
Big Agnes - Insulated Air Core Ultra
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Based on 1 year's data from Jan 28, 2026 How it works
Liked most:
1964
80
"A good robovac is a life changer. Even a $350 basic S8. It is a great place to start. ... I promise you that you will not be disappointed by a basic S8. It will change your life even if it can't fit under every piece of furniture you own. ... My two S8s just finished vacuuming our entire house in about 46 minutes. ... While my floors were being cleaned, I sat comfortably on our patio in the cool shade with a slight breeze and composed my far too long response to you while sipping a diet soda and relaxing. ... I will have to spend about four minutes maintaining my two S8s. This will be my entire contribution to my home floor cleaning effort for today. Four minutes!"
"I got the Q5 Pro for $139. ... costs $450 less than what I paid for the S6 ... it is the best value option out there imo."
"Like 500$ these robots are currently the steal of the century ... You can get a mova p10 pro ultra (cannot remove its mops), equivalent to the l40/x40 for 500$ after a discount code"
1938
566
"Been using them for about four years working out in my gym, and cycling daily (45+ minutes on a bicycle outdoors)."
"I even washed them accidentally and still worked perfectly fine afterwards."
"I still have the Kirby my grandma bought brand new in 1970."
65
9
"it weighs under 350g"
"small earbuds ... Totally ruined it for me when they made them twice as big the next go-around..."
"best cheap tiny earbuds I've ever used ... They put all the others to shame."
299
78
"Just had my second camp out with it. 0 issues with warmth at 50F , unsurprisingly. Also at 60f I didn ’t sleep hot so that ’s nice too."
"I can take it down to like 25-30F very comfortably."
"20 degrees F comfortably from below. Quilt wasn't up to it"
270
92
"I just put up with the pinholes and patching them on trail because I can't sleep better on any other pad. ... There's a huge difference in comfort depending on your body between the dimpled baffling of the Etherlight/Tensor and the horizontal baffling of the Xlite. ... I can't sleep on horizontal baffling despite all the good features of the Xlite. ... I'm a side sleeper and my arms and shoulders ache and/or fall asleep or go numb on the Xlite. For whatver reason I can only sleep on dimpled baffles (tensor, etherlight)"
"I sleep all night and no body aches."
"This specific pad and its sibling, Ether Light XT Insulated, have been my primary pads the past four-ish years. ... They are 4" thick and the most comfortable pads I've used, probably tied with the NeoLoft. ... Never woken with my arm numb, and the only pad I've ever slept seven-plus hours straight-through."
Disliked most:
30
31
"it's so ridiculously loud I can't use it!"
"Only real con is that this thing is CRINKLY ... definitely the loudest pad I've used ... would honestly be a dealbreaker"
"potato chip bag noise effects"
36
30
"Big Agnes has valve issues ... mine didn't even last 3 uses"
"After two months on the road it is now failing almost every night. ... I’ve exhausted the patches that came with the pad and it’s now covered with third party gear repair patches. ... I paid good money for this thing and it is absolutely not worth it."
"I had a Nemo Tensor straight POP with a one-inch tear from a extremely tiny burr on the edge of my quilt pad strap!"
14
44
"I had to return my Etherlight XT since it was too cold to use even in summer."
"Klymit is known to completely bullshit their R-value ratings. ... They had an insulated pad rated at 4.4 that they later (had to?) revise to 1.9. ... I personally wouldn't trust them. ... just stay clear of the insulated claims."
"It was so cold with my 30F quilt and a Zoom UL pad that I honestly was concerned. ... I had to spend the night running in circles and doing jumping jacks in the shelter"
30
27
"I hate that nylon sags and it's actually pretty weird it sucks up water. The last thing you want a tent to do is get heavier, stay wet and lose tension."
"After getting as much mileage as possible out of my BA 2P Flycreek and Tarptent Rainbow, I'm excited to invest in an ultralight shelter that shaves a pound or more off my base weight"
"It’s 100% not ultralight ... Yeah it’s heavy."
0
5
"Big Agnes has valve issues ... mine didn't even last 3 uses"
"The one I have has a terrible valve that seems to be designed to be as inconvenient as possible. ... You have to blow into it, but there's a bit of resistance to air coming in, and the valve is such that it's hard to tell if it's open or closed. ... I'm attaching a piece of an old bicycle inner tube to make it possible to use a bike pump."
