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The thickness can be an issue with some bivi’s and I have an old one from Mountain Laurel that is too small to take a NeoAir without compressing the insulation of my bag. I find it’s about right when sat on and I feel the ground under me, when the weight is more spread after laying down it will be perfect! After a few nights use it becomes easy to get this inflation point right. For maximum comfort it should feel under-inflated and soft. What you do notice immediately if coming from other mat types is the comfort! With a thickness of over 6cm you are elevated on a cushion of air over everything and simply don’t notice most of what is under you. The shell material is actually coated with a slightly sticky feeling material but nothing grips well on silnylon. More of a problem is the slippery nature of the mat on silnylon groundsheets but that can be overcome with a few strips of silicon if needed. Sure there is some noise but it’s not loud or unpleasant in my opinion. Others have complained about the crinkly noise you get from moving around on these mats but I’ve never found that an issue.
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Holding a very buoyant mattress under a freezing lake while searching for a leak doesn’t sound like fun to me! Best to try and avoid punctures in the first place and spend sometime clearing the area under your shelter. Of course you have to actually find the puncture first which might not be easy on the trail. The magic in the NeoAir XLite comes in the form of air chambers and a reflective mylar layer that captures body warmth and reflects it back up from the ground. The regular version (20x72) weighs even less at 12 ounces.
NEO AIR X LITE PATCH
A repair is simple enough and involves placing a self adhesive patch over the offending area once it has been cleaned with the alcohol wipes. My NeoAir XLite large is advertised as 16 ounces (actually weighed in closer to 15) and boasts a width of 25' and length of 77'.
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Of course you should still always carry the included repair kit because if you can’t keep your pad inflated then you will have zero cushioning and little insulation. The XLite has not suffered any of these design problems. I did have problems with deflation of the Original NeoAirs but that was down to internal structural problems and not external forces. Like many I worried about the thin fabrics and the risk of picking up punctures, but having used these style of mats since 2010 it has not been an issue and I have not managed to puncture one yet.