Originally Posted by
Cyclesafe
Which costs an additional $40 and gets the weight up to an Exped Synmat. And they don't yet make the Z-Lite in large.
Of course the issue with bicycle touring is that you can be camping in the desert one night where you can use just the NeoAir and the very next night be camping at 5000 feet where you'd also need the Z-Lite. So you'd often have to carry both pads anyway. I think I'd rather save the $100+.
I doubt that most of us really need the Z-lite along with the NeoAir. I am not sure how cold it got some nights when I have been on tour, but even when it got cold I have not camped in temps that would require both. On the TA we never had temps that would have required it and my other tours were milder. In the rare case it hits 20 or 25F on a long tour I would just expect to put on all my clothes and tough it out.
I generally plan my days to avoid staying overnight at the top of passes, still I camped many times at 5000-7000' and not had extreme cold. I think there were a couple times where it would have been brutally cold if I would have camped on a summit, but I descended 1500 feet or more before making camp in those cases.
If I were to do an early/late season tour where the
expected temps were to be 20F or under and the somewhat likely temps lower. I'd carry both or maybe just carry a regular thermarest. Then again I might just plan the trip for a different time.
If there was a chance that just maybe on a night or two it might get to 20F I'd just plan on toughing out the exceptionally cold night with just the NeoAir and some layers of clothing.
I guess the NeoAir might not have been adequate for your spring tour in the Rockies, but I doubt that many of us would have planned a tour there at that time.