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Oct 18, 2024

The NeoLoft is the Plushest Backpacking Pad We’ve Ever Used

Testing the NeoLoft sleeping pad Photo: Benjamin Tepler Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members!

Testing the NeoLoft sleeping pad Photo: Benjamin Tepler

Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! >","name":"in-content-cta","type":"link"}}">Download the app.

When it comes to backpacking pads, most brands focus on weight and warmth, with a tight arms race to the highest R-value between several of the category’s top names. But with the release of the NeoLoft this fall, Therm-a-Rest aims for another kind of superlative: a backpacking pad that’s as comfortable as a car camping mattress.

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$240 at REI

If anyone could do it, Therm-a-Rest is a solid candidate. They created the first self-inflating pad in the 1970s, then changed the game again in 2009 with the NeoAir, a pad that set a new standard for comfort and warmth-to-weight value. Still, even the plushest backpacking pads won’t be mistaken for a deluxe, foam-topped car camper. After a season of testing the NeoLoft, however, we can safely say that this pad is the new gold standard.

The NeoLoft, which weighs in at 25 oz in the regular size (it also comes in regular-wide and large), is built to be plush above all. For the comfort-minded, it solves nearly every problem you might have with other inflatable pads, including Therm-a-Rest’s own highly-touted NeoAir line. Compared to the NeoAir XLite NXT, it’s far thicker, at about four-and-a-half inches instead of three. That’s enough extra height to keep even heavier side sleepers from bottoming out.

It’s also two inches wider and one inch longer than the NeoAir XLite NXT and XTherm NXT. For back sleepers of average stature, that’s wide enough to keep their elbows on the pad. If you sleep on your side with bent legs or shift side-to-side often, the 25-inch wide version is a worthy upgrade. All versions are rectangular, giving you more pad under your hips, knees, and feet. It switches up the inflation system, with two one-way valves that move air faster compared to the two-way valve found in the NeoAir line, and includes an extra-large inflation sack. The bigger sack and faster valves are a smart move given the quantity of air the NeoLoft requires—inflating it only takes about 30 seconds longer than the XLite NXT.

Best of all, it solves one of our biggest irks about the NeoAir design—the slippery, horizontal air chambers that seem to shoo you off the pad in the middle of the night. While the NeoLoft also has horizontal chambers, they’re fully wrapped by a raised air chamber around the perimeter of the pad. “It’s like the entire pad has a guard rail that coaxes you back to the sweet spot,” one tester reported.

And while the NeoLoft is relatively heavy for a backpacking pad, it’s worth noting that the weight comes from comfort- and durability-oriented material choices. Unlike nearly every other backpacking pad out there, the NeoLoft is not made from crinkly and slippery nylon. Instead, it’s wrapped in a thicker, soft and stretchy knit polyester (the top fabric is 50-denier, the bottom is 75). It’s pleasant to the touch—one tester said the fabric feels similar to his favorite sun hoodie—and quiet. If you’re a light sleeper who can’t fall asleep faced with the cacophony of crinkling that most pads create, the NeoLoft will be a welcome change.

Thanks to all of these design differences, the NeoLoft feels like a very different pad compared to the NeoAir line despite a similar interior construction, which stacks layers of triangular, air-filled chambers and a heat-reflective coating for insulation. (The NeoLoft has a respectable 4.7 R-Value.) Instead, its closest competitor is likely the Big Agnes Rapide SL, which also boasts more than four inches of thickness, an R-Value of 4.8, and elevated guard rails.

Still, the differences between the NeoLoft and the Rapide SL are considerable. In the regular width, the Rapide SL is both narrower and shorter than the NeoLoft. It has vertical air chambers, which do a great job at keeping you centered on the pad mid-slumber, but also tend to “taco” underneath more than the horizontal chambers of the NeoLoft do, especially if you’re a side sleeper. The Rapide’s guard rails don’t extend around the top and bottom of the pad, either.

At 17 ounces, the Rapide SL is also considerably lighter than the NeoLoft. For that reason alone, the Rapide is a great option to consider if you’re baseweight-conscious. But for pure comfort, the NeoLoft is a step above. One reason for that is what Therm-a-Rest calls 3D construction. In other words, it has vertical sidewall panels like your mattress at home does, giving it a true rectangular shape that provides full height and firmness all the way to the edge of the mattress. That’s something that you’ll find on car camping pads like the Exped Megamat or REI Camp Dreamer, but not on other backpacking pads.

Our testers agreed that the combination of the sidewalls, the guard rails, and the air chamber design really does give the NeoLoft a greater sense of support and stability than any other backpacking pad on the market. “It’s just next-level comfort,” one tester said after three nights atop the NeoLoft at lakeside campsites in Idaho’s Sawtooth Range.

In all, the NeoLoft is the only sleeping pad we’ve ever tested with the comfort of a proper car camping pad that’s light enough to use for true backpacking trips.

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