Therm-a-Rest Lite Seat

**StumpJumper** · 03-01-2011, 18:22

http://www.rei.com/product/780983

Does anyone have any experience using this as a foot pad in conjunction with a 3/4 UQ? My hope is that it'll fit in my top quilt footbox.

3oz is pretty darn light (maybe just 1.5oz over closed cell), it's stiff so it won't bunch up during the night (like thinner foam), and it serves double duty as a very nice sit pad.

Would love to hear any feedback before I pull the trigger.

**BurningCedar** · 03-01-2011, 18:56

Its not exactly the answer to your original question; but this is I believe my favorite piece of "luxury" gear!

During the day, I keep it in an outside pack pocket and can quickly blow it up for an extremely comfortable and dry sit pad during rest stops.

At camp it continues duty as a sit pad around the campfire until its time to retire.

And then at night, I deflate it just a bit, fold it in half, and slide it into a small cotton pillow case I made for a truly decadent pillow.

It contributes way more than 3 ounces to my overall comfort.

Oh, and yes it should fit fine in the footbox of your TQ.

**OutandBack** · 03-01-2011, 19:14

This is the sit pad I use in my hammock.
For me at 5'9" it does not cover to the bottom of my 3/4 UQ so I still use a small CCF cut 18" x24" I use the sit pad to reduce calf pressure on my left leg.

hth

**Gnome77** · 03-01-2011, 19:33

Just added this Item to my base gear. Got tired of cold,wet,dirty, hard ground at camp and trail breaks.

**Hawk-eye** · 03-01-2011, 19:36

Have one I carry for extra padding on flights on overseas airlines and I use it camping too. Never used it as a foot pad but dang thing is tough, light weight and packs up small (about the size of a soda can) Money well spent.

**pig.slayer** · 03-01-2011, 19:44

Ive one of these in camo

and it's a great seat.

Saidly I've gone back to a longer CCF pad in the footbox with a 3/4 UQ as the length of the prolite seat just isn't quite long enough on me to cover from my feet and overlap the UQ a little. I get a small gap which lets a cold spot form between the UQ and pad, Only about a 3-4" gap but that's enough for me to notice it when it cools down.

I wish it was just a little bit longer as it's surly a great piece of kit and is nice and comfy.

FYI
I'm 5'11" tall.

**Tendertoe** · 03-01-2011, 20:27

Used it for the past 2 seasons, love it.

I don't like carrying a large piece of ccf for a footpad for the reasons the O.P. described.

The Thermarest seat works great in the footbox of my TQ down to the 30's with a 2/3 UQ. Anything colder and you run into what pig.slayer described of getting a bit cold where your UQ ends and the footpad begins (I'm 6'3'' so this may be different for us taller guys, I have a friend that can curl up and be totally enclosed by a 2/3 UQ, so this works great for him in all seasons).

I use a full length UQ anything colder than that and still bring the seat for use as a seat and still throw it in my footbox for good measure.

Long story short, 3 season use, it can't be beat. If you are a little on the tall side, you may need a longer piece of ccf or a full length UQ to get around this.

P.S. I do wrap it in my turkey roaster bag with a piece of shock cord closing it up when used as a sit pad so i'm not soaking the bottom of it/getting it cruddied up and bringing it into my TQ at night.

**Shug** · 03-01-2011, 21:59

Use on all the time in my TQ footbox!

**pig.slayer** · 03-01-2011, 22:42

Awe this really has me "feelin the love" for my prolite seat.....

Mines still a bit heavier than the listed weight and comes in at 112gram's.

Now I'm starting to wonder if I could rig up some velcro or something like that and just carry a smaller piece of ccf to just cover the few inches of gap between the UQ and prolite seat. Would only end up a strip and I'd velco the two pieces together.

Do you think that would work ???

If it did, we would all have great camp seat's and a proper sized footpad when required as it could be a really easy mod.