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The key factors to take into consideration when choosing a sleeping mat are the pack size, weight, your budget and most importantly what time of year you will be using it which, determines the level of insulation you need. Comfort in an outdoor sense is partly dictated by being able to iron out the lumps and bumps in the ground with the mat, but insulation is king and if you’re cold you won’t slee …

What is an R-value?The R-value is a measure used to rate how well your sleeping mat will stop heat loss. Thermal resistance is the measurement that indicates a materials ability to insulate - there are a number of different ways to express this but, as they all measure the same factor, they are all related. The starting point is the R-value.In the past, some brands quoted the R-value in SI units, …

As the name suggests this is a superlight foam mat weighing in at an impressive 74 grams with a sizing of 150 cm x 50cm and a thickness of 3mm. It has a low profile which means it can easily be rolled or folded to fit within our pack. Rather than replacing a sleeping mat, we found it much more suitable as a footprint for a solo tent or bivy bag. Protection from the ground is very impor …

Exped have revamped their sleeping mat ranges and are now using recycled fabrics and are producing the mats to a carbon neutral standard, furthermore they have simplified their naming convention so that the mats now feature the R-Value in the name. This is only a good thing if you understand R-Values and we think the names could have been better. The R3 is a regular sized mat 7cm thick …

The Uberlite weighs a highly impressive 240g, not including its storage bag, and packs down to an absolutely ridiculous 9 x 15cm… not much bigger than a can of soft drink! If you are investing in this mat it is unlikely you would carry the weight of an additional inflation system and once released from its storage bag it can be quickly blown up with around 20 breaths, through the highly reliable s …

Keeping yourself off the floor whilst wild camping is beneficial not only in terms of comfort but more importantly in providing a buffer between you and the ground itself. You can be in the best sleeping bag around, but in the UK, if you don’t raise yourself away from the ground you will find it hard to have a pleasant night’s sleep. One of the best advancements in modern lightweight equipment is …

Straight out of the packaging you can see that this is a product of very high quality. The mat is incredibly compact and instantly nudges the memory back towards the bulky foam mats that would have to be strapped to the outside of your rucksack. How things have changed! Certainly, some of the most innovative designs of modern lightweight trekking have to be the advancements in sleeping mats. Ultra …

I’ve used the Thermarest NeoAir XTherm for a number of years and it’s become my all-year-round sleeping mat. It is light enough and packs down small enough to work for summer and three season use compared to other mats I would have considered while providing more than enough insulation for any winter trips I go on. This is a review of my past experiences of the XTherm combined with new opini …

I like the Big Agnes AXL mat. It weighs in at 321 grams with the pouch adding 6-7g and the repair kit another 3g. It’s a mummy shape to save weight but there’s a rectangular version available that’s about 10% heavier, some people prefer rectangular mats because they’re easier to stay on, but I don’t mind, I’d rather save the weight as I don’t find the mummy shape a problem, especially this one bec …

Coming in at a mere 258grams and packing down to around half the size of a regular lightweight mat, we were very keen to get our hands on the X Frame. This not a relatively new product and often gets talked about on various threads regarding ultralight trekking. Most will agree that the X frame appears to be truly innovative and quite an exciting prospect for a full length mat of this si …

Knowledgebase Page - Choosing a Thermarest Sleeping mat Which Thermarest mattress is for you?Thermarest offers a great choice of mats from self-inflating to closed-cell foam. Choosing your camping mat is entirely dependent on how, when and where you plan to camp. Knowing how you camp is the first step in choosing your mattress. Thermarest breaks down their mattresses into three categories to make …

Selection: I selected the Thermarest Xtherm for a backpacking trip to Scotland because I was intending to camp quite high on occasion and it can get quite cold, even in May. I normally go for the lighter Xlite model which I think is excellent and ideal for 3 season use, but taking the Xtherm gave me a chance to test it.When you compare Xtherm to the Xlite the additional weight is very sm …