All told, there are five unique layouts for these pads in various lengths and widths. No more wrestling with a bag that never seems to fit, no matter how many times you roll the pad.Īnother big selling point for the Exped is the variety of sizing.
Instead, Exped provides a roll-top bag so you can quickly toss the pad in without fully deflating it on trips. Like most pads, it features a large dump valve that allows the air to escape quickly, but what sets the Megamat apart is that it doesn’t need to be squeezed into a tiny sack for storage. The deflation and breakdown process is equally well thought out. You can just reach out of your bag, squeeze the pump a few times, and you’re done. More importantly, it had very little of the annoying crackling sound common in most sleeping pads, so you won’t have to worry about sounding like a bag of chips each time you roll over.Īs you’d expect, the setup is a cinch thanks to a self-inflating design, but I really liked the inclusion of a small air pump as well since it meant there was never a need to get out of the sleeping bag to top off air pressure. While it wasn’t as soft as the fabric covers on the Sea to Summit or Nemo pad we tested, I felt like it would be less prone to wearing or discoloration over time-definitely a benefit. The Megamat’s laminated polyester fabric is as durable and non-slip as their site describes, and the tricot top was also quite comfortable. While you will still feel your partner tossing and turning, it’s not nearly as bad as on a traditional air mattress, and that leads to a better night’s sleep. The open-cell foam also has the secondary benefit of reducing the feedback from movement on the mat. During testing, I found that the Megamat’s open-cell foam was able to ward off the cold even when temperatures dropped well into the teens, while also staying cool on warm days. That’s a big deal when you’re sleeping in a vehicle with a metal floor and free-flowing air between you and the ground. It blows past Sea to Summit’s Comfort Deluxe rating of 5.2 and Nemo’s Roamer pad which doesn’t carry an official rating at all. Instead, I’m going to dive into some of the specific features of this pad and what makes it different from the competition, starting with one of the Megamat’s biggest benefits for overlanders, insulation.Īs mentioned, the Exped carries an R-value of 9.5, which is one of the highest we’ve ever tested. But here’s the thing, you would know all of that by reading nearly any review of this pad online, so there’s no need for me to waste your time waxing poetic about its comfort. It has vertical sidewalls that provide an edge-to-edge sleeping surface, a tricot top that is soft yet durable, and 3.9 inches of open-cell foam with adjustable air pressure-it’s basically the Sleep Number bed of camping. Let’s start with the obvious, the Megamat is seriously comfortable. A range of sizes is available, with pricing from $239 to $389. As you’d expect, the pad is self-inflating for ease of use, but it also includes a mini-pump for small adjustments in pressure and a dump valve for rapid deflation. The open-cell polyurethane foam uses horizontal air channels to help cut weight, but also drastically improves insulation with an R-value of 9.5, one of the highest on the market. Despite this modest pack size, it unfurls to a spacious 40.9 inches wide, 72 inches long, and nearly 4 inches thick when inflated-perfect for a two-person tent or the back of most four-wheel drives. Our test model, a Duo 10 M, weighs a little over 9 pounds and rolls up to 21.7 inches x 11.8 inches, or roughly the size of a standard gym duffel. The Exped Megamat is designed to be as comfortable as possible while still packing down to a toteable size. To find out, I threw one in my Excursion and hit the road, evaluating it in locales ranging from the sunny southern shores of Florida to the wind-battered woods of Newfoundland. However, after recent tests of the Nemo Roamer and Sea to Summit Comfort Deluxe SI, I got to wondering if the Exped would still stack up. Exped was one of the pioneers of car camping pads, and their 4-inch thick Megamat has had almost nine years to set the benchmark for camping comfort.
There are a lot of ultra-comfortable sleeping pads on the market these days, but ask someone in the overland world what they think is the plushest pad in all the land, and there’s a good chance they’ll say the Exped Megamat.
0 kommentar(er)
