I was lurking over at bike packing.net in their gear reviews section and noticed that the typical silver car windshield shade rates quite highly with them. Haven't seen mention of it here.

At 5 oz., it's pretty lightweight, but I don't imagine it's very comfortable although it probably adds some insulation. It may not be the lightest way to supplement a foam pad by adding radiation/reflection of body heat. A mylar space blanket cut down may be better.

Has anyone used one as a pad or a supplement to a very thin foam pad to increase the insulation?

I just bought a thermarest ridgrest solite pad because I looked at all kinds of sleeping pads and created my own metric that measures the insulating capability of the pad per unit weight of the pad (the R-value divided by the weight in ozs) and I calculated that the ridgerest solite gave the most insulation for the weight of any pad sold at REI. As I was getting into my car to drive home, I
moved my sunshade off my front windshield and realized that it might be even better than the ridgerest solite. I am about to go on a week long backpacking trip in montana and I am planning on sleeping in a hammock. I am going to try out both the ridgerest solite and a cheap car sunshade and will post my results when I return (in a couple weeks).

If you're sleeping in a hammock, do you need padding between you and the hammock?

If not, then an underquilt below the hammock will provide more warmth per weight

Last weekend I made a pot cosy using car sunshade. Worked a treat - my dehyd. meal stayed nice and hot after sitting for 10 minutes while out snow camping.

I have a DIY double layer hammock and use one of these as my warm weather pad. Works quite well for me.

cup is half empty or half full

as a sleeping pad, the car sunshade doesn't offer much padding, but under the solo UL tent, replacing the solo tent footprint about the same weight 5 oz, now its padding benefits outweigh those of a manufacturer's footprint. Footprint cost $50, sunshade $5.

also can be used to replace the emergency blanket (weight savings) out of the 9-1-1 kit, and can be used to signal SAR helicopter for help.

Edited by RodneyOndaRock on 08/04/2011 10:12:18 MDT.

Awesome.

I'm glad someone else realized this. I've been experimenting with the autoshades / sun shades for years. I hadn't thought to use it to make a cozy until just earlier this evening.

The problem with Reflectix is the bubble wrap isn't durable enough. It gets compressed / popped and doesn't bounce back.

On the other hand these window shades use a closed cell foam with what appears to be the exact same style of foilized laminent. This seems to be much more durable then reflectix with its bubble wrap insulation.

What I'm thinking of doing is making a cozy for a dual purpose drinking bottle / cook pot. The cozy's purpose will be both to insulate it while off the stove so I can handle it with my bare hands, to cover up any soot, and to keep it insulated while it travels... so whatever's in it will stay hot longer... or cold longer... or simply keep it from freezing a little longer.

Ultimately I'm hoping I can boil a bunch of water in it and throw it in the bottom of my sleeping bag overnight.

I have looked at these types of materials for a few different projects, the durability keeps me looking at cutting up sunshades, but the price starts to get a little high. Do any of you know of a source for a roll of the sunshade material?

according to:
http://www.alibaba.com/showroom/aluminium-foil-sun-shade.html

aluminium foil sun shade/ PE bubble car sun shade
Supplier: Henan Yilong Import & Export Company Limited
[ Trading Company ]
China (Mainland)

Car sun shade 130*60cm/aluminium foil
Supplier: Cangnan Shuangzhen Gloves Co., Ltd.
[ Manufacturer ]
China (Mainland)

Aluminum Foil Automobile Sun
Supplier: Landy (Guangzhou) Plastic Products Co., Ltd.
[ Manufacturer, Distributor/Wholesaler ]
China (Mainland)



Remember when Ross Perot said:
"Do you hear that whooooosh sound? it's the sound of American jobs leaving overseas"

Remember when Ross Perot said:
"Do you hear that whooooosh sound? it's the sound of American jobs leaving overseas"...

I do remember, and a little more due dillagence in my search led me to:
http://www.radiantbarrier.com/index.htm
I have contaced then regarding the toughness of their offerings with regard to reflectix and the common sunshades.

If this pans out, the next step is figuring out what to do with a 100 ft roll

"If this pans out, the next step is figuring out what to do with a 100 ft roll"

That's what the Gear Swap is for :)

"Remember when Ross Perot said:
"Do you hear that whooooosh sound? it's the sound of American jobs leaving overseas"..."

Everyone (including me) thought he was a kook, but he turned out to be right.

Uh oh - this could degenerate to chaff topic

I bought a roll of similar material at Home Depot or somewhere, years ago. I think it was much shorter than 100 feet.

http://solarcooking.org/plans/windshield-cooker.htm

I have been using a car shade (120g) to protect my NeoAir from punctures.

Yet another reason sunshades rule... back up stove. :)

Another option instead of using a sun shade for raw material is to use garage door insulation like the "M-D Building Products Silver Garage Single Door Insulation Kit" at Lowes. I used this on my garage door and had a little extra so I made a beer cozy and it works great! For seems I used HVAC grade aluminum tape. I could see this working exceptionally well for dehydrated food sleeves or pots too. With all the other options out there for pads, this would be pretty low on my list though, especially for bikepacking where compressed size matters. For bikepacking I've used the ultrathin (5mm?) white closed cell foam insulation that comes on roles at the hardware store cut to my torso. For some reason I don't have the weight, but it's under 100g. It offers no comfort but suffices for warmth in the Colorado Mountains.