First thing first, this is NOT a sponsored post. I saw this product at my local Cost Co a few years ago and was intrigued about it for a couple reasons. The biggest was the compact storage design. I was on my way out to a camping week with a bunch of teenage girls and had been told that though we’d have the luxury of a cabin and with in those cabins bunk beds, the bunks needed a pad of some sort or we’d be sleeping on raw wood. I also understood that as much as I would want to, there wouldn’t be room to haul my personal mattress in a trailer that followed our caravan up to our week-long camping destination. Girls don’t pack light to begin with, so space would be limited and we were asked to be mindful of that fact. All things considered, I still wanted to be comfortable in my attempts to gain some much needed shut eye that I was about to be depleted of for the week. In the isle of Cost Co I sat examining this pad product by Klymit. It boasted a compact design, ease of use and pure comfort. With the price tag of around 60 dollars, though it was an investment, it was an investment I was willing to make all things considered. I find in hours of desperation price tags seem to disappear. Like midnight runs to the grocery store for cold medicine. I see product, not price. Ever. So I buy lots of everything hoping it will help me breath through my nose. Once I am breathing and seeing clearly, I recognize that my medicine shelf is way too full. Thankfully, I chalk up those impaired moments of desperation to stockpiling for future emergency preparedness.
Klymit has several designs of pads, the one I purchased was the KLYMIT Static V. It was fancy enough. They had fancier, but I felt like their base model was plenty fine for what I needed if it indeed was what it was all cracked up to be.
The week came and I can tell you that they weren’t kidding about needing a pad of some variety. Indeed the place I was to lay my head each evening was truly a plank of raw wood. I was pretty optimistic about the purchase I had made in preparation of this event.
From my stay I came away with 4 thoughts about Klymit’s Static V product:
1- It was super easy to blow up. I didn’t pass out, didn’t even come close. I would say it was easier then blowing up a balloon, and took less time then I thought it would. I liked the chamber design and the mouth piece that locked so that you didn’t have to do one of those “fast slight of hand” maneuvers to cover the hole so the air you had diligently blown in didn’t escape. It didn’t blow it up quiet as fast as the gentlemen demonstrating the product at Cost Co did, but in my defense I was about half his size. I’m going to assume my lung capacity was half as much as well. That being said, I usually feel like I’m going to pass out half way through blowing up one of those “floaty” arm flotation devices my kids used to wear around their arms when they swam, and I didn’t feel like that with this. The last thing is, it STAYED FULL the entire week. No re-fill necessary. That was brilliant.
2. It was comfortable. Many people in our little band of campers made comments of the thin air filled defense that I intended to put between me and said raw plank of wood. Many doubted my ability to walk the next morning after waking up from the night of sleep I was about to have. However, it was wonderful! I actually slept like a baby and it was absolutely the most comfortable sleeping pad I’d ever used. I’ve tried foam mattresses, air mattresses, cots, you name it, but this product was absolutely comfortable the entire week.
3. It was fast to deflate and actually fit back into the original carry case. Let’s be honest, that never happens. I usually always make a feeble attempt to get a sleeping bag or a tent or whatever else I need to squeeze back into original packaging at least a few times. After my attempts become futile in nature, I usually settle on force feeding one end into whatever sleeve it is supposed to fit into until I can shove no more. When I get home and my husband is handed my mess, he usually redoes it the correct way and always seems to make it fit one way or another. He never believes me that a sleeping bag grows twice the size it once was and wasn’t made to go back into original packaging. He’s used to this antic now. However, this Klymit pad deflated quickly and entirely and then I folded and rolled it perfectly into the sleeve. Even my husband was impressed.
4. The last thing I decided about this pad was that I loved it so much that a year later when I saw they were back at Cost Co, I bought 2 more so I had more of them. I should have bought enough so that each of my family members have one in our storage. They are small enough they could fit easily into a 72 our emergency back pack as well.
Last week I was reminded I need to buy 2 more when again I was pursuing the isles of Cost Co once again and saw the product back up for display. I think this must be the time of year that Cost Co lets them come in and feature their products for awhile. I know on their site they have a several other products ranging from backpacks, sleeping bags and apparel. I haven’t tried any of these out yet, but if they are along the same quality as their sleeping pads, I’d assume the other products are good too. The pillow products especially look like a good emergency or camping investment. A pillow is one of those COMFORT items I think you don’t think about until your wishing you had one should you need one. Their Luxe Pillow looks especially nice.
PS-Looks like they have a pretty amazing warranty on their products too!