I'm thinking about getting a Therm-a-Rest Chair Kit Lite 20 to park my weary a**e whilst wild camping. 

The problem is I don't own a TAR and don't want to either (I like to sleep at night).

My question is - do you think one of these would work equally well with an inflatable mat like an exped downmat or insul mat, dimensions permitting?

Thanks - Steve

I'm not going to guarantee anything, but it should work in principle.  If there's enough pressure in it that stops it sagging too much (why it won't work with a Karrimat) and I don't see there's anything magic about a T-rest that will limit it to working with those.  Note that Cascade make different dimensions of the chairs so one might fit better than another.

I'd be inclined to find a friendly retailer who's happy to let you experiment in the shop. 

Pete. 

Thanks Pete - The lite 20 is based on the 51cm TAR and my insul mat is about that but tapered. I reckon I should be able to get it to work but it might not be perfect. Still, its something to fiddle around with !

Anyone use these seats? Are they worth lugging around for a day to sit on for a few hours? 

I've used an Insulmat with one of these and it works OK. Not as well as a TAR, partly because of the tapering of the Insulmat at the top and bottom, so less stable in general and occasionally the seat just collapses and tips you onto the floor in a heap.

The other problem is getting the right amount of air into the Insulmat. You don't really need very much, once it's folded and your sat in it, but too much and it's difficult to put together, too little and it collapses. Bit of practice though and you'll be fine. I wouldn't be without mine to be honest, it's one of my non-so-lightweight luxury items.

Thanks guys very useful info - I look forward to evenings sat outside my tent holding onto my scotch very firmly.

Richard G - Roughly how many breaths for blowing up the insulmat is a good starting point ? 

I'd say around 5-6 breaths is enough, and consider myself to have a good pair of lungs 
I then fold back the top and bottom of the mat to get rid of as much of the taper as poss, then stuff into the chair. Only problem with this is that you tuck away the valve, which means you can't easily top up/let out air without dismantling the whole thing again, which is a bit annoying until you get used to what's the right amount of air for you. Having said that,  the insulmat valve is in the wrong place for the hole on the chair anyway and you want the valve out of the way as much as poss or it'll dig you in the back.