Should i give up on Exped sleeping mat

[BernieB]

Greetings,
just got back from a camping trip and my Exped Synmat UL sleeping pad had baffles fused, looks like a balloon now; luckily it happened the last night of the trip, otherwise would've been interesting. It's 7~8 years old and was on average used 3 times a year for a couple of days. Liked it as it's light weight and packs to a rather small size (and am thinking about getting something similar) but didn't expect it to die so suddenly - my weight is 80 kg, treated it nicely, always inflated it using the supplied "pump" (sack really) , stored it stretched out flat under the bed etc. Wonder if anyone had similar experience and still stuck with the brand. Also would like to hear if anyone dealt with Exped for warranties (mine is way out of warranty but for possible future case).
Is this the ligthweight/lifetime trade-off i.e. could one expect more life out of a heavier model?
Thanks

[Moondog55]

It is and was a known issue and I will not buy another thing with the ExPed brand on it the Australia sales and service is so poor

[bernieq]

I suspect it's the 8 years rather than the handful of trips. Glues denature over time.

I had an original Exped Hyperlite which popped at a week after the 2yr warranty. Initially denied replacement, I had to claim warranty under Australian Consumer Law, resulting in a replacement - a (somewhat) more robust edition of the same mat. A reasonable person would expect it to last more than 2 years ... but 8 years?

I'm a similar weight & always use a bag to inflate (it's so much easier and quicker). I've had one slow leak (probably spinifex), sealed with a dob of glue. I've used it for maybe 200 nights in 6 years. It's a comfortable, warm & very light mat (365g from memory). Yes, it's not as robust as others but, when it dies, I'll probably replace it with the current equivalent.

[matagi]

My husband has had 2 Exped mats replaced under warranty both Synmats and this was at least 10 years ago. This was before Exped supplied the pump bag with each mat (you had to buy it separately) and the theory back then was that the moisture in your breath caused the glue to fail.

I can't remember where I read it, but subsequently it was found that there was an issue with the glue they used for the baffles which they claim has been rectified with the newer models.

We still use Exped mats.

Edit: My husband just took his mats back to the retailer (Bogong Equipment) to have them replaced under warranty and had no issues.

[BernieB]

thanks for the feedback
@matagi - sounds like quite a few warranty calls, a bit of a worry
cheers

[Son of a Beach]

Since you asked, "Wonder if anyone had similar experience", here are just a few that I found on this site...

• Investigating an Exped mat failure
• No more ExPed
• Exped 7 Downmat review - failed!
• Chronic Exped Failures (poll)
• Exped Fail Big fail

There was also a bloke on these forums who ran a guiding company and had bought a batch of several Exped mats. There was a statistically significant failure rate on this fairly large batch, after not a terribly long time. I can't find his forum topics just now.

These are all older topics, so perhaps Exped mats have improved since then?

[BernieB]

thanks for the links - i thought i've done a search on the site but obviously not (or clearly not as good as yours)
leaning towards giving an S2S a go - but must check for noise - a hiking friend had a "crinkly" one that kept waking me up each time he turned on it (in a tent few meters away)

[BernieB]

a quick update - went to a shop and according to the sales person

• Exped now has 5 years warranty on "ultralight" version of their mats (previously 2)
• new Exped mats use RF welding instead of glue for their baffles

this might be of interest to some but not sure if it's mentioned elsewhere

[andrewa]

I’ve actually done pretty well with my older ones (5) , but had one cark 1 1/2 baffles day 2 of an 8 day NZ trip. It made for uncomfortable nights sleeping, but at the end of the day it wasn’t a disaster….a blizzard also makes for an uncomfortable night in a tent! I would prefer , however, that my sleeping mat worked….

A