UKC

Hiya all

I'm in the market for a new sleeping mat. I have a self inflating thermarest but find it heavy and not great on rocky bivys having to repair 2 holes from my last overnighter.
Thought I'd look into foam mats for their lighter weight and not having pucture issues. Reliability and weight are the biggest factors, comfort isn't so high on the list as it has been said I can sleep on a washing line!
I was going to buy a Beacon Expedition XL 350g £30 but have now seen the seemingly competative Multimat range. I downloaded a nice 2008 catalogue from thier site and have spotted the 5 season discovery £285g for £16.00 in Cotswold outdoor. Is it Cotswolds or Beacons price system that doesn't add up? The 3/4 season Adventure 175g is priced at £24.00. All I presume the difference is a thinner mat allowing for lighter weight but lower season rating?? More cash for less of the same product? Strange!
Anyhoo I digress - Anyone use a Multimat foam? anyone have the Discovery? They seem an excellent deal especially the discovery at £16.00.

In reply to blanchie14c:
the beacons product mat's as sold by needlesport are from multimat
It seems to be one and the same company.
I use the Expedition Summit XL Mat and find it's ace for a foam mat.
The discovery uses thinner foam, so I guess it might be not as insulating as the expedition range.
You can try to compare them on the multimat homepage. for most mats there is a tog value given which.

In reply to uncontrollable:
Will look into it and report back. Thanks!

In reply to blanchie14c: Had a couple of multimats - both very good!

In reply to blanchie14c:

I use the Expedition Summit XL from Needle Sports and find it great for all round valley stuff, alpine stuff etc and it seems pretty robust. The NS site shows this as 5 season 3 TOG, whereas the lighter Expedition Extreme is 4/5 season 2.16 TOG. My guess is the Explorer is lighter and less warm again.

I've used a variety of mats, from standard Army issue, through Thermarest inflatable to ridgerest and z-lite, and they're all pretty even in general - except this Multimat, which seems that extra bit warmer. If I'm going really high I'd use my ridgerest on top of this for extra; I avoid inflatable mats now because I'm too clumsy and they won't last a minute now I use crampons!

Multimat recommended. Simple, effective gear.

In reply to blanchie14c:

Hi Blanchie - I read your posting and feel that i can help - Beacons Products are foam rubber converters based in South Wales - under the brand name Multimat we make camping mats for the Outdoor Industry - we have 25 years experience and supply 50% of the UK market; partly under our own brand name and partly under the brand name of others companies active in the outdoor industry with our main competition coming in from China which we generally refer to as play mats. We used to make the old Karrimats for Karrimor upuntil about 5 years ago before their demise which is when we focused on developing our own brand name having lost such a good global distributor.

The Multimat Extreme XL is the Old Karrimat using Evazote 35kg/m3 foam - extremely tough and durable and will porbably last you 25 years (available in a range of thicknesses and sizes) - the same foam is used on the Summit mattresses in a thin 4mm layer which is then laminated to 8mm of the superlight high insulating foam from the Adventure Range to give a thick low weight high insulating mattress (not as tough as the extreme but a good trade off with less weight per vollume and improved insulation)- both models come inclusive of eyelets and webbing straps.

The Adventure mats are produced using a very low weight 18kg/m3 closed cell foam - low weight meaning more insulation per mm of thickness - these are pretty durable for most applications but not up to the same pounding as the Extreme mentioned earlier if you are on an unsupported expedition - the Adventure mats come inclusive of eyelets and webbing straps.

The Discovery mat offers excellent value for money, produced from a very good grade of foam and at 29kg/m3 will probably be very suitable for you - instead of eyelets and webbing straps - these mats come with cheaper elasticated strechy bands.

The differnece in prices are explained by very different qualities and different processing techniques - the lower the weight or size - the lower the price would follow if the same grades were used but they are not !

I hope that i ahve gone some to help you understand the differences.

Happy Camping !

Adrian (MD)