Comments on: Sleeping With Exped — First Look at their Mats

By: Graeme

Graeme — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:29:41 +0000

The score for downmats (7 long, various pump types) for my friends and I:

Myself – I got mine first, 4 years ago. I just love the comfort and warmth, well worth any minor extra weight – BUT – slow leak for over half that time, not getting worse, small leaks ( at crimp seam – not an injury) identified initially and “sealed”. I need to pump it fairly tight then it lasts me thorught the night – a little more pumping each night ( I use the pillow pump).

Friend 1 – 1 year – similar problems to mine but a bit worse.

Freind 2 – 1 year – disastrous flattening in spite of not being able to find a leak.

Friend 3 – 2 years – no problems at all.

By: Richard

Richard — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 01:48:46 +0000

I’ll second the favorable comments about the EXPED mats. I’ve had mine for three seasons and its given great service everyplace from winter in Wyoming to the floor of the Toronto airport waiting for a connection. Don’t see the need of the built in pump— the stuff sac inflation system is faster than mouth to mouth unless you are really the the oral type.

A bit of history for you gearheads. The down filled air mattress was invented by Jack Stevenson about 40 years ago. In his bags DAMS fit into a built-in pocket in the bottom of the bag. The early ones like I had were leak prone and mine ended in the trash bin. My bag is still going strong, having served everywhere from Hawaii to -10 in the Wyoming back country. I don’t think anything has equaled it for versatility since. Another bit of trivia– I happened to be sailing in the Bahamas last spring and discovered that the skipper used to sew sleeping bags and sleep with the owners daughter back in the day when I bought mine. He agreed that that the Stevenson DAMS were a quality control disaster back in his time—.

By: Lou

Lou — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 12:21:15 +0000

Yeah NW, my theory is a slightly lighter bag with the bomber mat, for net of same weight as before. We’ll see how that theory works. Should be no problem at least to some extent.

By: NWMike

NWMike — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 20:49:37 +0000

I’ve used thermarests for years (short rectangular, long rectangular, prolite-4), with and without closed cell foam (ridgerest, et. al.). Love my Exped downmat. I let my wife borrow it for one trip, and when we came home, we needed to order her a new mat (synmat — she won’t sleep on snow).

When sleeping on snow, you have to inflate, let it chill and shrink for a few minutes, and then reinflate or else you bottom out at 2am.

The improved sleep is worth the extra 8 oz over the prolite-4. I’ll shave weight somewhere else.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 13:03:00 +0000

I work at an outdoor gear store, and I’m definitely going to push for more Exped mats as they sound superior in many ways.