Has anyone compaired the (older?) Therm-a-Rest
DreamTime to the (newer?) Therm-a-Rest .
I have a unique perspective in this discussion. Starting last fall I spent a ton of nights on my deck sleeping on one pad after another. No, I wasn't in the doghouse with the wife, I was compiling the Overland Journal pad test in the spring issue. Granted, only a tiny portion of the tests were performed on my deck, but those sessions were the most telling. If a pad sucked, it was sooooo tempting to go inside just 10 feet away.
I have slept on both of the two latest versions of the Dreamtime. There is no question which is the most comfortable - the old. There's no doubt which one is smallest - the new. At half the packed size of the old Dreamtime, the new version uses a NeoAir at the core. Awesome pad, but not as comfortable as the big, foam filled pad of the previous Dreamtime. That thing is pretty massive when stowed away. Almost too big for most people.
At any rate, Honu is dead correct in his evaluations of the Exped Mega Mat. That pad is without peer as comfort goes. As he pointed out, the vertical sides are one of the key attributes. That's what I think makes it sleep like a bed, not a camping pad.
If space is not a huge concern, there's no pad that can touch the Mega Mat. However, the Thermarest MondoKing XL is a close second if you like a more firm sleep. At 4" thick it's super comfy, but it does tend to feel more firm than the Thermarest Luxury Map XL. That pad has a slightly softer feel to it due to the perforated "body mapped" holes in the foam. My wife swears by the Luxury Map XL...or did....now she's a Mega Mat convert.
I've professionally tested a ton of products over the years and pads were tough. We had seven testers. Everyone had slightly different opinions. The only unanimous assessment was - Mega Mat is the best. Period.
