I'm stuck making a sleeping pad choice. I have my folding ISO mat from my time in the USMC. I also bought an old style roll up green mat that I cut up for miscellaneous padding, so that one is a bit short. Anyways, I keep seeing these inflatable pads. I don't know how an air filled pad is "insulated", but apparently some are. I tried these out in a local store. Some were actually quite nice. A $250 CAD Thermarest and a $150 Big Agnes were my favorite.

First of all, that's a lot of money for an inflatable pad. Second, why would I spend a lot of money on something that could be punctured and rendered useless. Backpacking is naturally rough on gear. I'm not exactly interested in carrying "fragile" gear. What do you guys think of CC pads vs inflatable pads? I understand that going from a 1/2 inch cc pad to a 3" inflatable will increase comfort, but that anxiety of damaging the inflatable would weigh on my mentally. Especially considering that on multi-day trips, if the inflatable shits the bed, you're shit out of luck for the rest of the trip.