Big Agnes Axl Air Pad

I just received the Big Agnes Axl Air Pad from REI today. I had it shipped to the store, which turned out to be a bargain because they sent me a $20 dollar off coupon a couple of weeks ago when I ordered the pad, then another 10% off coupon, both active at the same time for a couple of weeks only. Obviously they want you to purchase more items while you are at the store so I obliged them and also purchased a pair  Prana Brion pants and a new Z pad to augment the Axl. More on that later.

The pad, out of the box, in a stuff sack compared in size with a Nalgene bottle (full of fresh squeezed OJ!)

My pad came with 2 patch kits that included a spare valve flap. The patches already have adhesive so no need for a tube of glue that always seems to go hard after only one use.

The Axl fully inflated. I didn't count the breaths, but I did feel mildly high form hyperventilating. Twenty breaths maybe? BA hypes the antimicrobiotic properties but I wonder about the constantly adding water into the pad.

A close up of the head end of the pad with the valve.

Another close up of the valve. To let the air out, press on the inner flap and squeeze the pad at the same time. It's somewhat awkward, but the air does evacuate quickly.

I was able to deflate the pad then simply stuff it back into the stuff sack without folding or rolling.

The Axl has no insulation so the official use designation is for warm weather use. My plan is to pair it with a small Z Pad so that I have some redundancy with sleep insulation. If the air pad has a major failure, I will still have ground insulation with the Z pad. 

The Axl weighs in at 10 ounces with the stuff sack and the Z pad, 11 ounces.