Gear Review

Thermarest Prolite 3

1. ex. comfort
2. 3-season insulation*
3. small pack size
4. sleeping comfort

As evidenced by their complete domination of the backpacking market, Thermarest's inflatable sleeping pads have come a long way.

Originally plagued by leaky valves, punctures, and poor insulation, the mattresses nonetheless took the backpacking world by storm thanks to their unmatched comfort and packability.

Today's top-of-the-line Thermarest pads—the Prolite™ series—are a far cry from those vintage models, offering an irresistible combination of warmth, light weight, and comfort.

While they remain heavier than an equivalently-sized simple foam pad, the Prolite pads are surprisingly light: a three-season (Spring, Summer, & Fall) Prolite 3 pad weighs only thirteen ounces in a short size (20oz regular).

To help keep the weight down, the Prolite pads have a slight taper, with less area around the feet (where you don't need it).

The Prolite's micro dot textured surface provides friction between your sleeping bag and the pad, insuring that your pad won't slowly migrate away underneath you in the middle of the night.

And, of course, since it is, the Prolite provides a soft, cushioned mattress to sleep on.

Thermarest thus remains king of its domain in the comfort department.

Since buying my Prolite pads, I find it gets harder and harder to leave them at home.

It's hard to measure the worth of good night's rest in ounces, but given the gains in comfort you likely won't begrudge the extra weight of a Prolite if you're used to sleeping on a Ridgerest pad.

And in the morning, you can deflate your Prolite pad and roll it up into a nice tidy package that fits easily in your pack, unlike a bulky foam pad.

*Cold sleepers beware, however: the 3-season Prolite does not offer as much ground insulation as a standard foam Ridgerest pad.

This can make for a very chilly night if you happen to be camping in near-freezing temperatures, or on snow.

For either application, I strongly recommend bumping up to a Prolite 4 (the four-season model), or pairing your three-season Thermarest with a foam pad to boost your sleeping system's insulation value.

Dust getting into the valves was one of the banes of the original Thermarest pads. They've tweaked the valve design to make it much more resistant to that issue. Of greater concern is the threat of punctures: especially in winter, if you puncture your pad, its insulating value plummets to near worthlessness. That prospect is dire enough to recommend carrying a patch kit (available from Thermarest) at all times in dangerously cold weather.

How easy or hard is it to puncture a Thermarest? Obviously, any sharp metallic object, such as a steel crampon point, will do the trick. Sleeping directly over sharp rocks can also do it, if you're not careful. If you do puncture your pad, you can fix it yourself, or Thermarest will repair it for you. Send it to them with a check for $20 (as of this writing), and they'll fix it and ship it back good as new.

Thanks to the hard work of those intrepid inflatable pioneers of days past, you can buy a Thermarest pad with confidence today. For three-season use, the Prolite 3 is an evolved, eminently comfortable inflatable pad with best-of-class performance for the money.

» Bottom Line: The best choice for three-season sleepovers

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