UKH

Currently using a Thermarest Neoair Xtherm as my main mat - light, warm, comfortable but durability seems poor to me. I'm now on my third one, which has just started to delaminate at the head end, exactly like the previous 2 (which Thermarest replaced). I use it for mountaineering, thru-hiking and long distance cycle touring but have got far less than 100 nights on each mat. None of the mats have ever punctured, just delaminated so I am wondering if this is user error somehow? My climbing partner had a 10+ year old Thermarest that saw all sorts of abuse and hadn't delaminated. Any recommendations for a more durable inflatable or is closed cell the only way to go? I would sacrifice some weight for the convenience of not having to replace the mat every 4 months!   

Are you using a pump or blowing them up yourself? Thermarest didn't want to admit it, but I think the internals of the NeoAir degrade with moisture.

Blowing them up. I wondered if it was to do with moisture, delamination tended to happen in damp conditions. Thermarest support only asked if I was using it in hot conditions. I am careful now not to put extra pressure on the mat by sitting etc; I fear it might be time to back to the Zlite.

Don’t get a Sea to summit with the poker dot weld pattern, after a while (year or two) the fabric pin hole punctures where it creases into the dot. I have multiple punctures due to this and now can’t get more than a couple of nights before it suffers another hole with exactly the same failure mode.

I emailed sea to summit about this and didn’t even get a courtesy reply.

Sadly I’ve just bought an Xtherm as a replacement……

As well as inflating by breath did you store rolled up or loose?

Stored rolled up in the included stuff sack in a pannier but taken out pretty much every day. I also wonder if folding it along the same fold causes the glue to degrade more quickly. I think I probably have 80 nights on this latest pad and the delamination has just started so it will last another 30 or so before it is unusable. In fairness, Thermarest have always replaced them without any issues, but I would prefer not to have the hassle. My guess is most inflatable mats have this issue, most thru-hikers are using CC pads.