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Camping mattresses

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 jon 15 Apr 2012
It's time I replaced our old and thin three quarter length Thermarests with something a bit more comfy. I've been looking at the Thermarest NeoAir and also the Exped Synmat mats. One potential problem is that our tent is a North Face Tadpole which tapers to 35" at the foot end (from 50.5" at its widest point). Both the above mats are 20" wide and therefore would be forced to overlap, which with a 7cm thick mat would be a problem (our present mats being three quarter length don't have this problem).

So, my questions are:

1. Does anyone have any comments about the two mats I mention - I've seen Jonathan Griffith's comments about the superior qualities of the Exped mat, but I won't be using it in winter in Alaska.
2. Does anyone have any experience of using non tapered mats of this sort of thickness in a TNF Tadpole?
3. Can anyone recommend a tapered mat that gives the same comfort as one of the above, and would a pair of those mats fit into a Tadpole - as I said, the foot end of the tent is 35".

Thanks...
 TobyA 15 Apr 2012
In reply to jon: I've got an Alpkit Numo http://www.ukclimbing.com/gear/news.php?id=2994 - a basically like the Exped Synth but tapered. Very comfy for 3 seasons but when it starts getting cold you can feel cold air moving in the section where the synth insulation isn't. Unfortunately Alpkit don't seem to have them on their site at the moment - but if you can find something similar it might be worth ago. Pacific Outdoor have very similar ones http://pacoutdoor.com/sleeping-pads/view/peak-elite-ac - I think they and Alpkit have had some sort of legal discussion over the closeness of the designs (same factory in China possibly?) but the good UK webshop where I had seem being sold: www.ultralightoutdoorgear.co.uk doesn't seem to have them either! But if you can track down that model (or something similar) in Europe, it might be worth a shot.
 RhysRolfe 15 Apr 2012
In reply to jon: Thermarest have just released 2 new neoair models the xlite and xtherm which are now a tapperd cut so this may solve your problem of the overlap.
OP jon 16 Apr 2012
In reply to Rhys and Toby:

Thanks Rhys, don't know why I didn't see that before. They look like they'd fit. But I looked into it further and found other tapered beds of the same construction, including the Pacific Outdoors one that Toby linked to. However, it's interesting to compare the R ratings that the pads get for their insulation value against the price. It would seem that Thermarest have the lowest R at 3.2 for the highest price at $129 > $179, whereas, for example, Big Agnes pads have 4.1 for $85 > $99 and Pacific Outdoor have up to 4.4 but I can't find a price at the moment. Exped seem to come somewhere in between all that. Need to do more investigation...
 RhysRolfe 16 Apr 2012
In reply to jon: The xlite has an r-value of 3.2 but the xtherm has an r-value of 5.7 if your looking for a warmer mat, hard to argue with you on price though, i just paid £120 for a large xlite and it seems a regular xtherm is around that price too.
Bobz 16 Apr 2012
In reply to jon: N.B. Pacific Outdoor Equipment have now changed their name to Hyalite Equipment. This months Trail has a camping matt review feature with all the expected names!
 Sarah Stirling 16 Apr 2012
In reply to jon: Hi Jon,

Another review of a few camping mats that might be useful:

http://www.ukhillwalking.com/gear/review.php?id=3628

Cheers, Sarah

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