Whats your favourite Matt?
Posted: Wed Dec 19, 2012 9:33 am
Apart from great uncle travelling matt of fraggle rock fame, whats your current favourite matt?
Matts are a bit of a 'thing' for me, I want the comfort but am always reluctant to carry the weight and therefore struggle to end up with one I actually like to sleep on very often.
I have quite a few, heres the run down.
Downmatt 7 M:
Supremely comforatable - always the best nights sleep, full length, R5.9 so warm. But heavy at 800g+ and bulkier than some sleeping bags.
I love this matt for touring and cold weather camping. Pain in the bum to pump up too. Big volume so don’t know if these will fit inside a bivi bag or not
Exped Airmat Basic UL M:
Light at 350g, packable, full length so nice and comfy to sleep on although mine goes down enough that I'm on the ground after about 4 or 5 hours, can’t find a leak and got no receipt though. No warmth value at R0.7, takes a fair bit of puff to inflate but thats not really a problem if you’re out of the rain.
I quite like the direction of the segments in both of these as I tend to stay on. Big volume so don’t know if these will fit inside a bivi bag or not.
Thermarest Pro Lite 4 3/4:
A bit old school now. Average comfort I suppose, pack size is not as good as the Airmat, nor is the comfort. Weight is good at 320g though, Very quick to inflate, not so quick to roll back up small. R2.2 so not too bad for a bit of warmth although the effect of this on the ¾ is diminished. Low volume so I guess will fit inside a bivi bag, don’t know about the others. Reliable so far, quite a bit of use.
Alpkit Numo:
Not a great compromise in my opnion, not too heavy at 500g but dosnt pack all that well and has popped twice. R value of 2.5 so shouldn’t be too cold but it was warm when i used it for a few days, Not as good as the airmat basic as I found it fairly slippery and ended up hanging off the bottom a few times like a ¾
Alpkit Airo ¾:
Good value and I would suggest it does everything a pro lite does, but not as light and a little bulkier when packed. Simple as that.
Alpkit Dozer:
2kg of cofort. Huge. Incredible comforatable and as warm as the down mat. I lived in my tent for a couple of months mid week and this thing was like sleeping in a bed. Pack size is like a roll of carpet!
Thats it at the moment for me, I guess my current preferences are the downmatt for cold weather and then I swap and change between the Airmatt and the prolite for better weather.
Whats your preferences?
Matts are a bit of a 'thing' for me, I want the comfort but am always reluctant to carry the weight and therefore struggle to end up with one I actually like to sleep on very often.
I have quite a few, heres the run down.
Downmatt 7 M:
Supremely comforatable - always the best nights sleep, full length, R5.9 so warm. But heavy at 800g+ and bulkier than some sleeping bags.
I love this matt for touring and cold weather camping. Pain in the bum to pump up too. Big volume so don’t know if these will fit inside a bivi bag or not
Exped Airmat Basic UL M:
Light at 350g, packable, full length so nice and comfy to sleep on although mine goes down enough that I'm on the ground after about 4 or 5 hours, can’t find a leak and got no receipt though. No warmth value at R0.7, takes a fair bit of puff to inflate but thats not really a problem if you’re out of the rain.
I quite like the direction of the segments in both of these as I tend to stay on. Big volume so don’t know if these will fit inside a bivi bag or not.
Thermarest Pro Lite 4 3/4:
A bit old school now. Average comfort I suppose, pack size is not as good as the Airmat, nor is the comfort. Weight is good at 320g though, Very quick to inflate, not so quick to roll back up small. R2.2 so not too bad for a bit of warmth although the effect of this on the ¾ is diminished. Low volume so I guess will fit inside a bivi bag, don’t know about the others. Reliable so far, quite a bit of use.
Alpkit Numo:
Not a great compromise in my opnion, not too heavy at 500g but dosnt pack all that well and has popped twice. R value of 2.5 so shouldn’t be too cold but it was warm when i used it for a few days, Not as good as the airmat basic as I found it fairly slippery and ended up hanging off the bottom a few times like a ¾
Alpkit Airo ¾:
Good value and I would suggest it does everything a pro lite does, but not as light and a little bulkier when packed. Simple as that.
Alpkit Dozer:
2kg of cofort. Huge. Incredible comforatable and as warm as the down mat. I lived in my tent for a couple of months mid week and this thing was like sleeping in a bed. Pack size is like a roll of carpet!
Thats it at the moment for me, I guess my current preferences are the downmatt for cold weather and then I swap and change between the Airmatt and the prolite for better weather.
Whats your preferences?
:D