The Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft Air Mattress is a 4.6-inch-thick inflatable sleeping pad with an R-value of 4.7 that is a dream to sleep on. It has horizontal baffles and elevated sides to keep you in the center of the pad and prevent you from rolling off at night. I think it’s a little heavy for backpacking, weighing 25 oz in a size regular (73″ x 22″), but it would be a fantastic sleeping pad for base camping, where you establish a campsite and return to it every night, after daily adventures.

Related: Best Backpacking Sleeping Pads

• Size Tested; Regular (73″ x 22″ x 4.6″)
• Gender: Unisex
• R-Value: 4.7
• Weight: 25 oz
• Inflation Sack: Included
• Stuff Sack:  Included
• Pros: Thick, supportive, comfortable
• Cons: Heavy

The Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft Air Mattress is a cross between a Exped Mega Mat and Therm-A-Rest NeoAir XLite NXT because it’s so thick, but highly compressible. It’s built using the same air chamber insulation technology used in the NeoAir pads, but noticeably quieter, without sounding like a big potato chip when you roll around of top of it.

The NeoLoft is one seriously thick air mattress!

The NeoLoft comes with a large pump sack that makes inflating the pad easy. The pad has two air valves, one for inflation and one for rapid deflation. While the valves are not flush with the surface of the pad, they’re much lower profile than the valves used on the NeoAir pads, and positioned out of harms way.

When it comes time to deflate the pad and pack it up, you simply open the deflation valve and squeeze the air out. When rolled up it’s nearly the same size as a Therm-a-rest NeoAir XLite NXT.

So what’s it like to sleep on. Great, actually. The surface of the pad is a luxurious feeling fabric that nice to sleep on if you use a quilt.

While the NeoLoft is luxurious, I doubt that many backpackers will switch to it. It’s just too heavy. I think it would probably make a better air mattress for a basecamp, where you set up camp at a central location and then go on adventures in the surrounding area, coming back to camp at night.

A comparison of the NeoAir Xlite NXT (yellow) and the Neoloft (blue). They’re bot on top of the large pump sack that comes with the NeoLoft pad.

Recommendation

The Therm-a-Rest NeoLoft Air Mattress is a 25 oz inflatable air mattress that is 4.6 inches thick and offers car camping comfort in a pad that packs small enough that it could be used for backpacking. The one caveat to that is that the pad weighs in at 25 oz, which is definitely at the high end for a pad that you have to carry all day long on a backpacking trip. I think the NeoLoft is probably better suited for base camping, where you return each night after your days’ adventures.

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