Seems like a pattern is developing; those who have been to the greater ranges prefer closed cell foam pads. Just an observation.

There's no doubt a trade-off of expedition vs lighter-duty backpacking and comfort, in the sense that someone on an expedition or bigger mountain is more likely to want bombproof (closed-cell) and sacrifice comfort or squishiness.

Is Evazote similar to the typical blue closed cell foam pads you can get anywhere, or is it a more highly developed form of the species?

I have used normal Thermarests (not NeoAir) a fair amount for tent camping satisfactorily - don't really understand why they would fail quickly when used for that. Pinpricks in them can be sealed with seam seal without a patch, but finding the location of the pinprick out in the BC could be annoying and I'm glad I haven't had to do that. If I was going to use one on dirt/rocks without a tent, I would carry a tyvek groundsheet to limit abrasion damage.

The true inflatable pads, not thermarest but the air mattress kind, have a great weight/size tradeoff but they make me nervous and I've seen a couple of friends get leaks. I've been too cheap to try one anyway.

I don't have any technical info on the yellow MEC Evazote, but its density is much greater than the "blue pad". If you put them site by site you can feel the difference. Just pressing the Evazote down tells you it is way firmer than the Blue Pad. It also comes in 22 inch width (I believe) and most alpine 2 people tents are 44 or so inches wide. What I'm trying to say is, that two of these pads cover the floor of Bibler I-tent, BD Firstlight, Integral Designs, Marmot Alpinist etc. just right and without gaps. Please just don't hold me to the width, I'm trying to remember it from way back...

I have a womens Prolite, a couple different ridgerests and a NeoAir All Season. I've been pretty please so far with the Neoair. It hasn't popped yet but I'm always conscious of where I'm setting it up. My Prolite has worked great but it's now a backup to the Neoair. As far as comfort to packed size ratio goes the Neoair blows away any other pad I've tried.

I just finished my latest blog entry on sleeping pads.


http://larsonweb.com/blog/


Nothing earth shattering, but you may find it slightly more interesting than staring at your screen saver.