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That one comment about my sleeping pad setup messed me up

Some guy on here said I was crazy for using a closed cell foam pad under my inflatable for warmth, and I got defensive for like 20 minutes. But after 3 nights in the teens near Lake George last November, I swapped to just the foam pad and actually slept better. Has anyone else found their R-value ratings don't match real world temps?
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3 Comments
alicebarnes
R-value ratings are basically a fairy tale invented by gear companies to sell you overpriced sleeping pads. I ran my Exped down to the single digits with a foam pad under it and woke up cold as a corpse, then ditched the inflatable entirely and slept fine on just foam. Science says foam is like R-2.0, but my back says it's R-100 when the ground is trying to suck the life out of you. Maybe all those numbers are just measured in a lab in Florida where "cold" means the AC is set to 72.
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mark_fisher48
@s Alicebarnes wait you actually slept on just foam in single digits?
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grant.kevin
R-value math falls apart when you're actually shivering at 3am.
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