Thermarest Neoair Xtherm inflatable mat review

The Thermarest Neoair inflatable mat seemed like a very controversial product to me. Its clear advantages (light, warm, compact) are inextricably linked with disadvantages (unstable, cramped, expensive). I “lived” on this rug for more than a month, I started writing this review, but I still couldn’t finally decide whether I like it or not. And it seems to me that the stumbling block here is the price. If a rug of similar weight and thermal insulation were sold not for more than 200 dollars, but at least 3 times cheaper, then there would be no doubt in principle. I would advise anyone and everyone to buy Neoair. But since the price of the rug is still sky-high, you have to be brutal in finding fault in reviews. So let's get started...

Why did I buy Neoair?

After another hike in Norway, I suddenly decided that I had enough of enduring the stones under my spine (there are a lot of parking lots on all kinds of gravel) and I would like more warmth. My main mat at the time was the classic, “non-inflatable” Thermarest Ridgerest mat. Previously, it had excellent thermal insulation characteristics, but now, at temperatures close to zero, the ground can feel cold. In addition, I have long been overcome by the dream of switching from a 100-liter backpack to a 50-liter one. A compact air mattress would greatly contribute to this.
Armed with all these arguments, I finally overcame my fears, forced myself to part with a large sum of money and bought NeoAir.

What are people afraid of when buying an inflatable mattress?

The main fear, of course, is to puncture this expensive and fragile product. You can’t carelessly throw an inflatable mat on the grass, because there may be thorns there. However, I’m not a fan of lying on the grass, I only lay out a rug in the tent, and I always carefully clear the place under the tent (the tent has a thin silicone bottom) despite the presence of a good Tyvek footprint. Thus, it was easy to overcome the fear of puncture.

They also often write about Thermarest Neoair that it (or rather, its internal bulkheads) rustles very loudly. In practice, this noise turned out to be much less than expected. My tent neighbors didn't wake up when I rolled over on the mat. Moreover, it seemed to me that after a week of use, the rustling of the rug became noticeably quieter (or I got used to it). They say that this is due to increased air humidity inside the product.

Real disadvantages and features of the Neoair Xtherm mat

The real shortcomings of this karemat turned out to be quite unexpected. First, Neoair is unstable. You lie on it like on a water mattress, any attempt to significantly change the position of your body leads to some vibrations. This does not interfere at all if the rug lies on a flat horizontal surface and there are no neighbors around. But if the site for the tent tilted in one, and even more so in two planes, then turning over in my sleep I felt like a circus tightrope walker. You had to move slowly and carefully so that the mattress didn’t throw you onto someone in the tent. And it was difficult to just lie calmly on your side when there was a roll.

Secondly, this too soft mattress... Yes, it sounds strange. But at first, I woke up in the morning with unpleasant sensations in my lower back, exactly the same as what I get from soft, cheap foam mattresses in hotels (at home I have a rather hard orthopedic mattress with a layer of coconut). Having realized this, I began to pump air into the mattress much more strongly and gradually the discomfort in the lower back almost disappeared.

Perhaps I am now somewhat exaggerating the degree of discomfort experienced from softness and instability, because in the end I slept and got enough sleep normally, but these comments will attract more attention and will help potential Neoair buyers more closely analyze their sensations during the “test lying” on the mat in the equipment store.

Thirdly, to inflate the mat you need to spend quite a a lot of time. mention should be made of bringing the mat into working position. To inflate NeoAir with a standard hermetic bag you need to do about 10 pumps. And before that, you need to clear a place in the tent, and strictly from a certain side (so that you can sit comfortably next to the nipple). You can, of course, rock a mattress outside, but it’s kind of scary, and it might rain. At first I even thought about buying an expensive but light and compact electric pump for inflatable Thermarests. It can fill a mattress even in the cramped tent. True, for denser pumping, it’s still better to do the last couple of exhalations yourself...

