Product Review: Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4

September 14th, 2010 Posted by Jessica. Published under Gear + Product Review. 2 Comments.

I first came across the Therm-a-Rest name in my favorite Pan-American Highway bike blog, Pan Am Bike Ride.  In his gear list, the blogger describes his Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4 (long) as “The Trusty!”.  I figured if a guy could sleep sound all the way from Alaska to Argentina on that thing, it’d be good enough for me.

Now, I’m short.  I’m only 5’2.  You’d think since the Therm-a-Rests come in sizes “regular”, “small”, and “long”, I’d be a small, right?  Nope.  The small is only 47″, so a regular 6′ sleeping pad it was!  Therm-a-Rests tend to run pretty high, with a brand-new Therm-a-Rest being priced anywhere from $90-$120.  And that’s without the $15 stuff sack to stow it in.  Not wanting to blow too big of a hole in my wallet, I looked to Ebay for answers.  There I found a “barely used” Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4 (regular) with the stuff sack for $65.

It’s described by REI as “self-inflating”, so you can imagine my frustration of opening it and unrolling it, loosening the air cap– only to see it remain pathetically shriveled on my floor.  I even let it lay like that for an hour, thinking that maybe it really just needed some time to “self-inflate”.  When that didn’t work, I turned to my best friend: the Internet.  Reading several other reviews, I realized I needed to help it “self-inflate” a little.  About three puffs into the air valve later and my new bed was good to go.

The Trusty: My Therm-a-Rest Prolite 4

Camping on Assateague Island gave me a chance to try it out and I must say, I was quite impressed with it.  Yes, a lot of times I woke up half on it because my sleeping bag wanted to slip off in the night– but even when I was sleeping on my side, none of my bones ever touched the ground.  Not my shoulders, not my knees, not even my hip bones (and I’ve had hips since middle school).

I know I haven’t taken it on a long trip where I’m really putting its durability to the test, yet– the folks at Travelling Two believe it’s good for about six months of use before it starts to delaminate and recommend the Thermarest Z Lite for longer trips– so I’ll definitely have to update you as I break it in a lot more.

And, finally, a quick note on sleeping pad care: When storing any “self-inflating” sleeping pad, always store it out of its stuff sack with its air valve open.  Otherwise, the sleeping pad has trouble “remembering” to lie flat when you’re ready to use it.  I keep mine under my bed.