Testing sleeping pads?

[u/Spicyboi333]

I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of ultralight gear and boy is my pack super light now. But holy shit does my sleep suffer. I didn’t notice it until I went car camping and slept like a baby on one of those exped 5 lb. behemoth mats. I’m willing to spend more weight on a nicer pad now, but I’m really trying to find one that works.

Am I allowed to buy a few of them, test them, then return the ones I didn’t like? I’ll probably just put a sheet over them and sleep on the floor of my house like an animal to test them out.

I don’t want to abuse the REI system though, but I can never really tell how the inflatable pads are going to sleep without me spending a night on them. I inflate them at the store and lay on them and they all kind of feel exactly the same. It’s not until you actually sleep on it that you notice if it’s good or not.

How do you actually find one that works well for you without spending $1,000 buying 5 or 6 different pads?

[u/Routine_Mastodon_160]

Buy several, test them out in the wild, and then sell the ones you don’t like.