insulated/Lightweight Sleeping Mat?
- Thread starter WhelanLad
- Start date
Thermarest NeoAirs are probably one of the lightest and smallest options out there. I have a regular size Xlite. I'd consider the large if I ever bought another for the added width. You can combine with a closed cell pad for winter use or longer, less remote stays.
pete dobinson
CGN frequent flyer
- Location
- Courtenay BC.
Exped is good quality stuff. I don't have much experience with sleeping mats but I do know that Feathered Friends in Seattle sell them and they don't sell junk. 
I use corrugated foam... it is not "lofty" but it is super light, and insulates from the ground cold very well... I recently spent two weeks on it on waterlogged ground and was quite comfortable... makes a good shooting mat too.
My last purchase...500 grams. There is a winter version
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B07538ZWB7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/aw/d/B07538ZWB7?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_mob_b_asin_image
i dont think i can bring myself to use such a thin item like those bed roll foams, down under we have a thing called a "Swag", which every one gets as a teenager an learns to love it through the 17s and 18s and into early Drinking years.. i believe you guys may call them a "canvas cutter" or some ####? its a big canvas bag, decent foam mat and you put in a blanket or sleeping bag and a pillow, Roll it up and Wullah - great sleep.. obviously too bulky for backpacking lol but vehicle based they are great...
So us Aussies have that from the get go, whilst using only those thin foam bed rolls on school excursions , difficult to find comfort whilst in just a sleeping bag on a back pack trip until we found the Exped 9s..... hooley dooley , the deluxes of all.
im going to need about 4cm min of padding i rekon and insulated .
il take your word on the comfortable sleep you had , the water logged grass there could of aided in comfort i thinks
sounds good il look them up- have a feeling they will be $$$
geez there is some expensive models out there mate! some up the $500 aud range
100% they are great but would roll up around 15 inch X 7.5 inch an thats after a few years of use an softening up now..Exped is good quality stuff. I don't have much experience with sleeping mats but I do know that Feathered Friends in Seattle sell them and they don't sell junk.
in a 85ltr pack its too much spacehaha dunno? got cape barron geese up north lol.
the thermas are expensive down here!
i dont think i can bring myself to use such a thin item like those bed roll foams...
il take your word on the comfortable sleep you had , the water logged grass there could of aided in comfort i thinks
The waterlogged ground did not help it was COLD, anything touching the ground off the foam pad was instantly chilled... if you pressed on the ground an inch of water would rise... but the tent floor held out the moisture and the foam pad kept out the cold... I have been using foam pads for close to fifty years in the bush when going ultralight. For the most part I use a folding cot with the pad on it and a goose down bag and a nice fluffy pillow... but not when I am living out of a backpack or canoe on portage trips... suck it up and find a comfortable position, dig out a hip hole and git r dun son!
my dillemma is the size of the exped , i think i mentioned that, the plan is to go through the aussie alps for close to 100k through 3 fairly major river catchments and valleys over a 20 odd day period , with 3 meet up points for food supply an re charge etc... thats the basic.
so the more room i can gain by cutting that 9cm mat in half (rolls up to 15x7.5) an 1.1kg , then im all for it.
Im beginning to think one of these klymit pads with some kind of Folding Foam pad to put underneath maybe? i will be in my Hiking tent, the exped lw just fits..
the folding foam item may not need to be too hi tech? (just have to fold up neat enough to fit on the pack somewhere)
i also have the 'e,ergency' thermal Foil , and a foil bag, leaving the foil bag out, if the foam an klymit mat with my S bag and bag liner (thermo reactor plus) is too cold, then i Guess i can underlay with the foil...
(trip is in about august septemberish- septermber october-ish at the latest , to minimise snow depth on the top tops, either way not super duper cold but likely 0 or -1 at a night time- id have to look back on records to be exact-
hmm
I've been using a Big Agnes Insulated Air Core that i got from MEC like 10 years ago and it's been fantastic. It's comfy, thick enough that you don't feel like you're sleeping on the ground and i've had no complaints about the warmth from it and it packs up super small and light.
The only downside is that it's not an open cell foam like the thermarests so it's not self inflating and you have to do some blowing, and if you do get a hole in it you're kind of out of luck, although it did come with a patch kit.
I got the big/tall version which might be slightly over your weight you're looking for, but the standard version is a bit lighter. I wouldn't sleep in a sleeping bag without it now, have even used it in my hennessey hammock, but it takes a bit on maneuvering around to get on top of it and in your sleeping bag once you're inside the hammock. On the website it looks like it's been replaced with a newer version, but hopefully they're still as good as the one i got.
The only downside is that it's not an open cell foam like the thermarests so it's not self inflating and you have to do some blowing, and if you do get a hole in it you're kind of out of luck, although it did come with a patch kit.
I got the big/tall version which might be slightly over your weight you're looking for, but the standard version is a bit lighter. I wouldn't sleep in a sleeping bag without it now, have even used it in my hennessey hammock, but it takes a bit on maneuvering around to get on top of it and in your sleeping bag once you're inside the hammock. On the website it looks like it's been replaced with a newer version, but hopefully they're still as good as the one i got.
