Gear Review Klymit Static V Sleeping Pad

[Deadeye008]

I was able to get one of these pads from mattmax25 last week and tried it out one night this past weekend on an overnight trip to High Creek. First off, the pad seems very well made. I have a couple of Exped pads and a couple of Big Agnes pads and this pad is in the same class of workmanship as they are. Definitely top notch. The pad comes with a stuff sack and a repair kit. The stuff sack is big enough that the pad easily fits into it when rolled up which is nice because I have a Big Agnes pad that is a pain in the butt to get back into the stuff sack. Klymit's site lists the weight of the pad as 20oz which must be a conservative weight because my pad weighs 16oz alone and 18oz with the stuff sack and repair kit. In other words this is a one pound sleeping pad! The night I used the pad I used it outside my sleeping bag. The temperature dropped to 32 degrees that night. I stayed surprisingly warm considering the pad does not have any insulation in it. I was using a 20 degree down bag. I tend to flip flop quite a bit from one side to the other when I sleep and this pad was very comfortable all night long. The one thing that I did notice is when I would flip over to a new side I would get a little bit of a cold spot for a few minutes in the hip area. After a few minutes though the cold spot would go away. The V slots in this pad seem to allow the down in my bag to fill them in and provide some insulation even though the pad has no internal insulation. This pad is very comfortable to sleep on. More comfortable than my Exped Synmat Basic 7.5, Big Agnes Sand Mountain Insulated and Big Agnes Insulated AirCore pad and just as comfortable as my Exped DownMat. I attribute this to the V design of the pad. Very well thought out. The other aspect that I love about this pad is the nozzle and how easy it is to inflate/deflate this pad. To open the nozzle you pull on it and to close the nozzle you simply push on it. After you close the nozzle you can turn it about a quarter of a turn to lock the nozzle. The holes in the nozzle seem much bigger than the holes in the nozzles of my Big Agnes pads and allow you to inflate the pad with ease. Whenever I inflate my Big Agnes pads it feels like I'm trying to blow air into one of those tiny coffee straws. The pad is much easier to inflate. Overall I think this pad is going to be my go-to pad in all but sub-freezing weather when I will use my Exped DownMat. One could use another foam pad or some type of insulation under this pad in cold weather and it would work very well I imagine. I think Klymit has done an excellent job with this pad. Here are some pics of the pad. I forgot to take some of it on the campout so I will have to get better ones next outing.

Klymit Static V at REI












Klymit Static V at REI

 

[Nick]

Great review! Awesome that it actually weighed in ligher than advertised. I wish this thing came in a slightly longer version and I'd probably give one a go myself.

 

[mattmax25]

Great review Deadeye008. I'm glad you liked the pad and it worked well for you.

 

[Tyler Tebbs]

Good review Deadeye008! I actually recently got the Klymit Static V and I have liked it as well. I haven't used it under my sleeping bag because I tend to roll off of my pad during the night, so I always just keep my pad in my sleeping bag. I really liked the V shape design, I think it better adjusts to the contours of your body. When I first saw the pad, I wondered why it had the V shape in the middle but had horizontal perforated chambers on the outer edges. I have decided that the outer edges must be designed so that the pad doesn't move around a lot. I only have positive things to say about the the Klymit Static V,'it fits perfectly in a small chamber of my Mountainsmith Backpack and like you said, its very light weight. I was surprised that the pad only weighted 16oz for you, that is a pleasant surprise. I don't know if I would notice the difference between 16oz and 20oz but I guess every little bit of weight helps.