uncomfortable. What was noticeable was how forgiving the mat was with varying pressures. A typical ultralight sleeping pad uses fabric with little to no elasticity requiring me to precisely adjust the pressure to get the right amount of support. The fabric in the Ultralight XR Sleeping Mat has enough stretch that I can set the pressure once I lay on it and not have to mess with it throughout the night. This ability to be comfortable with less precise pressure adjustments also means I can sleep more comfortably on my back or side with the same pressure. I typically must find a balance between pressure that is OK for both back and side but not great for either. I also have no concerns about any compromise in durability due to the different fabric. The inflation sack works great too. It takes about 5 breaths to fill the mat.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I got this sleeping pad about a month ago and initially tested it out in the house. The express valve set up is great! It inflated really fast with the stuff sack or just by mouth. It has a way to lower the volume with a little touch on the valve. And it deflated instantly when I opened it. The air spring coils are awesome for support when laying on my side. I found it more comfortable than my self inflating foam mat. I got a chance to do an overnight camp trip last week due to our non winter this year in New Mexico. I am loving the small size and weight compared to my other mat. It let me bring more food in my pack. It kept me plenty warm from the cold ground. The only downside is the noise from the inflatable mat when I roll around. It is a bit like a balloon. Though, I noticed that it diminished from the first use, and I added my rumple blanket under me and it was much less noticeable. I got the 25" wide version for more room to roll around. I didn't need the extra length, though. A regular wide version would be nice. It held most of its volume overnight and i didn't feel the ground. I definitely recommend this mat, but break in the plastic a bit to quiet it down.