The first thing you notice upon receiving this is how compact and light it genuinely is. It comes in 5 sizes, and though I got the largest size (Rectangular / Large), you'd never know it. I had a friend who was visiting today, and when I showed it to him, he was also quite surprised by how small and light it is, so the first thing I have to do is give it a "thumbs up" for being an actual packable piece of gear, taking up less space than the vast majority of sleeping bags.It comes in a giftable (very giftable) hexagonal box that is wonderfully illustrated, and so I wouldn't hesitate for one second to give this as a gift to the hiker / camper in my life.It comes with the "airstream pumpsack", which is basically an easy-to-use inflator that doubles as a carry bag. You don't even have to put your mouth on it, you hold it open and blow into it from a few inches away (yes, it really works), and then quickly roll it to trap the air and force it into the pad. Total number of breaths to inflate to sleeping pressure is 2-4, depending on how well you capture your "blows" and roll it, and the 1-way valve means you aren't constantly fighting escaping air. I was surprised not only by the size and weight, but also by how effective the "airstream pumpsack" actually works. It's one of those designs that maybe sounds a bit weird when you hear it but seeing it and using it in person quickly takes it from "weird" to "seriously innovative". If you wanted to carry a small powered inflator, you could still do that, but with this, believe me it's unnecessary.The last piece of the puzzle here fits very well because it's actually nice and comfortable to sleep on, especially when contrasted with the cold, hard, ground, lol. It claims 3-season capability, but if the rest of your gear is capable, like if you have a nice 4-season down sleeping bag, I don't see why you couldn't extend this to a bit of winter fun. Once again, it may only be 3 season rated, but compared to the cold, hard ground...yeah, you get the idea.As a side note, it has the "Pillow Lock System", which supports Sea To Summit's pillows, which are sold separately at a cost of around $60. I don't have one of those, and so couldn't test that part, but if the pillow is half as good as the bag is, I recommend taking a serious look at one of those as well.In short, there really aren't many camping pads that "wow" me. Most of the "self-inflating" ones are unreasonably heavy, most of the superlight ones are a pain to inflate. This one is "Goldilocks", which makes it "just right", offering superbly light weight and a compact formfactor, while at the same time being easy to inflate and deflate. In other words, "Wow".It is perhaps one of the best sleeping pads I've yet used. 5 easy stars, and highly recommended for your next outdoor adventure, even if it's right in your own back yard.

This pad was provided this to me for free to review. To say I am impressed is an understatement. it is extremely compact and inflates easily with the included pump sack (or cheat like I did and use a pump). I have not been hiking yet but I gave it a bigger challenge--I put in on the den floor and slept on it. I am a big guy and a side sleeper and if I am camping more than a night I take a rather bulky / heavy air matress because other pads, including some nearly this expensive, give me fitful sleep and leave me sore This one did not. And it is big enough that I could reposition / roll over during the night without it "running away" from me.I woke up a couple of times during the trial night like I always do--but I was not uncomfortable at all. My bed was only a few feet away, but I saw no need to climb in it. That is a testament to how comfortable this is.I do not believe it would be possible to make something lighter and more compact with this level of comfort. The rated thermal barrier should be great for cold weather camping.If you are looking at this pad you are looking for comfort instead of an uncomfortable bargain. The return policy is your friend, try this one--I believe 90% of people who would consider spending this much for comfort wiil keep it after using it a night or two.

It's surprising how comfortable this sleeping pad is, despite being so light. It ended up more supportive than expected, and I needed to drop the pressure lower than I do with other mattresses. It isn't a coil spring or foam mattress, for sure, but it's pretty good.I picked the large rectangular option, since I'm 6'2". It's perfect in length, but is just a little narrow for my tastes. A couple extra inches side to side would help a lot. Annoyingly, the rectangular variants carry a ridiculous $40 premium tapered ones of the same dimensions, at the time of writing. Is there really that much more material there?This does make quite a bit of crinkling noise as you move, but that's pretty typical with any foil-insulated sleeping pad. I'd say it's slightly better than others in this respect.Packing it away is pretty easy. Just opening the valve is enough to get almost all of the air out, making folding and rolling simple. The bag is sized just right, the rolled-up sleeping pad fitting easily inside, but without having too much excessive material. I do have identically sized mattresses which cost a lot less and pack down smaller, though.Inflating with the storage sack works surprisingly well. I don't normally like using my breath to fill things due to moisture, but blowing into this (from about a foot away) pushes additional fresh air into the bag. You can also fill it if you have a moderate breeze going on, just by angling it towards the wind. It took just over five sacks worth of air to fill the mattress as firm as you could ever want it. The nozzle is 21mm to fill the mattress, or you can turn the bag inside out for a 15mm nozzle to fill a pillow.In addition to the mattress and bag, you get some patches (three large square and three small round), an extra flap for the one-way valve, and the "Pillow Lock" patches. The last seems a little gimmicky; it's just four crescent-shaped velcro patches which snag the bottom fabric of Sea to Summit's pillowcases to keep them from sliding around. The rest is very appreciated.Overall, it's a very great lightweight sleep pad. It's comfortable, packs down to a very small size, and is light. Comfort is very very high. Tapered pads are competitively priced, but going rectangular carries a huge premium. I'd recommend staying away from the rectangular variants for this reason, but the tapered ones seem much better value.