Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

After 22 years of sleeping on the ground with the Marine Corps, my new idea of camping is driving my truck to a remote location and setting up a comfortable base camp - comfort being the key word. I replaced my hard foam military sleeping mat with a self-inflating one, and while that was a huge step in the right direction I started thinking I wanted a good cot and mattress pad instead of laying on the ground. I'm 6'3" and tired of my feet hanging off the end of my beds, so the TETON XXL cot and this accompanying pad was what I decided on, and when this pad went on sale for under $100 I ordered a couple. I don't have the cot itself yet, but this pad can work as a ground mat without the cot. First, the total length is 84 inches, but the usuable length is only 79. The other 5 inches is at the head of the pad and is designed to hang over the end of the cot with a small zippered pouch, supposedly for valuables or maybe an mp3 player, and a flat wood slat to assist in rolling the pad back up. Laying on my stomach my toes still hang over the end, but that's much better than my ankles, and on my back I'm completely on the pad. It's wide enough for both me and my 45lb Labrador to lay on and the material feels sturdy enough to stand up to years of use. It's almost as comfortable as a real bed, and much more comfortable than any other sleeping mat I've used. It doesn't come with a transport bag so while I may look for something in the future for now I kept the boxes to store them in. The cinch straps are heavy duty nylon with snap-lock buckles, sewn onto the pad itself. That plus the slat at the other end makes it really easy to roll them up tight, or if you want roll them up really loose so the pad isn't compressed between camping trips. There's also a zippered pocket at the head that you could put a pillow into, but since I like flipping my pillow over while sleeping I doubt I'll ever be using it. As other reviewers have stated, this isn't a pad for backpacking. And it is wide so it'll take up more space in the car than most camping pads. But if comfort is what you're looking for, you can't go wrong with this pad. Update Sept "13: because this pad didn't come with a storage/carrying bag I had been storing them in the original boxes until I could find a bag the right size. I couldn't find anything this size that opened on the end, not because of the diameter of the rolled pad but because of the length. I first tried a 16" x 40" duffle bag which was 2" larger in both diameter and length than the measured rolled pag, and while once inside the bag the pad did fit perfectly it took too much tucking and forcing to get it in. I ended up with the Northstar 1050 HD Tuff Cloth Diamond Ripstop Series Gear/Duffle Bag (18-Inch x 42-Inch). The rolled pad goes in and out of the bag smoothly and there's a little extra room so you don't have to roll the pad tightly.