ALPS Mountaineering Summit Sleeping Pad - Self-Inflating, XL

First, I have a severe back injury and because of that almost wrapped up my camping days. No air mattress on the market would handle my back issues especially after a day of camping type work. This thing, well, it has saved my camping days! It is so comfortable, wide enough to sleep on my side, long enough to have my feet on with the rest of me, and thick enough to sleep on top of tree roots, rocks, or holes in the ground under the tent. I loved it so much that I thought I would love another product even better so I bought a fancier more expensive competetors pad - supposed self-inflating with the same dimensions. Not only is the more expensive one slow to inflate but you also have to bring a stupid pump to make the [...] thing fill up with air. And, I like this one much more. Having the small slope of the pillow adds just enough to take the pressure off my spine. Basically, this Summit pad is a dream.

The only thing I don't like about it is that the material doesn't grip a sleeping bag well and therefore it is slippery. My solution to this works perfectly: I have a very thin fleece sleeping bag which I unzip and put over my Summit pad, as if the fleece bag were a fitted sheet. I then open my bag but keep just the bottom of it zipped and lay directly on the fleece with my feet in my bag but the rest of my bag is open like a comforter. It's THE BEST camping sleep situation I have ever experienced. I spend about 4 weeks in total each summer camping remote sights in Northern Maine with this sleeping arrangement. I even take all of this with me to water access only sites. Some say they would never take this hiking - I would. I would rather not bring any clothes than sleep on a mat that hurt my back! Anyway, I cannot say enough good about this thing. I love it!