"I see the lost Ranger is on sale again at REI... At least the long one for $165.00. My concern is no insulation on the bottom. I've always used a 48" ThermaRest pad. Should I go full length to take care of cold from the ground. Early May trips I've been on have been miserable at night due to the cold in the ground... or so I think. I can get a good deal on the Thermarest Go Light. Just concered that it is enough."

Ben, I'd say you are right, and do need a full length pad, both for comfort and padding under your heels.  I do most of my trips in early season as well, and it can snow or be frosty.  I normally bring a 3/4 length ultralight pad with my down bags, and put some additional padding under my heels - that's always been warm enough in my Marmot bags.

I've never bought into the no insulation on the bottom concept - I think there's a little logic and a lot of hype in those claims.  With a normal down bag, the bottom half curls up around your sides, leaving less airspace to be heated, and I doubt that the ground pressuer of a pound or two per square inch (or whatever it amounts to) is going to completely crush all the insulating airspace out of the down or whatever insulation - maybe if your back was as flat as plywood and shaped exactly like the bag, you might lose some insulating effect, but otherwise, I'd think it to be a minimal loss.  Most major manufactureres stick with the insulation on top and bottom for a reason.  It should be cheaper and lighter to make a bag with no insulation on the bottom though - there are several "cottage industry" makers of down quilts that might be a better option, not sure.  Maybe the allure of the BA bags is the BIGness ?  whatever.....

U know if those are continuous baffles with a down bag one could squeeze some of those feathers down into the foot box for those cooler nights with with a short mat.

I realize I am new here and in the company of giants but I do have a fair amount of experience with Big Agnes.  So FWIW and IMO here goes:  As I am approaching the half century mark comfort is more important than ever.  I use an insulated (that is important, some are not) Big Agnes pad.  BA bases bag ratings on the use of an insulated pad and I do agree that BAs' ratings are very optimistic.  Would love to see all manufacturers use the Euro system so you are comparing apples and apples.  I do the early morning routine of opening the valve while I am laying there. It is AMAZING what you then feel under you that you have been sleeping on all night.  I do leave the valve open as I roll it up.  I just purchased two BA Sand Mountain pads for my daughters (probably not their most exciting Christmas gift, my son told them they will thank me later) for an '11 Q trip and notice they don't roll as compact as my older burgandy pads which you can roll into a nice compact approx 5" x 8" roll.  I am also a fan of the sleeve on the back to prevent you from rolling off the pad although I have used the pads with my other bags.  Don't miss the fact that they are to be stored between excursions out of the carry bags and stretched out.  BTW it is a bit late for Christmas but Sierra Trading is having a heck of a sale on some of the combos right now.  For example:  (You need to Login or Register to view media files and links)

They are a bit of a pain to blow up but as Bill Brysons companion said in the book Walk in the Woods, "Can you not take an extra minute out here in the woods?"

My wife and I have been using a pair of large BA Insulated Core pads for about 5 years.  No complaint in the comfort department.  There is no comparison to my old thermarest foam pads; these are head and shoulders beyond.  However, this past season they both started to leak, a slow leak to be sure, so that by morning they would have lost about a third of their air.  So after our last trip of the season I figured it was time to replace them and got a couple of Thermarest Neo Air pads, which, by the way are super amazing - lighter and smaller to pack and far easier to blow up.  But as an after thought I figured maybe I should try sending the BA pads back to the manufacturer on the off chance that they could either repair or replace them - though, either way, after 5 years of use I didnt have much hope.  So I mailed them off and heard nothing back and figured  that was the end of that.  A couple of weeks ago I got around to calling them and was very surprised to hear that they had my pads and, having tested them, found the leak to be a manufacturing defect and so they would replace them free of charge with two brand new ones.  I was mightily impressed.  Not many manufacturers would honor a guarentee after 5 years of pretty rugged use. 
As a side note - I now have two brand new pads that I dont need so if anyone is looking for a pair of BA Insulated Core pads at a good price, let me know.