UKC

I snet therm-a-rest mat back to Cascade Designs a couple of wees ago due to delination of the outer producing a big blister. The mat must have been around 15 years old and I had no receipt for it. I put a note in enquiring whether it might still be covered by their lifetime guarantee for repair or replacement. 

Came home on Friday to find a new replacment waiting for me. Very impressed. Thought it worth flagging up very positive customer service and honouring theie guarantee - no questions asked. 

Thanks Cascade Designs

That's why all 4 of our mats are Thermarests as well and excellent r-values for the weight.

They're really good. When out in the states the baffolds blew and I ended up with a beach ball in the middle of the mat, they were great in replacing it. Didn't have the model I had in stock so sent me a much better and more expensive one, free of charge. 

Initially wanted me to send them a picture of the broken one with a knife in before sending a replacement out but when I explained I was thru-hiking and would need it in the interim, they were fine about it. 

Also met someone who contacted them after a 9yo semi-self-inflating mat had a fault with it's valve. Again, brand new Prolite free of charge. 

I'd always recommend brands like thermarest and darn tough for this kind of service. 

Yes, they've done the same for me, for the same issue - replaced an original Thermarest Ultralight with a brand new ProLite. That was about 20 years ago, the ProLite is still going strong - although gets minimal use these days.

They also own Platypus and I've had a couple of them replaced under warranty when they started leaking through the seams.

Yup, same for me. 10 year old mat, replaced under warranty. Got a new one back in about 3 weeks for the cost of me posting them the broken one. Definitely means that I'll be looking at them first for my next mat. 

Another very similar experience with a de-laminated mat. They replaced with a newer model (a pro-lite apex) which has been faultless for a few years now. I'd definitely be buying a Thermarest if I was in the market for a new mat.

Not knocking them but whenever I hear these stories I think it must cost pennies for them to make the mats if they replace them so readily so many years down the line. 

Or they don't have to do it often because they rarely fail, and they sell a lot of mats because of service like that described? 

And perhaps because people rarely ask*..  I mean, I don't think it would even have crossed my mind to get in touch as a warranty issue if I'd been using a mat for 10 years when it started to delaminate.

I've also had several Alpkit & Quechua mats that haven't lasted nearly that long mind, so maybe I should take the hint and lash out on a Thermarest next time!

*(The moral of the story possibly being don't shout too loudly about the great service or you might inadvertently make it go away!)

With many if not most products of this nature, the majority of the spend is on ongoing R&D and the likes (and the cost of having designed it to start with), the actual product itself isn't very expensive to make.