Dead Chuffed with Cascade

When the ThermArest Neo Air first hit the UK it was a bit of a sensation to say the least. A massive leap forward. Sheila and I both bought one in the small version. Since then we have seen an amazing revolution in sleeping mat weights, warmth and packability from lots of OEM’s. On the down side there have been durability issues and with the NeoAir we had the deflation issue.

Sheila’s mat has always held air content with very little change in comfort even when temperatures fell during the night. The slight reduction in pressure was negligible.
Mine on the other hand suffered badly. Being almost completely flat after a nights use.

I tested it in the bath to find out where it was leaking but i never found a puncture of even the smallest proportions. 

In the mean time we fell a bit out of love with the horizontal tubes because we found it quite easy to slide off the mat. I tried a number of mats with vertical tubes and preferred the support they gave. There definitely isn’t as much movement of the mat when the tubes are vertical imo.

Sheila actually found that her hips were sore in the morning when sleeping on a tubed mat, any tubed mat and eventually she decided to try a Trangoworld micro lite foam self inflating mat. This proved a success and she still prefers it although a little heavier.
She sold her NeoAir.

My NeoAir was relegated to the museum of hardly used equipment. Stored in a wardrobe in the spare room. It must have been there now for a good 3 years maybe. It was only recently when changing the room around that we had to empty the wardrobe and the NeoAir saw the light of a new day. I thought it a crying shame that such a good bit of revolutionary kit was now a discarded bit of old plastic. I was considering throwing it out or reusing it in some way or other, anyway i inflated it hoping that it had matured with age and had self healed its leaking wounds. It hadn’t, it just arched against the wall all sad and empty in the morning.

Then a couple of weeks ago i was having a chat with a member of staff in the Cotswold shop and i mentioned about my Neoair. He said he remembered sending quite a few of the early ones back  to the factory because of a fault and he suggested i email the company about it. I must admit that i didn’t hold out much hope as it’s a few years old although it probably has only about 10 nights usage all in. I should have looked into sooner i know that but i sent an email to Cascade. Well they could only say “no” at worst couldn’t they.

I was very quickly contacted by Ciamha at Cascade in Ireland. She told me that the mat would be evaluated and if it could be repaired it would cost £15. If it was beyond repair it may be replaced depending on the evaluation. 
Now as i wrote above, the mat’s condition was not an issue, and i couldn’t find a leak as to why it was deflating. So i was absolutely over the moon to receive a reply from Ciamha that Cascade are going to replace the mat FOC. Even after all this time.

What can i say except “Now that’s what i call going the extra mile service”. I will get the use of my mat back. I will have a light weight option without spending more money. I am so grateful to Cascade and my contact Ciamha for doing this and i am very pleased i had that chat in the Cotswold shop. 

Just thought i would share the experience.

Multimat Adventure Superlite 25 Sleeping Mat

 As mats go i have enough to last me a lifetime. Various types and weights. I am not going to show them here because someone might add up all the costs!

I came across this Multimat 25 and at first glance just thought that the price was good for such a mat and i was just about to move on and look elsewhere when i thought some readers might be interested.

The thing that immediately struck me, was for D of E kids or those on tight budgets or maybe even for cycle touring or even just base camping.

 No, it’s not the lightest of mats at 503grams but it’s not ridiculous either when you consider its a full length mat and it excels in the fact that the Tog rating is a high 4.02. A 4 season rating.

Now i believe that’s a decent spec. and all for the price of £24.99.

I remember my first Thermarest mat which was 3/4 length and not as warm as this one weighed almost a kilo.

The link is here if anyone is interested at all.

Therm-a-rest de-lamination

  I had a conversation this morning regarding sleeping mats and as it happened one of the jobs on my to-do list was sort and and clear some of the contents of my wardrobe that were hanging in there but rarely used. It’s where i store my/our numerous sleeping mats.
There are 7 mats in total and 2 of them are original Therm-a-rest. Made in Ireland serial number 0013729 and 30.
 I decided that i would inflate them and see how comfy/un-comfy they were against my Exped UL7,  as it has to be about 5 years since i used them.

 To my surprise the mat, as well as walls, must have ears, because i have also been discussing pillows for backpacking with a few fellow bloggers recently.
The ‘729 mat decided it would make it’s own pillow for me. It just creaked and bloomed as if summer had arrived into a lovely mat and pillow.

