Ah, Costco.
The purveyor of fifty-gallon drums of olive oil, the go-to place for anyone who wants to stock food to survive the Zombie Apocalypse, and the savior of any parent who must have copious amounts of Annie’s Mac and Cheese in stock at all times.
And it is a place where I have bought some of my favorite outdoor gear and clothing.
I am not the only one enamored with some Costco gear either. 🙂
Three years ago, I picked up two sleepings pads for a partner and myself.
The sleeping pads of choice were conveniently sold at Costco just in time for prime, three-season, camping.
The sleeping pads? Lightspeed Self Inflating Camp Pads.
from Amazon
These pads are essentially the classic Thermarest pads on steroids.
Though available on Amazon for a reasonable price of $50 for the green one, Costco sells them for about $35.
So, why do I like these pads beside the price?
Two reasons:
- At three inches thickness, they are extremely comfortable
- The R-Value is purported to be close to 9. Fantastic for deep winter camping.
When I was in The Badlands this past December, there was no question about being warm enough at night between this pad and my winter camping bag of choice.
I could use my winter backpacking sleeping system, but I’ve realized over the years that sometimes having a large toolkit works better for different jobs at times. Esp when being comfortable and warm. And, the pad is always located conveniently under my Kia cargo shelf for a last minute truck bivvy, too!
These pads have been used frequently over the past few seasons. Trail work trips, remote car camping, road trips, and the deep winter camping too.
I have always been comfortable, warm, and a pad has been just fine more or less in permanent storage in my vehicle.
The pads are much too heavy at six pounds for backpacking of course. And bulky, too. If making basecamp on a winter backpacking trip, a sled could conceivably haul it in, though.
But if you enjoy deep winter camping or last-minute trailhead camping as I do, consider adding this pad to the toolkit.
EDIT: A reader on Facebook reports:
These are great pads. We have two from 2015 and two from this years [2017] batch, notable differ vsences in this years model is that they are marginally thinner, and have one valve instead of two. They are still extremely comfortable though, and when you lay out four of them side by side in a 4-person tent (they nearly all squeeze in) it makes family camping very restful!
Looks to be the more expensive blue one currently sold on Amazon. Nice to know that the 2017 batch is pretty much functionally the same as the one I’ve used so well over the past few seasons.
UPDATE: The 2021 versions are somewhat different. The 3″ version comes in sightly wider at 30″. The three-season, 2″ version currently listed at 25“. THe 2″ pads work well for up until late fall camping; the 3″ pads for deeper winter.
I should also put in a plug in for their customer service. We had a slow leak in a pad and they replaced it quickly, no questions asked, and shipped us a new one. Awesome service!
Disclosure: I purchased these Lightspeed Self Inflating Camp Pads at Costco with my funds.