Talkback: Trans-Atlantic Tog War Explained

Am I correct in thinking that most manufacturers, European included, have been using the US system of R values (possibly with the exception of Multimat until recently)?

Exped, for example, are a Swiss company but their R-values range from about 1 to 8 depending on the mat. Their Downmat7, one of their warmest, is quoted as 5.9, which would be about 1 in SI units - like the Trekker 75 mentioned above as being one of Multimat's warmest.

This pdf from Exped actually mentions needing to multiply their R-values by 0.1761 to obtain some other relevant number.

Exped Mat Info

Thanks, this is a very informative post.

So it is recognized by industry that customers are confused by the various thermal insulation ratings used around the world.

If we recognize the customer as the most important person then wouldn't it be smart to make it easy for the customer to make an informed decision by having a simple rating system?

I wonder what it would take for industry to adopt a common standard, one that was easy for everyone to understand.

Allan McDonald @
EQUIPnTRIP