Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro Sleeping Pad review: Plush self-inflating mat caught between backpacking and car camping

If you’re newer to camping and backpacking, you might not know that sleeping outdoors used to be an exercise in extreme suffering. Until two former Boeing engineers and backpackers invented the self-inflating camping mat, that is.

Patented in the early 1970s as the first Therm-a-Rest pad, the self-inflating mattress added air to the traditional foam pads and comfort in camp was born.

In reality, it took a few decades for Therm-a-Rest to perfect these pads, but these days there are tons of options that are ideal for a night under the stars. From my first Therm-a-Rest, acquired 20 years ago, which was a rather slender and rough affair, to my deep-dish Therm-a-Rest Neoloft, I’ve really appreciated the Seattle brand’s commitment to honing its craft.

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I love camping, and I love sleeping well, so when I was offered the chance to test the updated Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro, I immediately said yes.

Straight away, I could tell that the Trail Pro emphasises comfort and durability. I can feel that it’s packed with lots of foam for plushness and has a really high-quality face fabric, plus a robust construction.

That said, it’s not especially light or packable, but its mummy-shaped design does reduce space and weight. And it has the word “Trail” in the name. So is it meant for backpacking, or car camping?

I took the Trail Pro on a hiking trip to the Isle of Mull to get to the bottom of this puzzling pad. I was travelling around the island by car, so I didn’t need to worry about lugging it on my back. I did pack it in my backpack, along with my tent and clothing, for organisational purposes, and used it for wild camping in my tiny backpacking tent.

Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro Sleeping Pad review

Price and availability

The Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro is available in Regular size, which I tested, with an MSRP of £135 at third-party retailers such as Ultralight Outdoor Gear in the UK and $160 at REI in the US. It sells for €150 in the EU and around AU$350 in Australia.

For an extra £10 / $10, you can grab an extra 15cm of width in the Wide version, and for reasons I’ll discuss below, that’s what I would recommend.

That pricing is on par with the truly excellent Big Agnes Rapide SL, which is about the best pad I’ve tested, and more than the Rab Exosphere 3.5, which I recently tested and is very comfortable, less bulky and lighter than this one.

Compared with other Therm-a-Rest pads in the non-ultralight range, the Neoloft is smaller when packed, wider and thicker when inflated, but costs considerably more at £250 / $250 / €300 / AU$390.

Design and materials

Pads built for comfort often come in rectangular designs that provide more sleeping surface, but the Trail Pro comes in a mummy shape, which cuts down on weight and bulk while still leaving room in my tiny backpacking tent.

This design also helps trap heat more effectively. This pad has a 4.4 R-value, which makes it a viable option for year-round use (here in the UK, anyway).

Insulation is largely provided by a very healthy dose of foam. There is a thin, continuous layer of foam with ridges of thicker foam that I can feel even when the pad is deflated. These layers are nestled between air ridges in a design that Therm-a-Rest calls Stratacore because it mimics parallel layers of rock stacked on top of one another.

While the thick foam core keeps you well suspended off the ground, the 50D polyester stretch-knit fabric is noticeably more comfortable and higher quality than most pads I’ve tested. It feels positively lovely against my skin and doesn’t make a sound when I roll over.

All of this means that the Regular size I tested weighs a hefty 774g on the scale and packs down to only 28 x 22 cm. Will it fit in a 65L backpack like my Cascade Design Flex Capacitor for a multi-day trek? Sure, but it will take up a lot more valuable space than my Big Agnes Rapide SL.

One brownie point I wanted to mention is that this pad is made in Ireland, so while it doesn’t list any recycled materials, for UK campers it does cut down on transportation-related emissions enormously compared to pads manufactured in Asia.

Inflation process

I’ve loved the WingLock valve on other Therm-a-Rest pads, and on this one, as soon as I open it, I hear the air whooshing in and see the pad inflate within seconds.

After that, it takes about 8-10 puffs to fully inflate it, which is more than on pads like the Rab Eoxsphere 3.5, but it is a larger pad. As it gets fuller, the air tends to want to leak out between puffs, but it’s easy enough to manage.

I usually really like the deflation process with the WingLock too, which means most of the air whooshes out with a twist of the valve, but I think the ridge design of this pad traps more air than some, so it takes a little extra squeezing while rolling to get it out.

Performance and comfort

Once I got this pad blown up, there was no denying how plush it felt. It’s one of those pads I can kneel on without any part of me touching the ground, which usually bodes really well for side sleeping. However, I really didn’t sleep well on this pad.

At 183cm long, there’s no danger of my feet hanging off the end, but it feels really narrow, and at 5’4”, I am not a big human. On paper, it’s as wide as my Rab Exosphere, but it’s not as stable. It’s not exactly like sleeping on a boat, but every time I changed position, I felt like I was going to tumble off it.

I couldn’t quite put my finger on why this was happening, but after a little research, it seems that horizontal baffles tend to reduce stability compared to air-sprung cells like those in my Sea to Summit Ultralight XR. Perhaps this combined with the lack of sidewalls is what made me feel like I was going to topple off it all night? I definitely wasn’t as impressed as I thought I’d be.

In the morning, I was worried it would be one of those pads that never go back in their stuff sacks when I saw how big it was, rolled up. Fortunately, Therm-a-Rest designs its stuff sacks with compression straps these days, so I could quite painlessly slide it back in and then secure it.

It fits in my Helly Hansen Relay pack, which is 42L, alongside my tent and spare clothes, so I believe I could technically bring it backpacking, but with so many smaller pads like the Big Agnes Rapide SL available, I’m not sure why I would.

Verdict

The Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro isn’t a bad sleeping pad by any stretch of the imagination, but it does suffer somewhat from an identity crisis.

It’s at once a bit too bulky and heavy to be a realistic option for backpacking, but it doesn’t quite offer the real estate I want for a car-camping pad. It’s also not as stable as other designs, so if you tend to change position a lot when you sleep, you might want to consider an air-sprung pad.

When there are other plush pads on the market that are more backpacking-friendly (like the Big Agnes Rapide SL) and car camping pads like the Therm-a-Rest Neoloft that give you more sleeping room, it’s tricky to make a good case for this one, even with its perks.

If you like the idea of a comfortable pad in a mummy-shaped design and you only plan to go car camping, I’d recommend the Wide option to improve your sleep.

Also consider

The Big Agnes Rapide SL is the obvious choice for anyone who likes the Trail Pro's comfort but wants something genuinely suited to carrying on their back. The Regular version weighs just 597g and packs down to be dramatically smaller than the Trail Pro, yet still offers excellent comfort, impressive stability, and a generous 3.5-inch thickness.

If weight and pack size aren't priorities, the Therm-a-rest NeoLoft is the sleeping pad the Trail Pro wishes it could be. It has a huge sleeping surface, 4.6-inch thickness, quiet construction and exceptional comfort. Unlike the Trail Pro, it fully commits to the comfort-first approach, offering a wider, more stable platform that feels much closer to a real mattress.