Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus - Women's Review

A warm and cushy sleeping pad, the Therm-a-Rest Prolite Plus - Women's is the warmer and cushier version of the ProLite - Women's, and as a result is a little bulkier, heavier, and slightly more expensive.

Performance Comparisson

The Women's ProLite Plus is a decent winter camping option, especially when paired with a foam pad for extra insulation.

Photo: McKenzie Long

Warmth

The ProLite Plus is a relatively warm sleeping pad, but no longer near the top of our fleet in terms of R-Value. It does have more insulation in the torso and foot areas than the men's version, and has an R-value of 4.2, while the men's regular ProLite Plus only has an R-value of 3.8. This model could be a good choice for men who are 5'8 or shorter, or who are willing to sacrifice a bit of length to their sleeping pad for more warmth. This sleeping pad would be a decent choice for winter expeditions, especially ones that are base camp oriented, or for winter camping in general. It is warm enough on its own, but you can add a lightweight foam pad underneath for extra warmth on especially cold trips.

The ProLite Plus Women's is a durable and comfortable choice.

Photo: Ian McEleney

Comfort

Therm-A-Rest uses a lot of foam in the ProLite Plus model, making this mattress quite cushy. While the Plus is a comfortable pad, its shape is not cut quite as wide as other foam self-inflating pads, which are wider in the hip area than the shoulders. The ProLite Plus has a stickier bottom material intended to prevent it from sliding around; this is clever, but it tends to pick up dirt more easily.

Durability

The ProLite Plus has lightened up its materials and has less durable 50 Denier materials that are still abrasion resistant, but less so than the old 70D version. We like that its darker red/orange color hides dirt and stains more easily than the lighter colored products.

Therm-a-Rest introduced its new WingLock valves, which are designed to make inflation and deflation quicker and easier. They are a bit wider to allow for more airflow, and the valve toggles into a position allowing airflow in, but not out. We think these new valves will increase the durability of this product as well as their old valves were notoriously leaky.

The ProLite Plus Women's is a good choice when camping in the pokey desert.

Photo: Ian McEleney

Weight

This category is the reason why we have not selected the ProLite Plus as one of our favorites. Although it is a warm and durable sleeping pad, the ProLite Plus is heavy. Weighing in at 22.4 ounces, we would hesitate to bring this pad with us on longer backpacking trips when we have to carry it. Instead, we would reach for a much smaller and lighter pad and pair it with a standard foam pad to make up for the lower R-Value. If you plan on car camping and weight is not an issue, this pad may be of significant interest to you.

The ProLite Plus Women's is a decent car camping model.

Photo: Ian McEleney

Packed Size

The ProLite Plus is also quite bulky and hard to roll-up, although the new valve helps significantly with getting it rolled up small. Its packed size is 10 x 5.75"; considerably larger than the top contenders in this review.

The Therm-a-Rest ProLite has the smallest packed size of the foam insulated models but isn't the smallest overall.

Photo: Ian McEleney

Value

The ProLite Plus isn't the best value. Other Therm-a-Rest products are slightly heavier and bulkier, but just as durable have a warmer R-Value, and retail for cheaper. If you're looking for something for extended backpacking trips, we'd recommend splurging on a much lighter, higher rating product.

Although it is a "self-inflating" model you still need to put a few breaths into the ProLite Plus.

Photo: Ian McEleney

Conclusion

The Therm-a-Rest ProLite Plus is warm and comfortable and would be a decent choice for colder weather expeditions and car camping trips, especially for cold sleepers or for men who are willing to sacrifice a bit of length. That being said, for these uses, you may be better off going with the much cheaper pad. The ProLite Plus is durable, so if you're looking for a pad you can be a bit rough with, it would be a good solution. Otherwise, if you're going to carry it around on your back frequently, we recommend a much lighter Award Winner.

The ProLite Plus Women's new stuff sack comes with compression straps to cinch it down smaller.

Photo: Ian McEleney