Bushwalk Australia

I'm thinking about buying a self-inflating mat, but my budget won't stretch to a Thermarest so I'm looking at mats under $100 (perhaps on sale) from makers like MacPac, Kathmandu, Vango, etc.

Does anyone have any recommendations or comments on quality and preferable brands?

Thanks,

Benjamin

Don't buy a vango, I have one and it isn't very good at all.

Don't buy the kathmandu, I don't have one but its sound guess that it'll be crap.

You can get thermarest cheaper. Try online, $100 might even get close to a neo air model?

You can certainly get a Thermarest for the $100 mark if you look online.

In terms of the Kathmandu mats, I once surrendered my Thermarest Prolite Plus to a friend who was cold. I used their Kathmandu mat on snow and I was fine. That said, I did have a warm bag and I'm naturally a warm sleeper.

Overall recommendation? Get a Thermarest.

You can certainly get a Thermarest for the $100 mark if you look online.

In terms of the Kathmandu mats, I once surrendered my Thermarest Prolite Plus to a friend who was cold. I used their Kathmandu mat on snow and I was fine. That said, I did have a warm bag and I'm naturally a warm sleeper. The major drawback is that Kathmandu mats are very bulky and heavy.

Overall recommendation? Get a Thermarest.

I bought an Exped synmat recently for $109 delivered and that's pretty good

Have a look in the market square section, there have been a few mats (not only self inflating) advertised second hand in there. Better off buying good quality second hand than new cheap garbage.

Dave.

Hi

Exped Downmat good but heavy and bulky but can be used in all conditions. Buy from the USA direct.

Thermarest Pro-lite 4. Warm and but lighter than an Exped mat but not by much and packs up about the same size. Buy if possible direct from the USA. Any Cascade Design product locally is priced at recommended rip-off pricing. You may struggle to get a company to ship them though.

Thermarest Neo Air. Small compact and light. It is the mat that you will wind up with at the end unless you get the newer improved R rating model instead. Really too cold for snow sleeping but fine otherwise.

Oh, and yes, I have all three in largest size Exped for snow trips and Neo Air for anything else

Cheers

Hey mate, Id steer clear of Kathmandu or Vango, both rubbish. Look at some Of Black Wolfs offerings, not the lightest nor the smallest but cheap and decent quality.

I'd steer clear of Exped...seen so many Downmats and Synmats die that I'm not even tempted. Did not find them comfy to begin with either.
Always find it funny when they take their vaunted mats out to the cold only to have them die in the night, and then they are stuck with with 2 bits of fabric to sleep on rest of the trip.



I've heard of people have issues with all sorts of SIMS and add that to personal experience just stick to foam now. Won't let you down.

Just my 2c

I bought a thermarest in the mid 90's and threw it out a couple of weeks ago. Upsides: is warm when deflated. Downsides: I think almost every time I used it it got a puncture or went flat mysteriously, why I persisted with it I'll never know... Ok it had a hard life but seriouslyy the thing never worked... had more puncture repairs than original fabric in the end.

Can't comment on their recent versions though, i use a cheapie now.

I also would stick clear or everything that is not thermarest. Shop around more or buy a foamie until you can afford the thermarest.

Thanks for your comments everyone. It sounds like thermarest is the way to go so I'll have a look around and see what's available in my price range. Otherwise I'll keep my blue foam mat!