Backpacker Tracker, I'd like to understand more about your exerience with this pad. (Incidentally the specs list this pad as being 2.5" thick, not 2" as you wrote in your article.) With the pad's humongous R-value I cannot understand why you would be so cold with this pad. I would also like to hear specifically why you think the Big Agnes pad was better for you. FYI: there is another version of this pad. It is touted as being eco-friendly and the insulation is made out of bamboo instead of synthetic material. Unfortunately it costs roughly twice as much as this pad. Dunno if the bamboo is more or less comfortable than the synthetic insulation.

BackpackTracker I understand some of what you are saying relative to a difference in comfort between the two styles, but they should be relatively the same because when you put the two side by side, they are almost the same pad. On the note of being cold when sleeping, well there is a lot more going on then the temperature in your tent. In order to create the same circumstances is hard and more than a single test is necessary. The simple difference between sleeping with or with out a hat can feel like a 15 degree difference in temperatures. The entire sleep system needs to be looked at; pad tent and bag yes, but also, how much you ate before sleeping, hat or no hat, how hard did you work that day, hot water bottle?, and the clothes that you where while sleeping. All of those things apply. The pad only provides comfort and padding from sleeping on the ground and insulation from the grounds temperature. There might be some other areas of the sleep system that you need to analyze before chalking it up to the pad.