 Unfortunately i don’t think the de-lamination is complete and by morning i expect to have a 6” thick sofa bed!

 I wonder why mat designers don’t incorporate a separate tube section for use as a pillow or have a piece of material, like an open envelope that clothes could be stuffed into. You would think it obvious really. Instead we all find pillows a very hit and miss piece of kit.

 There is one solution here if you have a thin inflatable mat, but it doesn’t work on the thicker mats. I tried it.

Karrimor Sleeping Mat.

 Before you all rush off and switch on the test card, the post IS titled Karrimor.
Now like all of you of a certain age group you will remember when Karrimor were at the top end of outdoor gear and they made stuff to last. Designed and made in good old Lancashire by people who knew their stuff.
Having a Karrimor rucksack was as good as it got and who's still got one in the loft!

 Nowaday's Karrimor is synonymous with cheap and pretty nasty low end of the market stuff having been relegated from Lancashire to God knows where in the far east. Over the years it's been quite hard to keep up with the licence agreements and who is using the name under licence or just using it anyway.
 Shying away from Karrimor branded products has been quite easy. Sports Direct/Field and Trek are the stockists in the UK.

 However, this last few months i have noticed a change, albeit a small change but a change non the less. Better quality items have been seen alongside the tat.
 Now i've heard say that in Japan the quality of Karrimor gear is up there with the best and expensive. So i can only assume that some of this better quality gear is percolating down to us.

  One of the items i have picked up recently are the drybags. They are equally as good as Expeds dry bags for about half the price. I cannot fault them.
 I looked at the new boot and shoe range and although i havn't purchased any they look a step in the right direction. (No pun intended).
 They are selling an eVent jacket for £99 in store or £89 on the web. It has a water resistant zip without a storm flap, so it's not for me unfortunately. But i tried it on and it's a nice jacket.
 I liked the design although a little on the short side but a good fit otherwise. Weight is around 400 - 450gr i suspect, nothing was printed on the tag for the weight so this is purely a guess.
 It goes to show though that you can design, manufacture and sell eVent waterproofs at a reasonable price.

 But this post was about the sleeping mat the Karrimor x-lite Inflate.

   I had to look twice when i saw this. A full length mat, 70mm thick, 6 tubes, £29.99. (Not the RRP on the tag £59.99)
 My first thought was, yes but it weighs a Kilo.
 I had a look at the tag and the weight was stated was an impressive 300grams. Was this true i thought after all it is Karrimor? Anyway i took the plunge and bought it.

 Getting home and weighing it, yes 300grams, as stated. Now the tag also says 3-4 season! Who are they kidding the Tog rating is 1.6.
 Ok, you could use it in 3 - 4 seasons but not on it's own. You would need more insulation, but i can live with that.
The material is 20denier fabric and feels just like most other inflatable mats, slippery. But no complains when cost and weight are most important to me.
 So having slept on it now for 10 nights what do i think. Well it retains air pressure as good as my Exped UL7  lite and better than my Neo-air. It moves around the tent like any other mat. The valve, although not as neat as Expeds is certainly industry standard and look the same as my ThermArests.


The tubes (6) are all the same diameter.
I would have preffered the outer one to be bigger diameter but don't forget the price.
It's comfy, easy to inflate. Deflating seems a little slow but not ridiculously so, just slow in comparion to my Exped.
 It packs up remarkably small for a full size mat and stays neatly that way. It doesn't try and unravel itself.






Would i recommend it. Yes, absolutely, with 10 nights usage, so far so good.

Schnozzel pumpbag

  Robin at blogpackinglight put me onto the Exped Downmat as a possible purchase. After quite a lot of investigating I eventually picked the Exped Synmat UL 7 which i consequently bought recently and posted about it.

 The mat has inbuilt synthetic insulation and Exped recommend that you don’t inflate it with your own damp breath as this could condensate in the insulation. 

  Robin purchased a pump bag and a separate schnozzel from Unterweg in Germany and i was going to do the same.

  I searched UK suppliers of Exped goods but as far as i could see nobody had stock. I then checked out the Unterweg website and i found that Exped had released a new inflator which consists of a lightweight dry bag with inbuilt schnozzel. It was also much lighter than the previous separate schnozzel and bag by quite a margin. 208gr against 70gr.