But the mat is very easy to roll up. Unlike self-inflating mattresses, it releases air easily and quickly; it does not need to be squeezed out in any special way.
Gradually, I developed a special morning routine for waking up. On the alarm clock, I quickly unscrew the air valve (while still lying in my sleeping bag, on the mattress). Under my weight, the rug quickly deflates, my back touches the cold and hard ground and I’m guaranteed not to fall asleep. After this, all that remains is to fold the rug in half (along the long side), roll it into a tube and cover it.

By the way, every time I roll up the rug I remember the fourth drawback of such mats - they are short-lived. Several years will pass and, as a result of active use, constant twisting and pumping, one of the internal bulkheads will peel off and the mattress will turn into an unsustainable ball. You need to look at the Thermarest website to see if they write about a lifetime warranty)) The aluminum coating on the internal bulkheads may also crumble and the mat will lose some of its heat-insulating properties.

The fifth disadvantage of the inflatable Thermarest is that it is narrow. According to the passport, its width seems to be the same as that of the Ridge Rest, i.e. 51 centimeters. But in practice it feels narrower, as its edges are sloping and unstable. As a result, your elbows tend to slide off the mat onto the ground or onto a neighbor. You have to fix your hands, intertwining them tightly on your chest. Of course, you could buy the Neoair in size L. Its width is about 63 cm (i.e. even larger than that of the Izhevsk karemat), which is very good, but its length is also decent (196 cm). Given my height (179 cm), this is clearly overkill.

And the last drawback is the stainable fabric shell. After a month of use, even on the lower, dark side, multi-colored stains are clearly visible (apparently from insects crushed in the tent). And we have never eaten in a tent! I tried scrubbing a couple of stains with a damp cloth and still didn't get 100% clean. The pollution has ingrained itself into the structure of the fabric and is now unlikely to leave. It seems to me that if the fabric were darker or with a pockmarked camouflage pattern, then sleeping on such a mattress would be more pleasant))

Advantages of an inflatable mattress

Perhaps stop grumbling, we can talk a little about the positive aspects of the hero of our review. There are few of them, but each of them is very important and valuable for a tourist.

Weight

It weighs only 430 grams (plus another 70 grams for the case and pump bag), i.e. the same as the Izhevsk karemat. And it “warms” at least three times better! The weight/thermal insulation ratio here is simply magical.

Volume

An inflatable mat certainly benefits greatly in terms of compactness. Even with not the tightest twist, when folded it takes up about 2.5 liters of backpack volume (a log measuring 10*10*25 cm). My old Thermarest Ridgerest took up about 11 liters (7*38*50 cm), and the volume of the popular Z-lite mat was just over 9 liters (14*13*51 cm).

Thermal insulation

So far I have not had the opportunity to go on a winter hike with the Neoair Xtherm, but we have already spent a couple of nights at temperatures from -5 to -10. And I must say, I didn’t feel the slightest bit of cold from the ground; the rug insulates perfectly. Please note that only a mattress filled with air has thermal insulating properties! There's no use in it when it's deflated, I checked. It's as cold as if you were lying on bare ground. What I mean is that you should definitely take a repair kit with glue and patches with you! Even on short trips with 1-2 overnight stays. By the way, I haven’t tried gluing yet (pah-pah).

Neutralization of microrelief

The thickness of the Neoair mattress is about 6 cm. Due to this, it can easily hide and smooth out protruding stones, wide cracks and other unevenness in height not exceeding 3 cm. You can sleep peacefully on rocky mountain bivouacs and not waste time in the morning counting bruises on your sides.

Preliminary results

So far I have Neoair with me on one hike in the Tien Shan and two hikes in the Alps (Mont Blanc and Matterhorn). Next season I'll most likely take it with me to Norway and Iceland and some winter hiking in the Carpathians. But I’ll still think about whether to take it on hikes in warm countries like Turkey or Montenegro. In any case, I’m not going to sell it now (I had such thoughts at first). We'll slowly get used to each other, maybe we won't fight:)
And if you are waiting for my advice (whether it is worth buying such a rug), then I recommend that you definitely test Neoair in a store before purchasing. Lie on it properly, spin around, listen to your feelings.

Kirill Yasko, September 2017