Gear

I'm looking at getting a warmer, thicker sleeping pad for colder weather. I've currently got a thermarest prolite of some kind, but at 2.5cm thick its only moderately insulating and as I generally sleep on my side it is often a bit uncomfortable.

I'd like something significantly thicker, but without being hugely heavier (the thermarest is 480g) and ideally with some extra insulation of some kind.

Most attempts to find out about this sort of thing seem to end up pointing at something like the exped downmat 7. By all accounts it is very comfy and warm, but its quite heavy, awkward to inflate and if inflated by mouth it seems there may be some risk to the down's insulation or lifetime. The synthetic filled exped mats are heavier still!

Seems like there are alternatives elsewhere that would need to be imported. Insulmat has popped up a few times on this forum, and a little googling suggested things like the big agnes sand mountain (mummy shaped, primaloft filled, 6cm thick, 560g or so). Noticaby cheaper, though that will be offset by international postage.

Is there anything else I should be looking for... recommended models and manufacturers, or ones to avoid?

Serriadh wrote (see)

Most attempts to find out about this sort of thing seem to end up pointing at something like the exped downmat 7. By all accounts it is very comfy and warm, but its quite heavy, awkward to inflate and if inflated by mouth it seems there may be some risk to the down's insulation or lifetime.

Certainly not 'by all accounts' is the Dowmnat awkward to inflate. The new version is even easier to inflate than the old one, you can do it without a solid surface in virtually no space.

I did have an Insulmat, but it provided nothing like the insulation of the Downmat and I only used it in the summer, then traded it in for NeoAir.

Could try combining 2 kinds of mats, say a full length ccf for warmth with a short inflatable for comfort. The other way around (short ccf + full inflatable) may work if you sleep warm and packs smaller.

I think there were some questions about big agnes mat ratings being exaggerated over on the backpackinglight.com, and I recall that POE have made some howlers in the past (I think misleadingly quoting the R-value per inch for some material which was only used in a very thin layer) but lately seem to be getting good reviews for some of their mats.

kookabay.com in the US make down mats also

I've sort of made the issue a bit of a moot point by purchasing a synmat from another OM denizen

Lets hope I don't end up wishing I'd gone for the down!

Metric Kate wrote (see)

Certainly not 'by all accounts' is the Dowmnat awkward to inflate. The new version is even easier to inflate than the old one, you can do it without a solid surface in virtually no space.

I did have an Insulmat, but it provided nothing like the insulation of the Downmat and I only used it in the summer, then traded it in for NeoAir.

The intention was more along the lines of 'by all accounts it is very comfy and warm', but with various people complaining about both the external and internal pumps.

Further reading suggests that quite a few similar models by other manufacturers (which all look suspiciously similar, and probably are the same model underneath the branding) are nowhere near as good for various reasons, including optimistic temperature ratings.

otaku_steve wrote (see)

Could try combining 2 kinds of mats, say a full length ccf for warmth with a short inflatable for comfort. The other way around (short ccf + full inflatable) may work if you sleep warm and packs smaller.

That particular plan hadn't crossed my mind, to be honest. Seems like something worth investigating in the future. I was quite happy with my old thermarest classic short, and a lightweight full-length ccf mat would have sorted the various issues I had with it... if nothing else, I'd probably want a ccf for some trips as it would suck mightily if I popped a sleep mat halfway through a longer trek. The long ccf/short combination seems like a good compromise, as I've found thin mats increasingly uncomfortable as time goes on.

This may be a factor of me, uh, eating better these days, and compressing the mats just a wee bit too much...

otaku_steve wrote (see)

I think there were some questions about big agnes mat ratings being exaggerated over on the backpackinglight.com, and I recall that POE have made some howlers in the past (I think misleadingly quoting the R-value per inch for some material which was only used in a very thin layer) but lately seem to be getting good reviews for some of their mats.

If you can wait a bit then sundry internet previews from the outdoor trade shows this summer mention a rather lighter/stripped down version of the synthetic mats from Exped. SynMat 7 UL seems to bring the relevant info up.

Seemingly ~470g and 3.5R value. Not a winter mat like the down mat and current syn mat but maybe roughly what you're after.