9
My new sleeping pad popped in the middle of a cold night in the White Mountains
I was on a three day hike last October, and the second night the temperature dropped to about 28 degrees. I was using a fancy new inflatable pad I'd just bought. Around 2 AM, I heard a soft hiss and felt the ground. The seam had split right down the middle. I spent the rest of the night on frozen pine needles, shivering in my bag. The pad was supposed to be rated for winter. I had to cut the trip short and hike out cold and tired. It really showed me that a high R-value rating doesn't mean much if the thing can't hold air. Has anyone else had a pad fail like that, and what did you switch to?
3 comments
Log in to join the discussion
Log In3 Comments
the_felix3mo ago
A seam split right down the middle? That's a brutal failure mode. Your story is making me side-eye my own fancy pad. A high R-value is useless if you're sleeping on the ground. That's a major design flaw, not just a random puncture. I'd be sending that thing back with a very angry letter.
6
the_dylan3mo ago
Yeah, what did the company say when you contacted them? I mean, a seam split isn't like a normal puncture you can patch, that's a total manufacturing defect. It makes you wonder if they actually test these things in real cold before they slap a winter rating on them. I'd be pushing for a full refund, not just a replacement, because that kind of failure is just dangerous.
0