One of the most hotly anticipated new products of 2009, the NeoAir is in a class of its own. The statistics for the Small size (51cm x 119cm) are very impressive:- 6.3cm thick, weighing only 260g and a packed volume around the size of a 1l bottle.
The NeoAir is reviewed in the Gear & Tech / Equipment subsection.
We have now switched to the NeoAirs above but have retained this section for reference.
Thermarest had all but cornered the market for these and the name is almost synonymous with the mattress, though other manufacturers like Vango, Alpkit and Gelert make them. They are light and give very good comfort for the low weight. The airhole is controlled by a stout plastic screwtop valve in the corner. They have a high friction surface that helps prevent disconcerting movement when pitched on a slight slope.
Thermarest mattresses come in two lengths:- Regular (full-length) at 183cm and Short (¾-length) at 119cm. The Standard Thermarests inflate to 3.8cm thick but there is also an Ultralight version that is only 2.5cm thick. They are supposed to be self-inflating and to a large extent they do, but they usually need to be blown up just a little further. Their ability to self-inflate takes some time to establish after initial purchase.
We replaced our original Thermarests with their newer Prolite 4 mattresses. These are 3.8cm thick and are lighter due to their use of die-cut foam (whatever that is) - but what exactly is the weight?. This is a good example of an increasing source of frustration among the weight-conscious: the difference between quoted weights and actual weights. The most well known example is lightweight tents where the manufacturer quotes a minimum weight without pegs and guylines, but that is a marketing ploy to get a low headline figure and is well known. Less well known is that optimistic weights are given for many items where manufacturing tolerances result in variable batches of a product. In this case there can be a surprising difference between individual mattresses.
The quoted weight seen on websites for the Prolite 4 Short is 482g, but this must (presumably) be without the supplied stuffsack. We bought the two Prolite 4s and unfurled them to remove the leaflet and registration card, repacked them in the stuffsacks and weighed them on postal weighing scales. One of them was 520g and the other was 550g. It may not sound like much, but in the second case the weight actually carried is 14% higher than the headline figure, and when expressed in those terms it certainly raises an eyebrow.
Anyway the Short Prolite 4s represent a worthwhile weight saving over their predecessors and have the added advantage that they pack down in a less cumbersome way: they fold in half lengthways first and then roll up, resulting in a far more manageable package. These are fine for most of the year and comfortable on a wide range of terrain. The thickness is usually enough to ride out uncomfortable lumps in the ground.
Rather than let them self-inflate we actually blow them up. The moisture content of breath is nothing to worry about, it will all be squeezed out the next morning and replaced with dry air back home when unrolled, and we have never found any problems.
The picture right is the TorsoLite from Bozeman, a ½-length tapering mattress 2.5cm thick and weighing 281g. The length is 81cm and the width tapers from 46cm at the shoulder end to 31cm at the upper thigh. Until the NeoAir (above) came along at an even lower weight, this mattress was a great weight and volume saver but only if you are the type that can sleep on a clothes line.
When not in use, these mattresses should not be stored compressed in their carry bags, however convenient that would be. Their natural ability to expand and fill with air may suffer over time. They should be unrolled and allowed to self-inflate, then stored with the valve open. This also ensures that moisture cannot be trapped and cause mildew to form.
Cheap, quite light and simply awful. Better than nothing and that's all about it.
For the heart of winter when the ground is frozen or snow covered, we switched to these for the 2007/2008 season. These are considerably lighter than our old Thermarest LE mattresses and roll up to a much more compact volume.
In very cold winter conditions a full length mattress is needed for insulation from the frozen ground, and we use Exped down mattresses (Downmat 7 model) which inflate to 7cm thick and and give superb comfort and insulation. The large thickness makes it better able to ride out lumps, which is an advantage when clearing a snowy pitch spot and discovering uneven ground beneath.
The substantial stuffbag is supposed to be used as an inflator pump: it has a plug at the foot which comes out leaving a ribbed hole that press-fits over the valve on the mattress. The open end is rolled over and the bag squeezed to force air into the mattress, repeating until the desired firmness is achieved. In practice we found it impossible to keep the bag attached to the valve: with no locking mechanism to hold it, it was constantly coming off and we just blew it up by mouth in the end. Yes I know, this is not recommended for down products due to the moisture, but I reckon these mattresses will perform very well for a long time in spite of that, and if they do need replacement a bit sooner than expected, then so be it. Having accepted this idea, it turned out to be a very good weight saver.
The quoted total weight is 910g. Our weights as supplied were measured at 945g and 978g: the mattresses are 815g and 848g, and the stuffsacks weigh a surprising 130g each. By replacing them with simple nylon stuffsacks weighing 30g each, we saved 100g per mattress. In fact they roll up so well that a stout elastic band would be fine, given that we have good waterproof pack liners, saving even more weight.
Various proprietary accessories are available, such as kits for converting a Thermarest into a chair and inflatable pillows, but we consider them all gimmicks. For a pillow we fill a stuffsack with whatever clothing is not used in the night. One improvement we made to this basic idea was to sew a loop of elastic fabric onto the stuffsack and stretch it around the mattress - this ensures that the pillow stays put and doesn't slip out in the night.
Backpacking Packs