I know you had a bad first date; but I've been impressed with the Exped pads thus far.
I believe we're three generations in now and I haven't heard many busted baffle issues come up. So the kinks in the heat welded process (or whatever they use) may have been resolved.
Unlike the pure air based Xlite or Xtherm, the Exped uses a knock off of Primaloft Gold. So even if you did get a leak or a bust... provided you could get it to hold about 3/4" of air you'd get nearly the full R value of the pad in a pinch. Most field patches or tenacious tape repairs will do the job well enough to inflate to half full.
The pack size and weights are competitive with the neo-air series and they do make a wide medium which is nice. No short wide though.
Specifically the Hyperlight series, which does have a winterlight (not down) version to compare to the Xtherm.
Orange for three season, Red for winter.
The other bonus in my opinion goes to what Alligator and others discussed- inflation. The schnozzel system is pretty good (and if it fails you can always blow it up). It's very fast and it eliminates any moisture induced bacteria, mold, mildew, whatever type problems.
It's personal preference really- but the vertical baffles and thickened edges fit my style better and give me more usable pad than the Neo-Air design so slide offs are virtually non-existent.
I might suspect that your Pillow failures might be simply how you use the pad as far as repeating the location of the failure and given your time spent on it sitting, lounging, reading, etc. But that's not really important... just a matter of curiosity on why your failures occur in the same spot. Do you read on your side propped up on an elbow often? Or sit that way in your bag while you cook, etc.
On the durability... I believe we've had this discussion before. Had it at WB for sure...
I think better these days to discuss things in terms of 'nights' generally. Having run into this with SUL or UL gear being 'less durable' the argument is easily made that conventional weekend warrior or boy scout wisdom on years of durability of certain gear is simply a function of more folks doing LD hikes or spending extended time out like you do Walter.
A dedicated weekend warrior getting out once a month for two nights racks up 24 nights a year. So when that gear is claimed to last a decade... well it made it 240 nights. If a decent UL piece of gear gets through 1 or 2 through hikes or makes it for a year or so of 21 days at a crack per month then more than likely it saw more nights of use than 'Old Faithful' that was stored properly, cared for, and loved over a decade of weekends.
Continuous field use, daily packing and unpacking, temperature extremes, dirt, dust, body oils and on... 300 days of steady use without a serious issue is a pretty solid piece of gear in my book.
If that old faithful piece of gear was set out on the porch every day exposed to the elements by the weekend warrior instead of stowed in good condition even he'd probably see a few years taken off the lifespan if it didn't flat out dry rot long before 100 nights of use were achieved.
Not saying stuff should crap out; but just to keep some perspective (as I know you have) on durability.
I've been looking at a 100 night system myself...
100 nights for SUL/FKT minded gear... not throwaway but meant to do a specific job and a serious trip at the bare minimum of specs.
200 nights- solid gear to get you through an average Big LD hike or several LASH's. But not overblown 'bomber' stuff designed for the zombie apocalypse.
300 nights- pretty bomber stuff IMO. Several pieces of UL gear like packs and sleeping quilts hit this mark even without being too overblown in design with moderate care.
More'n that... well those are those rare pieces built for death and destruction and reflected in both weight and cost...
Like a Mystery Ranch Pack
Originally Posted by Tipi Walter
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