A short while ago I posted on the field trials of our two new NeoAirs, in particular the matter of overnight deflation which has been reported recently by several bloggers. Our tests showed consistently that one of them performed well, with the slight deflation being well within expectation, but the other suffered badly with serious deflation and needing significant reinflation through the night. I returned the duff one to Bob and Rose at BackpackingLight and received a rapid replacement which I took on our Llantysilio Mountain & North Berwyn trip.
I’m pleased to report that this one was just fine, in fact its performance was quite the reverse of its predecessor:- it didn’t show any sign of deflation at all. After several hours it was still as tight as a drum and I actually had to let a little air out because it was feeling uncomfortably hard. I don’t think the temperature and barometric pressure were particularly favourable on that night, the other NeoAir behaved exactly as it did on the previous nights: just a little deflation, well within tolerance and quite welcome.
This is a new product for Thermarest and all manufacturing processes are subject to certain tolerances, and it appears that the NeoAirs in the first wave have very variable inflation performance, hopefully just a question of quality control.
I found it well worth perservering to get a good NeoAir more for the low volume than the low weight:- it has enabled me to take the LiteSpeed pack on most joint trips now (I carry most of the kit for both of us) where I previously needed the Quest, and I save around ¾kg on weight altogether.
Air beds are not universally popular, in fact overall I prefer the general feel of the Thermarest self-inflators like our old ProLite 4s, except for uneven pitches where the thicker NeoAirs are better able to ride out the lumps, but the advantages are impossible to resist.
5 Comments
I will probably be getting one just not sure whether to go for the short or the medium size yet. It does seem as though there are less complaints recently so perhaps the manufacturing gremlins have been dealt with…..
The sizes confused me at first: our short versions at 270g are the same length as the old ¾-length in the self-inflators (which may also have been known as short at the time), I can’t remember a medium size before.
Anyway we are really pleased with ours.
Well Geoff,
I took the plunge and got the short Neo-air for a very reasonable £59.99
Hopefully it will be with me before I dash off out into the Brecon Beacons this coming weekend
If the recent weather continues, let’s hope it doesn’t double as a dinghy!.
aye. I hope it doesn’t come to that! Hopefully I will be able to have a front room play with it before going to the beacons this weekend. I always like to try kit on in the front room before venturing out…..sleeping mats, sleeping bags, clothes, rucksacks, tents….(ahem)