Review on WELLAX Ultralight Air Sleeping Pad: Inflatable Mattress For Backpacking, Traveling, Camping & Hiking - Includes Repair Kit & Carry Bag! by Michael Jackson

I was pretty impressed with this pad before I even used it. Then I took it out for a short, three night trip and I am as impressed as ever. Here's my story:I love camping and backpacking but I'm a pretty frugal guy so I don't usually buy the latest and greatest. My backpack is from when I was a teenager (20 years ago), my hiking boots are from a thrift store, and I have used an old, foam, 1/2 inch sleeping pad for years. It works well enough, but I usually have to strap it to the outside of my bag with bungee cords because it doesn't fit inside. My wife doesn't usually come along and it's never really bothered me so I didn't see the need to spend any extra money on anything different. Sometimes she will come with me though and when we decided to go on our latest one, I decided she would be more comfortable with a nicer pad. I looked at a lot and went with this one because of the price, thickness, weight, and size when compressed down. I figured she could use it on this trip (while I could still use the old foam one) but then I would be able to use it on my future backpacking trips. When I told her how much it was, she was skeptical (she's kind of frugal like me), but when it arrived we did a side by side comparison. Let me tell you, there was no comparison. This one was by far the better pad and it proved to be even more so during our trip. See, we got rained on. a lot. Two to three inches of standing water in the tent, on top of y sleeping bag, is a whole differentstory. We tried to dry the sleeping bag and tent and didn't even worry about the pads. When it came time to sleep, I realized my mistake with my pad, but this one was perfectly dry. We didn't sleep as comfortably that night, but that's what happens with wet sleeping bags.Anyway, a couple other things you should know. It was easy to inflate because of the valve system, but it is definitely much closer to the ten breaths than five. It may have actually been 15, but I have a slight case of asthma so maybe that's on me. Packed, it is about the same size as a pair of my wool socks so it's going to be much easier to take along. It also easily fits back in the bag it came in so you don't have to worry about spending an extra 20 minutes trying to break camp. If I can think of anything else, I'll add it here later, but I am very happy with my purchase.