Serious question, why did it take me 10 years to figure out my sleeping pad was upside down?

Last trip in Shenandoah, I woke up with my hip digging into the ground again, and a guy at the site next to me asked if I knew my pad's valve side was meant to go under my shoulders. Has anyone else spent years just assuming all pads are the same on both sides?

2 comments

2 Comments

spencerl323d ago

Three years. THREE YEARS I spent waking up with cold spots under my lower back before I finally noticed the little arrows on the side pointing to the valve. My buddy just looked at me when I told him and goes "wait, you didn't know that?" Thanks dude, real helpful.

jamieperez3d ago

Dude, don't even feel bad. I slept on a half deflated pad for like two winters before I realized I had the valve pointing the wrong way and it was slowly leaking air all night. A friend literally took my pad out of my hands and turned it around in front of me. My jaw dropped. It's one of those things where you just assume a rectangle is a rectangle, you know? The instructions are usually just a tiny diagram on the side of the box that you toss away immediately. Total mileage varies for every pad too, which makes it even more confusing. You're definitely not alone in this one.