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In this post we look at the Big Agnes sleeping mats that we stock and tell you a bit about them. Big Agnes's sleeping mats start at around 400 grams, they tend not to make extremely lightweight pads, preferring to focus on comfort and high insulation value, their pads are light for the job that they do.

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 …

In this post we've drawn together the range of 'How To' videos from Thermarest, some are particular to their own products but others apply more generally.

In 2022 Thermarest was 50 years old. They were the first to design a self inflating sleeping mat for backpackers, and have been innovating ever since. Thermarest, we salute you.

In this post we tell you all about Sea to Summit. We were the first company in the UK to recognise the quality of products made by this company and for many years we were the only ones selling Sea to Summit sleeping bags.

In this post we tell you all about about the company Nemo Equipment, we were the first in the UK to sell their products and the relationship is as good as ever.

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, …

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 …

How to choose an Exped MatWith so many Exped mats to choose from we've written this summary page to help you make sense of the range. In addition, for Spring 2017 Exped have renamed and re-packaged most of their mats so will also indicate the old name where this is applicable. The new versions also come with an inflation device such as the Schnozzel Pumpbag and the Fast+Lite series mats have a new …

Which Exped Downmat?If you are considering a downmat at all it is probably because you need a warm mat for use in cold weather and for sleeping on snow or frozen ground. There are other forms of insulation in mats but down remains the best warmth to weight ratio of any insulator. Down loses insulation value when it gets wet, so Downmats should not be inflated using the mouth, rather they come with …

Design room to manufacturing floorTherm-a-Rest started out by making camping mattresses in their hometown of Seattle in 1972 and have always stuck by their philosophy 'to make what we sell'. They embodied this philosophy by acquiring their own manufacturing facilities and even built their own machines to create some of the worlds most comfortable camping mattresses.But when you create high quality …