Cascade Designs Thermarest Stuff Sack Review

"This is advertised to be WATERPROOF. Well after an outing in a torential rain, my pad was soaked. Checking it at home showed all the seams to be seives for rain. Not taped or sealed and you could see light through all of the pin holes. Also even with the pad rolled tight and the drawstring pulled as tight as it can go there is still too big of an opening with no type of cover, this is even when the rest of the bag is baggy. I'm sure this doesn't help waterproofness either. It does help keep it rolled, and from getting dirty or knicked...just don't dunk it"

"Re a previous review, when a manufacturer says "waterproof" they really mean it will shed water for a while. Urethane-coated nylon is pretty good, at least when new, but you really need to keep the pad inside a pack or else use a trash bag for a liner between the rolled pad and the stuff sack (that's what I do on canoe & kayak trips). On the subject of the stuff sacks, however, I've noticed a very serious decline in quality of the coating over the years. The sack that came with my pre-1976 Thermarest is still servicible with no peeling of the coating. The stuff sack that came with the Thermarest LE I bought a year or two ago is unusable - the coating became very tacky and the pad will not slip into it no matter how thoroughly I deflate it. Now it's peeling. That's pathetic, but not much worse than most stuff sacks I've bought recenly. I bought a larger diameter stuff sack, which is just fine and really doesn't take up more space as long as you pad doesn't leak!"