sLEEPING PAD

It is possible to divide sleeping mats in a slightly mixed way, but some main groups are:

• Sleeping mat in cellular plastic, foam plastic. From half a centimeter to a few centimeters thick. There are also egg carton-shaped variants for more insulation and/or lower weight. As a rule, weighs quite a bit and takes quite a large packing volume.
• Self-inflating sleeping pad. Here it was probably Thermarest that was the earliest. Now there are lots of brands and varieties. Actually, they are not self-inflating, but have a foam core that slowly sucks in the air. Often well insulated and take up little packing volume.
• Inflatable sleeping mats or air mattresses. There are also plenty here. Everything from thin to thick deluxe. Some are inflated with the mouth, others with a built-in pump and some with an external pump or pump bag. Can get super small depending on how little insulation they are.

In principle, the sleeping pad has two main tasks; to make you lie comfortably and to keep the ground cold away. The comfort is fixed with the help of the thickness of the sleeping pad. A thicker sleeping pad usually makes it more comfortable. A thicker sleeping pad also absorbs unevenness better than a thinner one. The insulating ability depends on the construction of the sleeping pad and here too the thickness plays a role and to some extent also the length and width.

Unfortunately, most of us are probably a bit petite and spoiled so we need something thicker than the thin foam pads that were the only thing available, and worked great, 20 years ago. If you can get by with a thin one, it's great, but for most people, they'll want to get a little thicker over the years, if nothing else.

Today, many people use some type of inflatable sleeping pad, and among the most common are Therma rest & Exp, however, there are plenty of brands.

We have used, and use slightly different variants:

• Ordinary thin foam underlay in various variants and thicknesses, perfectly fine, light, durable, but quite uncomfortable.
• Ordinary air mattress, comfortable, difficult to inflate and weighed quite a lot, but they did the job and were already in the family. Didn't keep warm.
• Thermarest inflatables in different thicknesses and lengths. Works great and lasts well.
• Thermarest Z-rest. egg carton bed mat 😉 As an extra mat in the winter and as a sitting and outdoor mat for most of the time. Takes up a lot of space, but is light and durable.
• Expeds down and synthetic filled in different thicknesses and variants. Very warm and comfortable. A little craft to blow up. Too noisy when you turn them.
• Thermarest Neoair. Crazy light and small but still very comfortable. Thought it would be noisy to lie on or next to, but no danger. Difficult to inflate.

As I said, a lot is about habit. If you get used to a 9 cm sleeping pad, it's probably hard to go back to a 1 cm foam pad later 🙂

Short, regular or extra large
In the context of sleeping mats, the normal size is approximately 180x50cm, roughly so, it varies a little between the make pcj certainly also the year of manufacture. How big do you want then? It also depends, of course. If you lie comfortably, warm and nice on a super-short and super-thin and super-slim, it's great, then you don't need to carry a big and extra heavy one with you. Many people buy Large, XL, extra long and large sleeping mats and it can clearly be needed if you are two meters tall, very wide or cannot lie still 😉 In general, I think the standard sizes (180×50) are enough for most people. If you spin and/or move a lot, however, larger versions may be preferable. When it's cooler, it can also be nice to have a wider and longer sleeping mat so that the ground cold doesn't come up so easily along the sides.

R-value

R-value or R-value is a standard to indicate how much a sleeping pad insulates.

The most common thing is that we each have an inflatable with us Exped Downmat 7, i.e. 7 cm thick and filled with down. They are very nice. The fact that it was with down filling is because we are sometimes outside when it is cooler (or perhaps more correctly would like to be outside then). And then we have a "regular" one that we have as a seating pad outside. The usual is usually half Doublemat Evazote from Exped. In the past, we often had a Z-rest from Thermarest, i.e. an egg carton-like one or a super thin one from Jysk bed layer. We use the normal underlays as an extra under the inflatable ones the few times we are out in the winter.

If it's warmer, usually a couple hang around finely colored from SeaToSummut with out. 

I think it's very nice/good to have a sleeping pad for tent use and an extra one for outdoor use, at least when we're paddling and have plenty of space. It's sad to drag in a half- or completely wet sleeping mat which is also dirty and dewy and then roll out your clean sleeping bag on it... Much better to leave the inflatable in the tent and then have another sitting mat or foam mat outside. A little more to bring, but not as messy in the tent.

Not that we are any kind of hikers but sometimes we find ourselves wanting to pack lighter (yes, the weight of course also matters when paddling) or less and then Thermarest NeoAir is really a highlight. Crazy small and very comfortable. However, have not used it when it has been cooler than 7-8 plus degrees yet. We also have a three-quarter length thin Thermarest which also takes up little space. Often, three-quarters of a length is enough, but if there is a lot of rock camping, it is perhaps on the most parsimonious side.

More sleeping pad brands: SeaToSummit, Urberg, Exped, Thermarest, Mammut, Bergans and others.