Page 18 - 20145 AMA Spring

kit on trial
Sleeping Mat Review
by Tomo Thompson & Ryan Lang
It’s not too long before the winter snows will melt and thoughts will turn to late spring and early summer camping trips. A good nights sleep is important anywhere, but knowing that you have the right mat with you for the conditions and terrain can make or break a trip. Cotswold Outdoor kindly gave the AMA two types of camping mat to test...
Thermarest NeoAir XLite
The Thermarest NeoAir XLite is an award winning (editiors choice by Backpacker magazine, top pick by Oudoor GearLab) air mat that packs down into a water bottle sized stuff sack. It is warm, comfortable and extremely lightweight. The manufacturers (Thermarest) proudly state that The NeoAir XLite mattress delivers more warmth and comfort per ounce than any other three- season air mattress available.
As a high quality 3 season mat it is definitely small – a bit smaller in stowage size than a 1 litre Nalgene bottle.
For the gear geeks it has 2 innovations ... ThermaCaptureTM technology which is a patent pending reflective lining to the mat which traps and reflects back your warmth, and Triangular Core MatrixTM which means the internal baffling to the mat is designed to add strength, minimise heat loss and improve durability. The mat comes with a stuff sack and repair kit included.
The mat is definitely amongst one of the lightest mats on the market on which you can actually get a decent sleep. There are others (like those made by Klymit) that are lighter, but you forfeit width, depth, length and insulative qualities in favour of weight.
Inflating the mat was very easy and took just over 1 minute. Deflating the mat was also very simple, as the valve allows air to escape very quickly and allowed the mat to be deflated and packed into the stuff sack in less than 2 minutes.
One of the downsides of the mat is that it is terrifically noisy to sleep on ... the nylon face fabric makes it sound like you’re kipping on a crisp packet (you could conquer this with a pair of ear plugs!). Other reviewers have also experienced occasional problems with using the mat in very cold conditions where the air (your breath) used to inflate it can sometimes cause moisture issues inside the mat. To counter this just look after it and dry it well after use. Try before you buy because like a lot of other testers I found the mat quite narrow.
My conclusions for this one are not dissimilar to those of the Exped DownMat in that you are getting what you pay for. Put up with the noise and narrowness and the mat is WAY warmer than a traditional Thermarest or a blown foam mat. If you look after it, it will last a long time and serve you well. If you bivvy on shards of Llanberis slate it may not. It has justifiably been awarded some fairly hefty awards in the gear geek world.
Small
Regular
Large
Weight
230 g
350 g
460 g
Width
51 cm
51 cm
63 cm
Length
119 cm
183 cm
196 cm
Thickness
6.3 cm
6.3 cm
6.3 cm
Packed dimension
23 x 9 cm
23 x 10 cm
28 x 11 cm
NEOAIR XLITE
Inflation time Deflation time Comfort Durability Cost
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