 Again i searched the UK to no avail apart from Hitch and Hike who said they were getting supply in May. 

Cutting the story short i ordered one from Unterweg who had stock and a quick door to door service.

Cost €20 and €13 postage.

Here is the video of how to use the pumpbag.

 What was also a surprise was that the pumpbag was supplied in a map case instead of just a throwaway plastic bag.

I do have a very good Ortlieb map case so i don’t need another one but it’s a nice size case and so i think i will use it at some point.

Exped Pumpbag as supplied in a map case.

The bag itself doubles up as either a rucksack liner or as a drybag for something like a sleeping bag but for me i think it’s a bit on the large size so it might become my rucksack liner.
It would make a fine pillow.
 Time will tell what it ends up as.

The weight to go.

  I must be slipping. I have put weight on in the pack! I decided that enough is enough of the Neo-Air mat which weighs a fantastic 260gr. in small size. I have never come to terms with it though, i have never found it comfy.

  I have been looking at other offerings from Pacific Outdoors, Vaude, Exped, Trangoworld, Big Agnes (kindly lent to me by Maz whose blog The Journeyman Traveler is well worth a read), Kooka Bay and others for quite some time. I have given them all the 3rd degree, read lots of your excellent reviews and now i have decided on what i want.

  Well not just decided but ordered and delivered.

  Eventually i went for the Exped Synmat UL 7. It was touch and go between this and the Exped Down Mat, that Robin at Blogpackinglight had kindly suggested to me, but all round the UL7 was my best choice.

  I bought it from RoughGear for the Princely sum of £70 for the M size which is 1830mm long x 520mm wide and 70mm thick. The mat has vertical tubes which i have found to be much more comfortable than the Neo Air's sideways tubes. The 2 outer tubes are slightly larger diameter than the 6 inner tubes and UL7 also has synthetic microfibre insulation that has been laminated to both top and bottom of the tubes and the R value is 3.1.

  Weight 460gr,  that's 200gr more than my small Neo-Air. I saved 100gr on the Creon Lite Rucksack so i am only 100gr on the wrong side at this moment in time, although i have now got the comfort of a full length mat.
Packed, it is about the same size as a 1L water bottle.

Exped Synmat UL7 with Exped pillow attached.

  The quality of Exped equipment i find to be second to none. You don't go wrong buying Exped.
The valves, of which there are 2, are flat with the mat and work superbly well and very reliable. The warranty is 2 years.
You can buy a separate lightweight pump for all Exped valved kit that eliminates moisture from your breath entering the tubes.
Now i just need to get out and try it properly. More to follow.

Sleeping mat.

L - R  Std Therm-A-rest. Getting on a bit now but still a likeable mat. Weight with sac 460gr.
           TrangoWorld Skin Micro lite foam filled. Very comfy. weight with sac. 375gr.
            Big Agnes Mummy Weight incl bag 560gr.
            Therm-A-rest Neo Air. Weight incl sac 265gr.

   Like a lot of people we plunged into the market before the initial dust had settled and bought the Neo Air.
There were quite a few rave reviews and so this was the original stimulus to buy.
Within a short period of time, probably around about 7 nights use, Sheila decided that it was uncomfortable and she went back to using the Std Therm-A-Rest. Then a while later we found the TrangoWorld mat and now this is Sheila’s and possibly my favourite.

   I, on the other hand stuck with the Neo Air, not so much to do with comfort but just purely weight.
However i found so much wrong with the NeoAir in my opinion, that i wanted to find something else.
This is very unlike me as i hate spending money twice.

 What did i find wrong with the Neo Air you might ask.
Well, i keep falling off it. I turn over and away it goes. I put beads of silicon on the underside but it didn’t stop the problem.
It deflates quite considerably overnight too and i have never slept well on it.
Apart from the pack size and weight there is not much i like about it to be honest.
 
 I decided to buy a cheap longitudinal tube mat, something of the Multimat Adventure type. Not too expensive if i didn’t like it and at 440gr not excessively heavy either just to do a comparison test.

  But just as i was about to order it, i had been internet speaking with Maz, who’s excellent blog The Journeyman Traveller is here.
He very kindly offered to loan me his Big Agnes Mummy Mat for appraisal of the opposing tube direction to the Neo-Air. How brilliant and trusting is that. I had never met Maz and we did not know each other apart from reading each others blog.

