Sea To Summit - Ether Light XT Insulated Air Sleeping Pad
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Based on 1 year's data from Feb 10, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
232
81
"It’s is SO MUCH more quiet than the s7 it ramped up the suction power from 4000 to 19000 yet I can let it clean my office room while being in a call now."
"Extremely quiet compared to our last one to the point where we can have it running while my partner is in work meetings (besides emptying water and dust bin, but that is 10 seconds of loud x 2)."
"pads that lift on carpet so you can run it while the baby naps"
242
33
"it weighs under 350g"
"under 700 grams including stakes"
"This time around it will hopefully be much easier because we won’t be lugging the super heavy, although slim, Radians. ... They are NOT heavy or bulky, and I can carry all 3 without it being too much of a pain!"
4
1
"Another feature I love about the Sea to Summit is that their storage sack is also the pump sack. I’ve often forgotten to bring my Big Agnes pump sack when I’ve had my Rapide with, whereas that never happens with the S2S one."
"It uses an inflator bag and inflates easily/quickly."
"and has a bag system to inflate so you’re not hyper ventilating trying to blow the thing up at altitude."
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"I just put up with the pinholes and patching them on trail because I can't sleep better on any other pad. ... There's a huge difference in comfort depending on your body between the dimpled baffling of the Etherlight/Tensor and the horizontal baffling of the Xlite. ... I can't sleep on horizontal baffling despite all the good features of the Xlite. ... I'm a side sleeper and my arms and shoulders ache and/or fall asleep or go numb on the Xlite. For whatver reason I can only sleep on dimpled baffles (tensor, etherlight)"
"super comfy. ... And even me at 270lbs I can sit in my side and not bottom out (inflated a lot though)"
"The extra 4cm in width feels good. ... I am a 181cm, 100kg side sleeper and this feels like a better size and shape for me. ... It is also wider near the foot which is very welcome."
74
21
"I had a whole excel file going and the Nemo Tensor kept coming back as the sweet spot on price, weight, pack size and R value no matter how I sliced it."
"considerably warmer than other 3R pads I have had. ... Glad I upgraded."
"I've used it on below freezing nights and it has worked well for me."
Disliked most:
47
75
"Dropped about 9ozs and kicked myself the rest of the way down the trail for being so gullible. ... I could really feel those 9ozs off my back."
"stupidly heavy mondo king pad"
"For pack-in or hiking its FAR too heavy."
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"It creeks and croaks like crazy though so anyone you go with will hate you. ... And no, it doesn't go away. ... People say that but they are lying lol. I think they just got used to it."
"My only dislike from the Etherlight is the exterior finish on the materials they used makes it squeaky on the tent floor and against some sleeping bags. ... The Sea to summit etherlight packs too big for what it is and the external material is super squeaky on a tent floor."
"Ether light I found noisy and sold it."
4
8
"which started leaking after 3 nights"
"Avoid StS Etherlight XT at all costs, as I have had two getting pinctures where the dividers attach. ... Constant flats from just lying on them."
"My new fucking Sea to Summit Ultralite decided holding air is not its thing despite very careful handling and making sure it wasn't left inflated during the day."
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34
"Klymit is known to completely bullshit their R-value ratings. ... They had an insulated pad rated at 4.4 that they later (had to?) revise to 1.9. ... I personally wouldn't trust them. ... just stay clear of the insulated claims."
"Im not sure if I can trust S2S with another pad after my freezing XT. ... Comfort counts for nothing if using a quilt and you're cold."
"Klymit straight up lies about R values. ... Their advertised R values are not ASTM rated values. You have to look buried in their specifications to find the ASTM value."
2
3
"I had to return the etherlite after waking up with a sore back every night."
"I find horizontal baffles very uncomfortable."
"To me it’s much comfier than than the Sea to Summit Ether Light XT I had before"
BottleCoffee 1.0Are you winter camping? An R of 3.4 is sufficient even just below freezing. Sea to Summit makes short pads.
I found mine really didn't live up to the R rating. I was freezing even at +7, and I normally run hot. I wonder if the wet saturated ground had something to do with it, but I never had issues like that with my old MEC self-inflating.
Creative_Ad2938 1.0I have a previous back injury. I find the Womens S2S Etherlight to be the most comfortable, though the least warm. Next for comfort is the Nemo All Season, as well as the Nemo Tensor. In comfort, they are both just slightly less comfortable than the S2S. Both are warmer than the S2S. I have used the ExPed Hyperlight pad for about 40 nights. I believe this pad has been replaced with the newer version. Mine was a 2.8R value. For me, the warmth was equal to the S2S pad. It was not an uncomfortable pad. It just wasn't as comfortable as the S2S and Nemo pads. I tried the Thermarest NeoAir Xlite. My lower back ached when I used the pad. It just didn't have the support I needed. I wish I could use it as it has great warmth to weight ratios. I used the wide versio pads for each of these, though the Exped was a mummy MW version I would assume what is comfortable for me may not translate to you as your back injury may be different than mine. My injury involved the lower back. I have slept in a hammock a few nights and never experienced back pain.
Empty_Woodpecker8711 1.0I have the summit ether light wide, started using when 300 lbs 5’5. It was the 4th pad I tried and the one I have kept using and would recommend. Haven’t tried the others though.
Excellent_Break710 1.0I also love my Etherlite rec. large. I have around 100 nights on it, and I sleep better than at home. But I am in the opposite boat now, trying to find something lighter. They are heavily discounted right now (for example at Bergfreunde, but that ships from the EU), so it might be worth picking one up to try.
hickory_smoked_tofu 1.0OT, the North American clearance price on the remaining XT mats is incredible. $59 for the women's XT.
HippocampeTordu 1.0I went with the S2S ether light XT wide. I think it is 4" / 10 cm thick whereas my previous thermarest prolite was 5cm... My hip needs 10cm. At the minimum.
ManyMixture826 1.0I’m 6’ 180 lbs, typically a side sleeper. My favorite pad is the Sea to Summit Women’s Ether Light XT. 6’ by 25 inches and 4 inches thick… great for side sleeping. Yup, I sleep on a womens pad - the men’s large/wide pads are unnecessarily long for me as a side sleeper. Why carry weight I don’t use?
planetary_funk_alert 1.0Side sleeper with a bad back here. Can highly recommend the sea 2 summit ether light xt large rectangular. Certain exped pads with vertical baffles sound promising also but I've not tried them
Side sleeper here. I have the ether light xt large wide. It's quite good for me. Id like to try out an exped mat with vertical baffles though
SciMom10 1.0Fellow side sleeper! I'm female so I have hips and I NEED good compression. My shoulder felt jammed up in the Nemo Tensor All Season. The REI Helix was the best once I was on my side, but I felt like I bottomed out when rolling over and also if it wasn't fully inflated but definitely check this one out. Currently I'm on an Sea to Summit Ether light XT (fem version) because I found it on sale and I love it! It's similar in comfort to the Big Agnes Rapide SL (my husband has the big agnes, but it's super expensive so I went with the S2S because I was getting desperate).
Accomplished-Way1575 0.5Exped Dura. It has down. I have the 6R LW. You can get a slightly lighter version which is lighter due to thinner face fabrics. Avoid StS Etherlight XT at all costs, as I have had two getting pinctures where the dividers attach. Constant flats from just lying on them. And I am not the only one. This is why I bought the Exped Dura.
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