The sleeping pads and accessories you need for turning the cold, hard ground into the most comfortable night of your life

Sleeping outdoors does not need to be uncomfortable. With the right gear, and a considered approach, lying under the stars can be just as nice as staying home. And no piece of gear is more important to comfort than your sleeping pad. Drawing from the 11 years and hundreds of nights I've spent sleeping on luxury pads, here's how to find the right ones for your unique preferences, budget, and environment.

I bought my first luxury sleeping pad way back in 2014, as I was recovering physically and financially from a really bad motorcycle crash. That Exped Megamat Duo justified its $390 price not only because it supported and cushioned my sore bones like nothing else, but also because it allowed me to turn camping trips into third dates.

Originally launched in 2011, the Exped Megamat was the first in this new generation of luxury sleeping pads. By housing pressurized air inside four inches of memory foam underneath a totally flat surface covered in a stretchy material that allowed the entire mattress to conform to your body's shape, it delivered a level of comfort that was hitherto unprecedented outdoors. And, by blowing it up extra firm, then using the valve to "burp" air out of it as you laid on top, you could achieve a perfect, tailored level of support and cushion each and every night.

I'm not the only person whose enjoyment of the outdoors was transformed by the Megamat. As in all other successful product categories, rivals showed up promising new features and approaches.

Nemo's Roamer perforated the interior foam and added a pad coupling system. Together, those changes reduced packed size and made it possible to draw two one-person (1P) pads tightly together to form a unified sleep surface for two people.

The REI Co-Op Camp Dreamer brought lower price points by cutting out middlemen.

And Therm-a-Rest brought made-in-America production to the category, along with high-flow valves, with its MondoKing.

Put "luxury sleeping pad" into the search bar on Amazon and you'll find a bunch of pads that look similar from discount brands no one's ever heard of.

All of the above follow the same basic formula: Like the original Exped Megamat, they're about four-inches thick, contain both foam and air, and feature totally-flat sleep surfaces, vertical sidewalls, and stretchy sleep surfaces. R-values (a measure of insulation) for all of those exceed 6.0 and they sleep in utter silence. All are also big and heavy, limiting them to car camping trips. While they're all extremely comfortable, there was still room for alternative approaches.

Exped itself did that by offering three- and six-inch-thick versions, plus one that wraps the original four-inch Megamat in wool. I've tried all of them, and still find myself going back to the original (now called the Megamat 10, available in multiple lengths and widths for both one and two sleepers) for a just-right answer to most nights.

Last year, Therm-a-Rest aimed to bring equivalent comfort to backpacking with the launch of its NeoLoft. Its inflated size and shape replicate those of the luxury car camping pads, but it ditches the heavy, bulky foam insulation for the same crinkly foil used in the brand's ultralight pads. It's more comfortable than any other backpacking pad, but at 30 ounces, it's also more than twice the weight of something like the brand's best selling NeoAir XLite, itself already very comfortable. That outweighs (har) the other benefits to my mind, at least for true backpacking, but the NeoLoft is so much smaller than other luxury pads when packed -- about the size of a basketball -- that it opens up means of transport like canoe, bush plane, or motorcycle, with more comfort than you could have taken along on those adventures previously.

HEST, a new brand based in Seattle, launched in 2019 with exactly the opposite approach. Its Foamy pad ditches the air in favor of all-foam construction. And that's remarkable, given that it doesn't pack down any larger than one of the original luxury pads with the same dimensions. The four-inch thick memory foam is split into two densities. The one on top is soft, conforming to your body, while the firmer one underneath provides support. The foam is then encased in a shell that's rugged and waterproof on the bottom, and stretchy and breathable on top. While foam will never puncture or lose air, it can't achieve the same degree of firmness as one of the inflatables.

All of the pads I've highlighted so far are available in multiple dimensions, with most also available in at least one size suitable for two sleepers. The ability to precisely size a pad to your body, preference, shelter, or surface (Exped even makes one designed to fit around the wheel wells in the back of an SUV or truck bed) is a major advantage offered across this category. Before cross shopping price, consider first the dimensions, and any special use you want to prioritize. Exped's MegaMat ranges from $170 to $520, and most of the competitors are within that ballpark too.

While all of these pads offer impressive comfort, there are some major differences as you dive into the specifications. The Nemo Roamer, for instance, has an R-Value of 6.0, the lowest of the air-and-foam pads, due to the perforations in its foam. It packs considerably smaller as a result, but is most applicable to camping in temperatures of 20 degrees Fahrenheit or warmer. In contrast, the Exped Megamat Max's six-inches of foam delivers an R-Value of 11.0, meaning that, paired with the correct clothing and sleeping bags, it could keep you comfortable down to a positively ridiculous -76 degrees Fahrenheit.

