Flyer Self-Inflating Sleeping Pad

The Nemo Flyer is a self-inflating sleeping pad and camp mattress that sits between a foam mat and an air pad. Open the valve and the foam core draws air in on its own. Top it up with a breath or two, lie down, and you get the depth of an air pad with foam underneath you.

Who it's for

Walkers who like the feel of a self-inflating mat and want more cushion than the old flat ones gave. If you sleep on your side, or you have woken on a deflated air pad at 2am somewhere along the Great Ocean Walk and sworn never again, the Flyer is the pad we would put in your hands.

It comes in Regular, Regular Wide and Long Wide. Take a Wide if your elbows hang off a standard mat, and the Long Wide if you are tall.

What R-value means for you

R-value measures how well a pad stops cold ground drawing heat out of you overnight. Higher is warmer. The Flyer is an insulated pad: the foam inside traps air in small cells, and the way the channels are cut keeps that warmth with less foam in the pad.

That makes it a pad for most of the Australian walking year: spring and autumn in the Grampians and the Blue Mountains, summer in the high country, winter nights in Queensland and the Top End.

Comfort and noise

The foam is cored from side to side, leaving hollow channels that compress as you lie on them. Your hips and shoulders sink in gradually. Between the channels the foam is left solid, and those bridges hold you up off the ground.

The surface is shaped into ridges across the pad, and the fabric is soft to the touch. Foam inside also means a quiet pad: no crinkle when you roll over.

Inflation and packing

Unroll the Flyer, open the Laylow valve and let it fill while you put the tent up. The valve sits flush with the pad and lets air out in small taps, so you can lie on the pad and soften it a little at a time.

To pack, open the valve, roll from the foot end to push the air out, and wrap the velcro strap around the roll before it goes into the stuff sack.

Weight

Removing foam from the core is what keeps the Flyer's weight and packed size down for a self-inflating pad. The Regular is the lightest of the three sizes and the Long Wide the heaviest; go Regular if you are counting grams.

Durability and repair

Foam gives you a backup an air pad does not have. Pick up a thorn on day two and the Flyer still has cushioning under you that night. A repair kit is included, so the hole is a quick fix at camp.

The updated Flyer, which covers our Regular, Regular Wide and Long Wide (Updated), uses recycled, bluesign approved fabric top and bottom.

Looking after it

At home, store the Flyer unrolled with the valve open, under a bed or behind a door. Foam kept compressed for months is slow to spring back.