  Having now slept on it a few times i have come to the conclusion that the vertical tubes of the Big Agnes suit me far better than the horizontal tubes of the Neo Air. I find it suits my body shape better. The air movement is better within the vertical tubes and therefore the mat rises and falls in the right places supporting me and providing a comfortable sleep.
  This Big Agnes is a mummy shaped mat tapering off quite a bit at the foot. I would not go for this style by choice, as i found my feet were on the floor quite a bit.  But i must say what a quality mat this is.

  I am now considering my options. 
Currently i fancy the Vaude Norssken which also has larger diameter tubes on the outside which, in theory should keep you on the mat better. But it is a touch on the heavy side.
Decisions, decisions.
Thanks ever so much Maz for your assistance.

Kooka Bay sleeping mats and pillow.

I don't find the Neo-Air that comfortable but now that i have it i will just have to get used to it. One of the problems i have is finding a good pillow to use with it.

I came across this company Kookabay who will make pillows to your requirements and they also do a lightweight range of sleeping mats. So unless i come up with something else i may be making an order.

It was interesting to see that the sleeping mats and pillow are indeed quite lightweight and pack size is tiny so i thought i would share it here. Unfortunately the website doesn't give information like U vales etc. but a quick email would resolve that.
If you are in the market for a new mat/pillow duo, you might want to consider these although i know that ordering from the US can be a little expensive and takes time.

Below you will find a list of weight conversions from the US ounces shown on the Kooka Bay web page to grams..

Mats:- 72"x20"x2.5" Mummy 354gr

60"x20"x2.5" Mummy 289gr

72"x20"x2.5" Rectangular 422gr

60"x20"x2.5" Rectangular 354gr

46"x20"x2.5" Rectangular 272gr

Pillow 12"x7.5"x3.5" Inflated. 37gr

New Camping mat.

A few weeks ago i posted that i had been into the outdoor shop in Broughton in Furness and i noticed a sleeping mat by a company called Trang.
Well on our way back from Sheila's mums today we called in again to take a closer look.

We found out that the company is called Trango World but it used to be called Artiach. They are not well known in the UK but are big in Spain and other parts of europe.
They had a few mats in stock of varying sizes and weights but one in particular called the Skin Micro Lite caught our eye.
The mat size is 1.2m long x 0.5m wide x .03m thick.

The mat is the self inflating type and it actually works. Unscrew the nozzle and it starts to inflate and with just 3 mouthfuls of air it was fully inflated.
The outer material feels good, not dissimilar to lightweight groundsheet material, it's called Artistretch.
The good thing is, it "sticks" to the groundsheet and it also resists the sleeping bag sliding.
This is excellent because we are always falling off the Neo air and sliding about.

This mat is the lightest that Trangoworld make and it weighs 370 grams. It's heavier than the Neo air but most mats are.
The thermal value is 3.4

When it's rolled up i was surprised to find just how small it was. I expected it to be quite large with the interior being foam filled. But as you can see from the photo's below it's acceptable. The shoe is a UK size 8.

The best thing of all was the price. The RRP is £25! Fantastic value for money.
And because it was the last one in the shop before the new stock we got it for £22.

So when we have given it a try out, i think Sheila will be parting company with her Neo Air which she dislikes. Any takers please form an orderly queue.

Therm A Rest Neo Air

When the Neo Air hit the market a great deal of excitement went round the outdoor community.  I eventually got mine in August 2009 after a little bit of a wait due to the demand and replaced my Prolite.
So i have used it now for around 9 months, and i find it very comfy, easy to inflate, it gives some protection from the cold coming up from the ground, but not enough in my opinion and it packs away small. Ideal in fact.
However, am i the only one who finds it too deep?
I use the short mat and i put my pillow on the floor not on the mat and i have never been happy with this situation. The mat moves in the night quite a bit and the pillow stays where it was put. Therefore i end up being uncomfortable, usually with my head half on the pillow and with a bit of a stiff neck.
You may say i should have bought a longer one and put the pillow on the mat, but for light weight backpacking this defeats the object.
I wish the mat was only half as thick and with a better insulated underside to increase the season rating and with some sort of slip resistant material.
Am i asking too much? or do others agree.