When investing in comfort, it's also worth considering warranties. Therm-a-Rest, with its factory in Seattle, Washington, is famously able to offer a generous lifetime warranty for all of its sleeping pads. Nemo offers the same. Exped and HEST offer five years. REI allows members to return products up to one year from the date of purchase.

I can speak somewhat to the longevity of these pads. That original 2P Exped I bought way back in 2014 is, with the exception of a large hole I tore in it and repaired in early 2016, still as good as new. I've gotten two years of use on a one-person Therm-a-Rest Mondoking, and managed to kill a Nemo Roamer after three years by melting it on a hot ATV exhaust pipe, which was no fault of the pad's. I think expecting a decade out of any of these pads is reasonable.

Within the context of a decade full of newly-comfortable camping trips, you'll want to get the most from these pads. Their popularity has created a market for dedicated accessories, while their size means they pair well with some common home goods, too.

One item I now consider essential is the Born Outdoor Badger Bed Shell, which starts at $420 and is sized for 25-inch wide pads. It's made from an extremely robust, hand-stitched fabric that protects your sleep system from weather, dust, and punctures. Stuart Born, the company's founder, tells me that in the company's eight-year history, he's never heard of a mattress being punctured inside one of these shells. In addition to protection, the Badger Bed helps unify your sheets and insulation layers into a single unit that rolls and unrolls altogether, for easy storage and transportation.

The premise here isn't necessarily insurance for your pad, which probably costs less money than the shell, but rather the ability to rely on its comfort while traveling and camping. With the Badger Bed you can sleep on even the bare ground without worrying about sharp rocks, sticks, creepy crawlies, burrs, or dirt damaging or invading your sleep system. The Badger Bed fits any 25-by-78-inch or 30-by-82-inch pad -- or anything smaller than those dimensions.

You may also want to take advantage of the pads' generous dimensions by ditching your sleeping bag. Born Outdoor and HEST both make fitted sheets that fit these pads, which boost comfort and help keep them clean. On top of those, blankets and quilts can be stacked to achieve the desired level of both insulation and flexibility. Born, HEST, and Exped all make their own puffy quilts sized just to these pads, and there are many options on the market. I like to run a Born top sheet, followed by a heavyweight fleece blanket I bought years ago at a Bed, Bath, and Beyond, then a down quilt. By using Born items, I can attach them to toggles within the shell, so they don't get rucked up or moved out of the way while I sleep.

If you choose one of the inflatable options, you're also going to need to blow it up, and these things -- especially the 2P options -- hold a lot of air. Recent innovations in battery density have resulted in electric pumps that are smaller than a soda can, and which will save your lungs a lot of effort. I've by no means conducted exhaustive testing across every pump out there, but Exped's $65 rechargeable Mega Pump holds enough juice to inflate and deflate a 1P Megamat ten times, and ships with adaptors that have connected it to every mattress I've ever tried. Note the deflation thing. By sucking the air out of the foam inside these pads, you can get a drastically smaller packed size. this is no small feat if truck or truck-bed space is tight.

It's also nice to get off of the ground. All of these accessories work on appropriately sized cots as well as they do on the ground. Back in 2018, I asked myself why I wouldn't want to take advantage of how flat and stable the pads are and use a real bed frame. This $78 full-size folding item from Amazon Basics perfectly matched the dimensions of my Megamat Duo, elevating that 14 inches off the floor of the giant canvas tent I put up for hunting camp each fall. That way, warm air from the wood stove is free to circulate around me, I get bed-like comfort, and I don't have to lower or raise my sore muscles all the way to the ground or back up. As a bonus, it splits in half, into two 25-inch wide bed frames that are just the right size for a 1P pad (the smallest stand alone size, twin, is 39 inches wide), so now a buddy and I both get one.

And that's how I'll be sleeping most nights this fall, way out in the mountains. I've got my new HEST Foamy all wrapped up in a Badger Bed, complete with fitted sheets, and a cozy insulation layers, ready to ride in my truck up there, where the bed frame is already waiting from last year.

Is my setup excessive? Yes. But talk to me when you've just leapt out of bed after a full, restful night's sleep, fully recharged and ready to tackle another challenging day in the mountains. Or as you're hiking back to camp after dark, totally exhausted, but feeling reassured in the knowledge that you have the most comfortable bed possible waiting for you to collapse into it.