I get quite excited about my air mattresses. I think sleeping whilst camping can be hugely underrated. Sleeping in general essential to rest your body on mind and recharge yourself for What to come. This is arguably never more so than when camping, bivvying, trekking, bike packing or on expedition. The number of my friends who have crappy thin mattresses which deflate during the night is very surprising. Often the first topic of conversation in the morning is how bad the night's sleep was. I tend to stay quite quiet as I have a selection of excellent mattresses and generally sleep soundly.

The Neo Loft is my new favourite. Previously, I've always classified my mattresses in one of two groups: lightweight for any activity where I am carrying a load, and heavyweight for when I am sleeping near my vehicle I don't have to worry about weight. Generally speaking, the heavyweight mattresses are thicker, warmer, bigger and more comfortable, giving a better night sleep. The lighter ones make some compromises, with a smaller footprint, and less thickness. This is the first mattress which I would say spans both groups. I certainly have lighter ones, but somehow Thermarest have managed to pack a fat, warm, massive, comfortable mattress Into a small, lightweight package when deflated.

This photo is of the mattress in a lightweight two person tent. I was sleeping solo in the tent which is a good job as the mattress took about 2/3 of the footprint of the tent.

I wrote that before reading the blurb on the Thermarest website. I like to make up my own mind about a product before reading about what it is supposed to be. This is what they say:

Merging the cutting-edge innovation of ultralight pads with the supreme comfort of car camping pads, the NeoLoft air pad takes backpacking comfort to a whole new level.

I think we are very much in agreement!

It weighs 850g (to put that into context my lightweight mattress - The Neo Air Therm - weighs 440g, but my previous car-camping mattress - Neo Air Dream which I have had for 9 years without any issues at all - weighs 2.84kg. 

The lightweight one is 7cm thick, the heavyweight is 8cm thick with a memory foam topper, and the Neo Loft is a whopping 11.7cm thick!!

You may think that a memory foam topper is impossible to beat on a mattress. I certainly used to, but not so, the Neo Loft has a firmness to it that belies belief. It's as comfortable as any bed I have ever slept in.

Other things to mention. It's warm. The side are raised a little meaning you're less likely to roll off it. It has the new wing lock valve meaning you can deflate it quickly in the morning, but also make micro adjustments during the night if needed. It comes with a large stuff sack for inflating, and I do appreciate that Thermarest provide generous bags for their mattresses to fit into when packed away.  

Is there a downside? I guess some might baulk at the price tag of £250, but compare that with the money you have likely spent to get to where you are camping, remember that it has a limited lifetime warranty and is likely to last you literally hundreds of nights' sleep, and it really, really is worth the investment in my book. 

Here is the mattress on the Thermarest website.