Big Agnes Q Core SLX Ultralight Sleeping Pad

I slept immeasurably better on top of Big Agnes than on my Therma-a-Rest--a brand I'd used for 30+ years. I miss spending so little effort inflating my sleeping pad (hyperventilation is a genuine risk with this pad), but the comfort justified the alveolar ventilation of carbon dioxide which exceeded my body's production of carbon dioxide. Also, I didn't experience the noisiness others claim.

We use this product for backpacking and love it. Comfortable, easy to adjust pressure with the valves. We also purchased the BA inflater bag, worth the dollars and doubles as a stuff sack for our trips. I’m 5-10, 240; girlfriend is 5-4, 140 (yes, I asked her if I could put that 😀). Had been looking at this version at rei, didn’t realize BA sold a double wide. The double wide is perfect, fits both of us fine, plenty of room and cushion. With the BA sleeping bag with pockets for our inflatable pillows, it’s heaven. Best sleep I’ve ever had backpacking.

So happy that I made this purchase before a week on the Appalachian Trail in September. I previously had a Thermarest Self-Inflating pad that was an 1" thick. This 4" pad was great for me since I am a slide sleeper. No more shouler or hip pain in the middle of the night waking me up. And its' compact size was a welcome shrinkage from the ThermaRest pad. The weight reduction was also great all day long hiking.

This is the first sleeping pad I've used where my bony parts didn't contact the floor when lying on it (I know, my gear is old). It's comfortable, very compact, no problems with the seal. It is a little noisy when changing position. Not a fan of the effort it takes to blow it up after hiking all day, but also not willing to carry a pump. My biggest complaint was that it had no instructions for care or use. There are two valves, one for inflation, one for deflation and you just have to figure it out (the small one is for deflation). I would buy this again.

Pros:- It doesn’t slip out like some other air mattresses.- It is reasonably comfortable when over inflated, but this requires some real force. I tested on hard tile floor.- The wide-long (25”x78”) is about right for my 6’ 220 lb frame.- It didn’t seem excessively noisy or bouncy.- Extra valve for quick deflation.- Really super lightweight for hiking or EV car camping.- If folded properly, fits easily into included storage bag.Cons:- It took me over 10 minutes of hyperventilating to inflate.- If just a little under inflated, I wake up with sore ribs and shoulder.- Mine came with some weird brown stains that didn’t wash off with dish soap and water (see pic).

Bought this to replace my NEMO Astro Airlite sleeping pad. The NEMO is 70x20x3.5. After sleeping on the NEMO pad with those dimmentions, I decided I needed something thicker and wider.The Big Anges regular wide is 72x25x4. The extra thickness and width is definitely noticable. My arms don't fall off the sides of this pad like they do with the 20 inch wide Nemo pad. I do miss having a built in pump like the NEMO, but as another review said, it only takes around 20 or so breaths to fill. If you're already hiking and having to be in shape for climbing mountains, I imagine this wouldn't be too difficult to inflate. The extra width and thickness does make a difference. I slept on this for 5 weeks and it worked just fine. My biggest complaint is the durability. It worked in Alaska but the moment I brought it to the desert a cactus spine must have poked it somewhere. Got a slow leak that I couldnt find after checking over the whole thing many, many times.

Used this mattress during a backpacking trip to Colorado. Temps at night got down to 38 degrees. The mattress in conjunction with the BA down sleeping bag kept me very toasty. I gave it four stars because twice it leaked down through the valve cap. Once I pulled the cap out and put it back in it held air just fine.

Took this pad backpacking and camping a number of times so far. It's extremely light weight and fits perfectly into my big agnes bag. It's incredibly comfortable and keeps you high off of the ground. The valves are easy to use and have a great feature which allows you to let air out slightly to adjust the firmness to your liking.