NEMO Cosmo 3D Insulated
Best shoulder-season pad
Brand: NEMO
Model: Cosmo 3D Insulated
Our take If you’re pushing your three-season gear into late fall (and beyond), better make sure your sleep system is up to the task—your 15°F bag won’t be warm on a summer pad. The Cosmo does the trick thanks to smart details: For starters, it has an integrated foot pump that inflates the pad in about two minutes, which is much easier than futzing with an inflation sack with gloves on. Scalloped baffles through the center of the pad cradle you in the middle; one tester preferred this design to raised siderails, which he says aren’t as effective at keeping you from rolling off. The Cosmo packs down to the size of two 1-liter Nalgenes, not tiny but small enough for the backcountry.
The details The shell is a hardy 75-denier polyester with TPU lamination to resist punctures (we never had a leak). Synthetic insulation gives the Cosmo a rating of 15°F (NEMO doesn’t list R-values).
Trail cred “During a week of school-building in Nepal, I finished every day more sore than I get from hiking,” one tester says. “The sculpted baffles offered the mattress-like comfort I needed.”
2 lbs.; 72” x 20” x 3.5”