The NeoAir Balloon

 

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Review

When I first started backpacking, I remember lugging around an enormous egg crate foam mattress with a green plastic sheet backer about a third the size of me, when I was a wee one.  It was huge and not super comfortable, to boot, not to mention other issues with it, but things have changed.
A couple Boeing engineers happened came up with the original Thermarest self-inflating mattress sometime in the 70s - two nylon sheets sealed, with a piece of foam between them.  These started becoming very popular in the 80s and 90s.  They were great, much smaller than the eggcrate style foamy, but a bit heavy.  I found them a bit of a pain to pack, kneeling on them and squeezing out the air.
So, when Therm-a-rest came out with their next generation pad - the NeoAir, I was excited.  They branded this thing as a new style air mattress.  It has no foam in it, and as a result, can fold up to a size about 2/3 of a pint glass.  This is so small, I have lost it in the stern of my kayak because it had gone all the way to the tip and got lodged way back there due to it's small size. Sweet, not to mention it is super light.  After getting my first NeoAir a couple years ago I was excited, it seemed to be everything I wanted in a mattress - small, lightweight, comfortable.  It even has a silver rubberized side to prevent it from sliding around in the tent, and was a warm three season mattress to boot, thanks to the reflective liner.  It is expensive though, coming in at about $140CAD at MEC.  It is kind of a ripoff that they make you buy a stuffsack for it separately for another $12.50CAD for a small nylon sack, instead of including it with the mattress.  This brings it up to a hefty 152.50 for just a small air mattress.  Some comments I read online say it is a little noisy, but I only found that is the case when it isn't blown up very firm.  These are more difficult to inflate than the standard old school thermarest, since you have to blow it entirely up, but on the other hand it is much easier to pack and deflate.  I can roll it up just holding it in my hands - no need for kneeling on it any more.
I was completely happy with this mattress, except for when I was in Massasauga a year and a half ago, during the middle of the night, I heard some loud popping sounds coming from my mattress only to find out the internal baffles had blown in the mattress. The baffles inside the mattress that keeps it's shape seem to separate from the sidewalls if you blow it up a bit too much and parts of it start turning into a balloon while you are lying on it, rendering the mattress useless from the rather uncomfortable odd shape it now is.  Once one baffle starts going, others go quickly, leaving you with this weird shaped inflatable that can't be used for sleeping on.  This certainly can be a pain if you are in the backcountry and have many days left to go on your trip.  So, when I got back I sent it back and got a new one through warranty, no questions asked.

Only problem is, now this new one has done the same thing after about 15 sleeps - the baffles are blown and I just sent it back to Cascade Designs for warranty service.  While they send me a new one no questions asked, it still is a pain - I am out of a mattress for a few weeks and it cost me 15 bucks to send it back to the states.  Both seemed to happen after about 15 days of use.
 I suspect this happens with the baffles because I like mine firm and blow it up rather firm, even if only with my mouth. There certainly isn't any warning in the literature that says it can do this if blown up too much.  It is unfortunate that this happens, because I love this mattress until the baffles fall apart.  I wish they would spend the time to figure out how to make the internal construction stronger and it shouldn't self destruct like this, no matter how hard my lungs blow it up.  Even if I don't blow it up firm, I would suspect it would give out rather quickly as it seems to be designed a bit too close to the edge of structural integrity.
I can't really recommend this mattress because losing your mattress from a structural flaw just shouldn't happen, but this seems to do it consistently if you blow this up a bit too much.