Companion forum thread to:

Big Agnes Clearview Air Pad (Outdoor Retailer Summer Market 2007)

Wow, 2.5 inches of airy comfort for just 11 oz? Very light indeed and definitely worth looking into! I wonder if one can put down a layer of ThinLight insulation to protect the Clear View from puncture and expand it to three-season use?

I was wondering how difficult (and or effective) would be to put an aluminized coat on the inner side of the bottom
Franco
Big Agnes, feel free to send me a sample when you do that

Edited by Franco on 08/11/2007 02:56:39 MDT.

I had the same thought about the ThinLight.

Hi Guys-

A thinlight pad sounds like a great idea. But you might need two of them...

A pad on the bottom only would provide puncture resistance but probably will not add much warmth as convective air currents inside the open cells of the mat will lose heat around the edges. A foam mat on top of the clearview pad would add warmth, but no puncture resistance.

We need you make-your-own-gear gurus to come up with a lightweight sandwich built around this thing! :-)

-Mike

Edited by MikeMartin on 08/11/2007 16:49:19 MDT.

Very impressive, considering the size vs weight. Much better than a torso size pad or 1/2 length pads. I don't lnow about the height though. 2.5 is long way off the ground. I have tried to sleep on these types of pads and found them too high and therfore making them un-comfy for me. But I would love to get a-hold of that chair. That is the one thing I miss in my kit.

Thickness means comfort, but, as it was mentioned before, air circulates inside what substantially decreases insulation capabilities of the pad. I'd like to see such a lightweight pad filled with some insulation, either down of synthetics.

Filling the pad with some down might be possible in a DIY way: if the valve could be opened enough to insert some thin tube. Down could then be blown through this tube to each compartment of the pad. If the valve can't be fully opened or it's diameter is too small, one could puncture and then patch the pad to insert the tube...

But can you imagine the mess when your down-filled pad get's a puncture! =)

huh... filling it with down... that would make it similar to the down balloon beds that some have made... could be worth trying...

To add down to it is not as simple as it sounds. For a start how do
you get it evenly into the different chambers, next how do you keep it even when you blow it up ?
This reminds me of the new Big Agnes pillow cover/pump, is it out yet ?
Franco

Also you got to protect against the moisture from your breath, but I'm sure exped figured a way around that.

Hey Franco:

The BA pump/pillow cover, etc. is out. Click over to Big Agnes and look under Product - Accessories page.

Thanks Ben, I was too lazy to look there for myself. For $20 a 1.5 oz dry sac/pump/pillow/water bag/shower bag combo sounds pretty tempting. I have the Exped pillow/pump but it is about 4 oz and much bulkier.
I am wondering how the BA could be converted to a ULA gravity type water purifier ?

Possibly what I am saying is that someone should buy it, try it out and let the rest of us know.

http://www.bigagnes.com/str_acc.php

Franco

Can't seem to find when the Big Agnes Clearview/Chair stuff is going to be available.

This OR was great for us UL/SUL people - just waiting for some of this stuff now...

Feb or March availability is the word.

seems to be available now. Has anyone used this yet? Very interested!!

Currently they are only shipping out the 66" rectangular one and the 72" mummy. I got the 72"mummy and used it with a 3/8" foam pad on snow. I noticed that there probably was about 3ml of water from my breath, stuck in the mattress that was difficult to get out by shaking, because the mattress wants to collpase in on itself; it's soo soft and pliable. When I got it I thought to myself that it wouldn't hold up very long. Well see. Melanie at Big
Agnes told me that you can use the repair kit that comes with their IAC pads... alas, the Clearvue pads don't yet come with a puncture repair kit.

Joseph,

Did you sleep with the 3/8" pad under or on top of the Big Agnes? And was it warm enough on top of snow? Been thinking about this setup for myself.

Thanks!