"the valve got warped and it's way too difficult to close now"
Might be an issue specific to the pad or your back. We can be pretty particular when it comes to sleep, and it can take a few tries to really dial it in. I have a big Agnes air core pad. I don't think it's warm enough for winter camping but I've been comfortable laying on my back on it. I do usually side sleep, but I wake up on my back often and sometimes just lay on it to relax at the end of the day.
This is the biggest drawback I had with the equivalent burnt orange Big Agnes Air Core Insulated, but BA replaced it at no cost within a week ^((although now it's the Divide Insulated Pad in a quite awful yellow and slightly lower r-Value...))
You must be a warm sleeper. I would classify myself as an average-to-cold sleeper, and I'd absolutely freeze on an R2 CCF at 32F. Forget about going lower. The first time I ever slept comfortably at freezing temperatures was the first time that I used an insulated inflatable sleeping pad (Big Agnes Insulated Air Core Ultra, R4). I was 38 at the time. The previous 27 years of my camping experience, I slept on CCF and froze my ass off whenever the temps were below 50F.
One issue I have with the Klymit pad is that it’s pretty thin, only a couple inches when inflated. That means it has to be full of air - which makes it very firm - or at least that’s what mine feels like. I use a Big Agnes insulated air core long version for my backpacking trips and letting just a bit of air out makes it feel softer.
I have a Big Agnes Air Core pad. Coupled with a Sea to Summit pillow it packs down to the size of a large beer can and is more comfortable than most hotel beds. I have a little pump (believe it’s called Little Giant) that inflates and deflates it for me easily, and in a pinch can be really helpful for starting fires!
I am a big fan of all the Big Agnes products and have a Big Agnes Air core sleeping pad thats worked well without any issues. It provides warmth and comfort at night and collapses into a very small bag when getting packed. [https://www.bigagnes.com/collections/sleeping-pads?filter.p.m.custom.weight\_facet=Pads%3A+18oz+or+less](https://www.bigagnes.com/collections/sleeping-pads?filter.p.m.custom.weight_facet=Pads%3A+18oz+or+less)
Big Agnes insulated air core. Bigger outside baffles keep you on pad.
Be wary of uninsulated air mattresses in mild temps. I bought 2x Big Agnes insulated pads for my twins, along with the BA kid’s sleeping bags for our twins. This is more of a backpacking setup, but works great for car camping and living room camping. The bags have a sleeve on the bottom so you can slide the pad inside. Helps keep them in the bag and on the pad - again - cause the cold ground can give them a chill.
I’ve got 2 BA pads for my kids but haven’t had any issues with them at all, but they don’t seem anywhere as nice as my Nemo Tensors. A buddy has an BA pad and did get it replaced via warranty. With that said, my Nemo Tensors have been amazing and one of them lasted over 7 years. Got it replaced very easily with Nemo, too!
The only pillow i've ever found comfortable was the REI Co-Op Trailmade pillow. It's a non-inflatable pillow stuffed with memory foam squares. So it's definitely heavier and takes up more span than inflatable pillows, but after trying several brands of inflatable I just needed something different. I don't see it for sale anymore, so not sure if they still make it. If you aren't hiking in, and size isn't an issue, I would just use your home pillow. For me the big thing for side sleeping/stomach sleeping is a good mattress. If space isn't an issue a foam mattress would be best, there are a bunch of \~$50 tri-fold 4" memory foam mattresses on amazon. But these take up a HUGE amount of space in a car to transport. For backpacking I use an inflatable Big Agnes insulated pad, but those are like $150. If you aren't backpacking, amazon has several options for cheap inflatable camping mattresses, but you will probably need to buy or borrow an air pump to fill them, as they don't come with them usually. For the sleeping bag I've found I can sleep in any style as a stomach sleeper. Mummy style bags just kind of stay with you, so when you curl your legs up, the bang stays mostly form fitted. If you are sleeping on your stomach, do you sleep in "tiger pose" where you have one leg bent up and the other straight? Mummy bags can make sleeping like that difficult. Big rectangle bags would let you sleep in "tiger pose" with one knee up and the other leg straight, which is how I sleep at home. If you are going with a non-down warm sleeping bag, you can always bring a secondary blanket too, so you don't have to splurge on a super expensive 20 degree bag or anything.
Big agnes for the win. I had two of their insulated inflatables, and they were the best 2 pads I ever had. But got holes I could not locate despite weeks of trying. I'm ready to get another, even if it only lasts a couple seasons
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