Therm-A-Rest Z Lite Sol Review

Therm-A-Rest Z Lite Sol Review

Though a little bulky, you can easily lash the Z Sol tight to a pack.

Pros

Cheap
Durable
Easy to set up

Cons

The dimples can be hard to clean
The pad doesn’t come with a strap to keep it closed


Ground Control To Mattress Pad

Campfire Guy here. If a sleeping bag keeps you warm and a tent keeps you dry, what keeps you comfortable in the outdoors? Unless you are a hammock camper, sleeping outdoors often means sleeping on the ground.

No offense to the ground, but it’s generally cold, hard and pokey. Ground speed aside, sleeping pads are your foundation for comfort in the outdoors. Cots are nice but heavy. I like most of my gear to function on both car camping and backcountry trips.

Therm-A-Rest has been in the outdoors game a long time and makes a wide variety of mattress, tents, cots, sleeping bags, hammocks, quilts and camp chairs.  My first dance with Therm-A- Rest was the Z Lite Sol mattress.   I needed something cheap and durable to outfit my new Boy Scout for his campouts and to add another layer of warmth and comfort for me.

We are two wild and crazy guys, with a Therm-A-Rest Z Lite Sol a piece.

Space Age and Functional

The Z Lite Sol folds up like a futuristic accordion. Regular size only weighs 14 oz. To shave weight, the small is only 10 oz. Ultralite hikers will cut the small size down even further to make just a torso pad, saving, even more, weight.

I’ll take my sleeping pad shiny side up!

With an R-value of 2.6, the reflective “ThermaCapture” coating helps capture body heat, which is nice if you decide to camp in 16-degree weather.  If you are 40, overly fond of cake and capable of wrenching your back while you sleep, I would recommend adding another inflatable pad atop the Z Lite Sol. This will add warmth, comfort and help keep an inflatable mattress from being punctured.

Dimply and Durable

For most kids, the Z Lite Sol is perfect. They can’t pop it and it’s big enough that it needs to be strapped to a backpack, increasing the chances that they’ll remember not to lose it in the woods.

My oldest son would say I’ve packed , “a good amount of gear” for this trip.

If you are gearing up a new Scout, looking to move into a lighter weight sleep system or supplement your existing camping mattress, The Z Lite Sol is a great place to start. This mattress gets the job done without breaking the budget.

Pick up a  Therm-a-Rest Z Lite Sol Mattress today on the cheap.

 Specs from Therm-A-Rest (based on the Regular Size)

Product: Z Lite Sol
Manufacture: Therm-a-Rest
Price: $40.00 on Amazon
R-Value: 2.6
Weight: 14 oz.
Size (in.) 20 x 72
Thickness: 3/4″
Packed Dimension (in.)  20 x 5 x 5.5

If you got this far, thanks for reading! This article contains affiliate links which help pay for gas to get out of the city and into the woods.  The Z Lite Sols were both purchased by the author, with his own funds.

2 thoughts on “Therm-A-Rest Z Lite Sol Review

  1. Maybe that’s what we need! Had to turn our 12″ high mattress this a.m. because it got “lumpy”.
    Love the pic of you guys — you look so serious!
    Have fun!

    1. This particular mattress wouldn’t necessarily help with that in the RV. If you placed these below the mattress though, they would add some warmth to your set up. Thanks for reading!

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