sleeping mat advice

Wow. An EXPED mat that cheaper. I'm more familiar with EXPED when they first arrived in this part of the world. The products generally were more expensive than any existing rival in the market. They were generaly more technical too.eg Sleeping mats including down fill etc. It is common for foreign brands like EXPED to arrive here in such a small market ie NZ and AUS and at first offer too many options and keep high retail prices to try to maintain their image for quality. The range tends to thin out in time and they get more competitive in price. I'm not familiar with the model in question but note that Thermarest has been around now for more than 30 yrs and started the whole self inflating mat thing. Simplicity is my recommendation. Don't be swayed by retail prices as an indication. Think about your frequency of use. It is typical that lighter and more compact is more expensive.

Thanks for the advice. Went for the EXPED in the end on the strength of glowing user reviews(Trailspace.com, Backpacker.com etc), comfort (at my weight of 95kgs the Thermarests felt thin underneath) and price (the EXPEDS were on sale and well under $150 each at Bivouac, whereas a single, comparable Thermarest (large Prolite 4) was going to set me back around $300. I'll keep the forum posted as to how the product performs over time etc. Cheers

It will be good to get the feedback.

I am same weight as Brynley, been using thermarest 3/4 length for last 3-4 years. Age determined that I needed some comfort at the hips and shoulders. Tested acouple of others at the time but thermarest provided best cushion for me. It has provided good comfort when needed.

I've got the ultralite 3/4 thermarest. I've found out that for hard ground it pays to fully inflate the mattress and for soft surfaces e.g. those nasty, hard light blue DoC mattresses, it pays to have it just a bit more inflated than the degree it self inflates...

I have had a exped down mat for the last couple of months and think it is great - it is a little heavier at 880g (I have the standard model) than my 3/4 length thermarest. But is much more comfortable. Ok it takes a couple of minutes to pump up but I sleep on my side and on my thermarest couple feel the ground but on the first two nights I slept on it had great sleep and could lie on my side without being uncomfortable. I went for the standard size instead of a 3/4 as it is much thicker than a thermarest and dont want legs off the end. I am 165cm and can fit the whole of me on it including head - so dont need great big pillow

I do love my exped down mat shame about the extra weight, I purchased the 9cm version and now consider I would have been better to get the 7cm one. Surprised to see how high the retail price is for the Thermarest NeoAir.

What has this crap got to do with anything on this site.........?

I think it's some sort of garbage spam! It must be a step ahead of Matthew's technology.