UKH

Looking for best sleep mat must be around 4 r value have had the rarest previously but not happy with crackling noise and always end up rolling of. Advice please

In reply to rodw:

Start here: https://www.outdoorgearlab.com/topics/camping-and-hiking/best-camping-mattr...

Try and find a model with baffles over the entire length of the pad, specifically one with raised outer baffles to prevent you from rolling off. 

To be honest it looks like you'll be in for a compromise. All lightweight pads are crackling due to the materials used and all non-crackling pads with an R-value of 4 or over will be pretty big and/or heavy. 

In reply to rodw:

I genuinely am still happy with my thin karrimat (summer) and thick karrimat (winter). Also the eco option since I'll not need to buy another in my lifetime- indeed they may become heirlooms

In reply to rodw:

Get an exped syn or down mat - come in various thickness / length / width to suite.  Not crinkly, raised edge baffles, warm, comfy.  Best mats I've used - and I've tried quite a lot.

In reply to mp3ferret:

Second this - I have an Exped Synmat Hyperlite and it's by far the best sleeping mat I've ever owned. Warm enough for everywhere I've taken it so far, from Peak car camping to summer alpine glacier bivis.

In reply to Siward:

Have you tried a new style inflatable? It might turn your head.

In reply to DaveHK: I have but I'm not frail enough (I tell myself) to need such pampering yet. 

Outdoors folk should be happy to sleep on a washing line, or under a hedge  

In reply to Siward:

I gave up telling myself that a long time ago!

That's tramps you're thinking of.  

In reply to rodw:

ProLite, for example, plus a bit of 3mm closed cell foam (from ebay) underneath, or thicker in winter. CCF adds to the R value and can be tailored to suit, both in thickness and length.

In reply to rodw:

Another thumbs up on the Exped Synmat Hyperlite. Comfy and stable - you can always pop a thin closed-cell mat underneath it to buck up the insulation if you wanted to, or just a sit mat under a cold bit.

Mountain Equipment down mat.   Baffles longways, I sleep better and no more numb spots in the night

Hands down the best mat I have ever used is the Sea to Summit Ether light XT insulated. I got a large version as I'm fairly broad and found my Thermarest NeoAir Xlite not wide enough and very noisy.

They are pricey but I sleep sound so its worth it for me. 

In reply to rodw:

Another shout for the Exped Synmats. I have a UL and an older(and warmer) 7. Both are far superior in delivering a good nights sleep than any of my self inflating mats. 

In reply to rodw:

Exped again. I sleep cold and until I bought an Exped downmat 7LW I always woke up during the night feeling the cold and had to put on extra layers. That didn't happen after the Exped. Very comfy too.

In reply to arch:

I’ve got a Synmat 7LW & it’s also luxuriously comfortable. 

In reply to mp3ferret:

My synmat ul baffels went in 3 years resulting in one large balooned section mid mat, do you know if that issue has been resolved by any chance?

In reply to rodw:

I use two sleeping mats. A Uberlite 3/4 and an ME down mat. The Thermarest wins on weight, the ME on everything else, so comfy and warm.

In reply to Tigger:

Assuming you had the older version, Exped redesigned the welds between baffles making them wider and stronger.

....couldn’t say if it worked as I lost faith after two matts suffering merged baffles and moved on, before they changed the design. To Expeds credit they did replace both mats foc.

I didn’t find the synmatt quiet warm enough with a wet surface and frozen ground below, nor as a side sleeper was it comfy enough, you thought you were but in the middle of the night realised that you weren’t!

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Thanks for the info, out of curiosity, what do you use now?

In reply to Tigger:

No idea.  I've not had anything like that happen to mine - one if which is about 5 years old.

In reply to Tigger:

I moved on to a sea to summit ultralight insulated.  OK on grass in spring and summer, but not really thick enough for a side sleeper on frozen, or bumpy ground or the Bothy floor.  Would be fine for a back sleeper.  So watching this thread with interest😎

also been plagued by slow punctures.

In reply to rodw:

after using a few sea to summit and thermarest I went for a Exped SynMat HL Winter M a few years ago , low noise easy to inflate and deflate and good for me as i am a side sleeper , if using the Schnozzel pump sack don't force to much as they can split.

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Picked up a another puncture last weekend, followed by one last night.  Thats three trips in a row, including one night on frozen ground at minus five with a slowly deflating mat. Given all bar one of all punctures to date, not just the recent three are on the upper side of the mat, and all are exactly at the edge of one of the dot welds, it would seam to suggest either the fabric doesn’t age well, or I am very unlucky or that Sea to Summits dot weld design has a serious flaw.

going to email them, not expecting much, but fingers crossed.

In reply to Aunty Social:

This.

A foam filled inflatable that has no baffles to blow & inflates in 3 breaths, with some good CCF that acts as your pack frame. If you're feel extravagant poke some cord through the mat so the inflatable stays in place.

Having slept on exactly this down to -18c for a few years now, I'll never go back to Xtherms & Expeds and all their issues. By the time partners have done blowing up those I'm in my bag with water about to boil. 

In reply to ScraggyGoat:

Nearly two weeks with no response from Sea to Summit, make of that what you will...