Restful sleep


Restful sleep is essential for a good and relaxed day and for the desire to discover the world. If sleep is poor, the day can only be good with effort. And in the long run, camping is no fun. So you need a good base.  But how do we manage to bring all criteria under one roof?

Well, first of all we have to consider what the criteria are. Cold protection in any case. Comfort, yes! Both when sleeping and when filling. Weight and packing size. Should also be as small as possible – our camping equipment as a whole is already bulky and heavy, so we take care with each element not to make it even bulkier and heavier. Price. Well yes. Cheap would be good, but our dream mat will hardly be able to fulfill all criteria.

Currently we use Exped-Mats. The theory is as follows: they combine the comfort of air mattresses (in which the circulating air always brings cold to the body) and iso-mats (in which warmth is kept at the expense of comfort): Exped mats are air mattresses filled with down or synthetic fibers, which are comfortable and keep you warm.  Only the inflation requires some practice, because blowing with the mouth is not recommended because of the moisture, the built-in pump is not so comfortable and the Schnozzel air bag is not so easy to fold because of the adapter.

We like the mats quite well, but recently we have had more and more difficulties to find a really good sleeping position. Sometimes the mat was too hard, but after letting off some air we found our elbows or hips on the floor because there was not enough air in the mat. In short: not optimal.

We are currently considering whether to try the well-known Therm-a-rest mat after all. Self-inflating (except for minor corrections) and different from my youth, it is now also available in a comfort range. But before we spend more money for a second mat, let’s do the comparison on paper first.

 exped synmat 7therm-a-restfrilufts
Cold protection / R-Value4,944,5
Weight1025 g970 g1350 g
Size183 x 65 x 7196 x 63 x 5183 x 51 x 7
packing size27 x 1433 x 1853 x 15
Filling comfort – + +
Sleeping comfort???
Price149,95 €129,95 €59,95 €

The race is decided between the first two, No. 3 is simply too difficult.

We will probably have to test the comfort.

More at this point after the next vacation 🙂

******

Here are the details of the compared mats:

Exped Synmat 7 MW – Air mattress
https://www.globetrotter.de/shop/exped-synmat-7-mw-232603/

Therm-a-Rest Trail Pro
https://www.globetrotter.de/shop/therm-a-rest-trail-pro-286769-gecko/

FRILUFTS Calbha Comfort 5.0
https://www.globetrotter.de/shop/frilufts-calbha-comfort-50-272064-avocado-tarmac/?sku=272064001

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