Therm-A-Rest Z-Seat

The Z-Seat is Therm-a-Rest's minimalist take on a sit-pad: a small rectangle of cross-linked polyethylene foam with the same textured, dimpled ThermaCapture surface used on the brand's full-length pads, scaled down to 41 x 33 cm and 2 cm thick. At 60 g it barely registers on a pack's total weight. It carries the same closed-cell R-value of roughly 2.0 as larger foam pads, enough to insulate a seated body from cold rock or damp ground during a break, but it's explicitly not a substitute for a full sleeping pad — there's simply not enough surface area to lie on. It packs down to about 30 x 7 cm, and being closed-cell, it won't absorb water the way open-cell foam would. For hikers who already carry an inflatable pad, the Z-Seat fills a narrow but real gap: something to sit on at lunch stops without soaking through trousers, or a thin layer under a pack or inside a vestibule as extra ground protection. At this weight, it's an easy addition rather than a real trade-off.