Organic Full Pad Review

Year after year, the Organic Full Pad is a top contender in the world of bouldering crash pads. While many companies constantly try to reinvent the wheel, Organic has remained true to its vision of high-quality, useful, but relatively simple designs. The Full Pad offers four inches of foam protection with a no-nonsense hybrid hinge closure. Constructed with top-of-the-line materials, this pad is a mainstay mid-sized crash pad.

Performance Comparison

Padding Falls

Whether you're falling off the first move of a lowball sit start or catching some serious air time on your highball project, the foam used in the Organic Full Pad will make the impact as comfortable as any bouldering fall can be. This model boasts four inches of foam composed of three separate layers of open and closed-cell foam.

The combination of open- and closed-cell foam adds enough stiffness to the pad so that when you fall from a greater height, you don't compress the foam enough to hit the ground through the pad – an uncomfortable experience commonly known as “bottoming out.” The Full Pad, much like all of the other Organic pads we've used, offers an excellent balance between being stiff enough to keep you from bottoming out and not so stiff that small falls are jarring. This seemingly perfect blend of foam is really what makes this pad one of our top picks.

Besides foam quality and density, the other primary factor in how well a pad protects you during a fall is how the pad folds open. Pads with a pure hinge style closure are easy to carry but have a dead space in the center of the pad where the two edges meet when the pad is opened. This can leave the user vulnerable to rocks and roots underneath and can create an unstable landing platform. While the Full Pad looks like a hinge-style pad, it's actually a hybrid. The top layer of foam is a continuous piece that tacos when you fold the pad. This continuous layer of foam linking both sides gives you a much more solid landing surface.

Durability

While not the cheapest, Organic pads are highly regarded for their durability. With normal wear and tear, these pads should last you for quite a few years. If and when the interior foam does break down, Organic sells replacements for all the different layers of foam in their pads for a fraction of the price of a new pad.

In addition to being stuffed full of long-lasting foam, the Organic Full Pad's outer shell is made of ballistic nylon, and the landing zone is made from thick Cordura. Whether dragging your pad between problems, laying it over sharp rocks, or accidentally leaving it out in the rain, this pad is one tough cookie that can take some serious abuse.

The only issue our testers have had with this pad is the chest and waist buckles. Both are plastic and can crack if you accidentally step on them. That being said, many pads on the market have this same flaw.

Packing Gear

What sets the Organic Full apart is the inclusion of a handy 24-inch by 15-inch pocket flap. This handy flap lets you stash more gear in your pad and keeps things you've stuffed between the layers from falling out.

You can easily fit a slider pad, a Makita fan, a kneepad, two pairs of shoes, a chalk bucket, snacks, and an extra layer without too much trouble. The pocket flap also makes it super easy to attach another pad of the same size to the back of this pad, making it fast and simple to carry in two pads.

Very few crash pads come with a carry system as robust as what you might find on a backpacking backpack. But for what it is, the Organic Full Pad has one of the better-carrying systems of any of the pads we've tested. It sports fully adjustable shoulder straps, a sternal strap, and a padded two-inch hip belt that help distributes the load. Our testers have walked far and wide with a heavily loaded Full pad and have come to appreciate how the extra padding on the hip belt helps avoid chaffing.

Features

The Organic Full Pad has most of the standard features you'd expect from a premium pad, plus a few extra niceties. This crash pad has metal hooks that secure the pad closed, a briefcase-style grab handle, and the previously mentioned pocket closure flap. Besides bolstering its carrying capacity, the flap protects the entire carrying system from moisture and mud when laid out like a built-in groundsheet underneath the pad. Carrying a muddy pad out from the boulders is a common issue, and this bit of extra protection will make your walk home much more comfortable.

The one thing this pad lacks is a way to secure it to other pads while in use. Many pads come equipped with velcro attachment points, which helps minimize the likelihood of you falling into a gap created by two pads sitting next to each other. This danger can easily be mitigated with careful landing construction and a thin slider or blubber pad. Still, it is slightly less convenient than having pads that attach to one another cleanly.

Should You Buy the Organic Full Pad?

From Hueco Tanks to Fontainebleau, you'll find the Organic Full Pad in boulder fields worldwide. Prized for its top-notch foam and ability to withstand years of rough handling, it's easy to see why these pads are universally loved. Considering that the Organic Full Pad is one of the cheaper mid-sized pads on the market, it immediately jumps out as offering consumers a good value and is our Top Pick for a mid-sized pad.

What Other Crash Pads Should You Consider?

When you factor in its excellent durability, convenient features, and high-quality foam, you will be hard-pressed to find a better deal than the Organic Full Pad. But certain pads in our lineup excel beyond the Full Pad in particular ways. In particular, the Mad Rock Duo offers an additional inch of thickness and 624 square inches of landing space. And if you're looking to maximize the pad surface area, the Metolius Magnum is, by far, the largest pad we tested.