After a not too favourable longterm review of the original Therm-a-Rest NeoAir I was reluctant to waste anymore money on something that could potentially have such a short life. Thing is, comfort is important to me on a long hike and foam, or even self-inflating, mats just don’t provide enough so when the NeoAir XLite was released in 2012 I gave it a go. Well… wow! This one actually works!
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| Therm-a-Rest XLite Small |
When Therm-a-rest released its NeoAir in 2009 it was a revelation. For the first time you could have it all. The NeoAir was amazingly comfortable, but also light and with a tiny packed size. I liked what I saw. This was the future of camping mattresses. Initially demand was so high that I struggled to find one in the UK, but on the 2009 TGO Challenge I finally got to see one. It was certainly comfortable but looked a little fragile, could it last a long hike? I wasn't so sure. The following year I hiked the Arizona Trail. This trail is known for being brutal on kit and that proved to be true. Inflatable mattresses were not recommended. Being a sensible hiker I heeded those warnings and took a standard piece of closed cell foam. This was light and reliable but also plain uncomfortable when laying on the sun baked mud and rock that makes up a lot of Arizona. During that hike I met Kimberlie Dame and she had bravely used a NeoAir for the entire hike without any problems. Convinced that with a little care they could be robust enough, and sick of sleepless nights and pain I finally tracked one down. The deal was done and it preformed brilliantly for the rest of that hike. It changed the way I camp forever.
