Best Sleeping Pad for Side Sleepers and Comfort on the Trail?

[MichaelMerry]

Also a slide sleeper. I also do quite a bit of winter time wilderness traveling and my wife and I often sleep on the snow. Over the years, we’ve found a system that works well for us. We us the therma rest neo air on top of a cheap foam pad. The foam pad provides a bunch more insulation for its weight and a firm base for the neo air. It also provides a little more protection for the Neo air from ground hazards.

I have had occasion to perform a field repair on a Neo air and it is a simple process. They seem delicate, but my first neoair lasted about 500 backcountry nights.

I’m not a huge fan of the new butterfly valve on the Neo air. I find it puts a lot of stress on the pad around the valve and fear it will wear out around the valve.

 

[lowangle al]

The foam pad not only provides more cushion, protection and insulation, you can use it to sit on or kneel on out by the fire.

 

[petit.conan]

For canoe tripping I use a Therm-a-rest Mondo King 3D. I absolutely love that pad and can't wait to climb into the tent most nights. If I am trying to save weight I have an older Therm-a-rest Neoair Trekker that is pretty good. I do certainly prefer the self inflating foam pads over the air mattresses but I get a pretty good sleep from the Trekker too.

 

[stripperguy]

I have a Neo Air.
I'm not a side sleeper per se, I always start on my side and always wake up on my back. BTW, all my life I sleep at most 2 hours at a time, so there's plenty of side/back sleeping cycles. The Neo Air is plenty comfortable all night, but I can't inflate it fully or it will be too stiff.
I only inflate it enough so that when I put my weight on it with a single hand, I can just bottom it out. Any more air and it will be too stiff. Once my full body is on it, it's cushy and comfy...whether on my side or back.

 

[ppine]

I recently bought an Exped pad from REI. It is around 4 inches thick and designed for side sleeps. It has the highest R value I have seen up close to 8. I will be testing it out next week in temperatures around 30-35 degrees in the back of my truck.

 

[Tsuga8]

I've found I have the best comfort by over inflating the pad, laying on my side, and then opening the valve to let out air until my shoulder almost touches the ground. I initially thought I'd want it to be more firm but I got shoulder and hip pain when side sleeping. Letting out some air seems to help it conform to the shape of the body better

^this! I like a firm mattress so it took me a while to learn not to over inflate - partially because I'd test them on my back then sleep on my side. I have a 20yr old thermarest with self-inflating foam core, still going strong, and a newer, thicker fully inflatable (no foam core) Big Agnes. I like both.

I do move around in my sleep a lot, and found a Hennessey hammock to induce seasickness with the tossing and turning I do in the night, no matter how tightly I strung guy lines. I hear other hammock designs may not have the same issue.

 

[Alan Gage]

I do move around in my sleep a lot, and found a Hennessey hammock to induce seasickness with the tossing and turning I do in the night, no matter how tightly I strung guy lines. I hear other hammock designs may not have the same issue.

I've never experienced motion sickness from it but I know what you're talking about. There are been times when I still feel like I'm swaying slightly long after turning over only to open my eyes and realize I'm not.

I was most conscious of this when I first started sleeping in a hammock. The more I did it the less I noticed. I probably would never have gotten to that point if it had given me motion sickness.

Alan

 

[Tsuga8]

There are been times when I still feel like I'm swaying slightly long after turning over only to open my eyes and realize I'm not.

I was exaggerating a little, it was more like what you describe here. But as someone prone to motion sickness, that sensation isn't conducive to sleeping.

I also moved away from hammocks for other reasons, like having a place to get dressed when it's raining (this was back when I did more backpacking and didn't carry a tarp) and most importantly keeping the dog in the tent and separated from night varmints. But, hammocks sure are useful in places where level ground is rare and trees are plentiful.

 

[Alan Gage]

I also moved away from hammocks for other reasons, like having a place to get dressed when it's raining (this was back when I did more backpacking and didn't carry a tarp) and most importantly keeping the dog in the tent and separated from night varmints. But, hammocks sure are useful in places where level ground is rare and trees are plentiful.

Me too. Hammocks seemed vastly superior when I first started using them but that was mostly because my ground setup wasn't very good. I got a good ground setup when I was tripping where hammocks weren't practical and found it was very comfortable, more diverse, and just as lightweight. Ground is now my preference.

Alan