Therm-a-Rest - Standard ¾

I use my full length R4 self-inflating pad all year long. For sub-freezing temps I add a 3/4 length R3.2. I use a 20oz "emergency blanket" (tarp with mylar side) as a ground sheet for bivouac, tent footprint, and emergency shelter.

We use Thermarests or their equivalent from like REI. ¾ sized ones to save some bulk.

I've had great success with Thermarest, REI, and Exped self inflating mattresses. All have good customer support too. I wouldn't ever bother with an all air mattress. Poor insulation, rotten in cold. Get a FlexTail pump.

When I was younger I got a 3/4 length therma rest sleeping pad for a backpacking trip to save on weight. It worked it was fine for the trip, I'm really short anyway and didn't notice. 12 years later I used it again and let my bf use the full body one because he had never gone real camping before. Oh man, I can sleep through a lot and pretty easily. That was the most uncomfortable I've been in years sleeping on the ground. Get one. You'll regret it.

I'll hype my Thermarest self inflating pad. I think it's 3/4". It was expensive when I got it, but I've used it many times over 30 years and it's still working well. It could be more comfortable. But I carry it on a pack. It's worlds better than not having it.

So…I went from an inflatable mattress…no insulation, to a cot, with a thermarest self inflating mattress. Better, but I found the cot to be so confining. Ditching the cot and using the thermarest on the ground was 100% better.

I started on the old school thermarest shortie, then a full length, then switched to a big agnes inflatable--which i liked but went through two of them with bad valves. Switched to a nemo a couple of years ago, and love it. It's a little "crinkly" sounding, but otherwise well worth it. Good choice :-)

Literally 5+ years on foam mats from Kmart. 2-3 years on a thermarest self inflating and finally in a “normal” bed after buying the firmest possible mattress.

The Thermarest self inflating is rubbish. Just some thin foam that helps to expand and suck air into the pad. But you still need to inflate it further. My exped mat is filled in a minute with the pump sack.

We use fold up carton type mats as our base. Then in our tent we have Sea to Summit self-inflating bed rolls. Our kids have the same base and use Therm-o-rest self-inflating ground mats. We find as long as we stay on the self-inflating mats, we’re pretty comfortable. The ther-o-rests are almost 20 years old and still in great shape. We upgraded to Sea to Summit because they fold up so small for backpacking

I just switched from expensive Thermarests over to these crazy cheap Night Cat hand pump pads and I am never going back to thermarest/self inflation. My arm goes dead without fail sleeping on the Thermarests and they take up nearly twice the room in my gear. The only benefit of the Thermarests I can see is that they are really tough, which could be great for some hardy adventures maybe. But nothing a couple patches can't fix IMO... So Choo choo I'm on the air pad train. These newer cheap designs are legitimately very good, they roll out crazy long and then shrink up. I probably can't share amazon links but "Night Cat Inflatable Sleeping Pads". There's a bunch of brands making this style now too, I'm not trying to spruik any particular brand, this was just the one that was affordable where I live.