NeoAir XLite (Small)

They can be cut down to torso length, but from personal experience, let me warn you about that. Torso length doesn’t work great for thick pads like an XLite unless you can find some support for under the knees. Your legs will hyper-extend due to gravity, which is uncomfortable and not physiologically healthy. Adequate head elevation is difficult if not impossible with a torso cut inflatable . I cut mine to 3/4 length such that the knees and head can rest on the pad. That works much better. My cut-down Xlite weighs 9.6 oz. Torso-length CCF pads are actually more comfortable than a torso-length inflatable for the reasons given. They also solve the problem of arms falling off narrow pad and are also lighter and much more durable.

A NeoAir Xlite is fine at 20F. Cut to 3/4 length, it comes to 9.6 oz and packs pretty small.

Have you looked at a Thermarest Xlite? Better warmth to weight than those options.

If you wanna make it even more lighter and packable, there’s a way to [shorten it](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=90Fx6TLNEJQ) down to three-quarter length and use your backpack for the lower body insulation. That’s what I do. Mine weighs 270 g after the modification.

That’s old news. They’ve altered the way they make them so they are nowhere near as noisy anymore. They used to sound like crinkly paper when you turn. No longer.

Continue using your foam pad, but add an Xlite in the smallest size that works for you on top of it.

I’ve heard the BA sleeps cold. I used the neoair short (I’m 5’4) on the WCT and was comfy, it’s my go to as a side sleeper.

For comfort alone i could not do that. Some can. Not me. A comfortable place to sleep is THE biggest luxury on the trail. It’s important to be comfortable. I took a neoAir torso length and a torso length GG evazote 1/8 inch to go under it for more warmth, but mainly protection for the neo air and a something to lay or sit on during breaks. It’s really nice to have a foam pad for laying down on during breaks!!! When you don’t want to inflate your air mattress. It was a nice UL dual pad setup, with my food bag and backpack under my lower legs. I still got a couple holes in my air pad, so having the foam pad helped when i had a slow leak that i had trouble locating for a few days until i had access to a pool of water to put it underwater in to look for the bubbles from the pin hole puncture! I patched it and was good. I now use the neo air winter / 5.7 r / 4 season full length pad and love it! No punctures, even on some sketchy rocky ridge bivy setups.

I did a gossamer gear evazote 1/8 in pad torso length and a thermarest neoair torso length. It worked well. I had the exazote for rest stop to lay down and it protected my neoair from punctures and added some warmth About 12oz between the two

I started out with a wide rectangular pad (Nemo Tensor Insulated at 540gr), before realizing I slept just as well on a regular mummy pad (Thermarest Neoair X-Lite at 380gr) or even a torso length pad (X-Lite at 205gr). Too often people (including myself initially) think they need a wide rectangular pad for whatever reason.

>For people that move when they sleep, I’ll take all the width I can get And yet, for what it’s worth, it’s this kind of statement that leads many to get a wide pad even if they don’t really need it 😉 I frequently switch sides and yet found I can do this just as well on a regular (short) mummy pad. If you wanna drop your pack weight, you’ve simply got to try things out.

You can try to source an old X-Lite NeoAir that originally came in a torso length version. Mine is just over 200gr. It’s less high than the NXT and I have no issues like some describe above - although I mostly sleep on my side so that helps.

>Weight: the combined weight of the Sea to Summit (349g/12.3) and the Switchback (415g/14.5oz) comes to 764g (26.8oz). That’s.. a lot. Even when looking at the pads individually. 350gr for 120cm and 3.1R are not really competitive specs. A torso length NeoAir (which you might be able to find second hand) is both warmer *and* 40% lighter. If for whatever reason you think you want redundancy, get a lighter torso pad and chop the switchback down to 6 or 7 panels. You can then use the CCF for your legs, and it could be your spare if your inflatable would fail for a combined 400gr or so.