Ultralight 1R Mummy Sleeping Pad for Backpacking

This mattress is awesome! 100 mile trek through New Mexico mountains. Blows up easily with the schnozzle (under four fills) and stays full all night. I’m a side sleeper and my hips never touched the ground. Woke up in 40 degree cold and the mattress was body temp and so warm! It folds up super compact. One thing that helped was two small breaths of air after taking off the schnozz. Gave it that little oomf to get it full and keep me comfy. Worth the price for a good night rest.

I've had much thinner pads that had to be inflated by lung power, taking 10-15 minutes. This one, three times the thickness of my thermarest, inflates in a couple of minutes, using the supplied (and ingenious) squeeze bag. So far this is holding up beautifully. I stuff my jacket or clothes duffle underneath the head and it forms its own perfect pillow for a great night's sleep. Of course it's 3 times the cost of my previous pads, but this just tells me I should have bought this one sooner. I missed a lot of good nights of sleep on the trail from trying to sleep on inadequate pads. Too old for that now. at 75, i thought I'd have to quit sleeping on the ground, but with the Exped, my camping days will continue!

Were a backpacker, I might want a more compact and lighter mat... but I'm not. For what I use it for (scooter/motorcycle camping) it's both small and light enough even though I got the tall and wide model. And with an R rating of 4.8, it's solid for three season camping. Moreover, unlike my prior non-insulated and slippery mat, with the inflation bag it's actually easier to inflate, and decidedly non-slippery. I'm pleased!

I just spent two nights backpacking with this in 38-40 degree nights (cold not freezing) and slept so comfortably and warm. This was compared to uncomfortable, freezing non-sleeping last year on a foam pad. Inflates fast with the bag, deflates fast. Hope it is durable and lasts a long time.

Exped has become one of the more well known brands of sleeping pads on the market today. I think the most famous model they sell is the "Megamat" line of car camping pads. However they also make some nice lightweight backpacking pads. I don't have a ton of other sleeping mats to compare this to other than a Klymit Static V Luxe Wide. The Klymit packs down smaller than this Exped Ultra 3R Medium Wide model. The Exped is roughly 8oz lighter (1.5lbs v 2 lbs.) than the Klymit. The designs are very different, with this Exped utilizing long vertical baffles, while the Klymit has a very complex V shape with multiple baffles up and down the pad. I find the Klymit V design to offer a bit more stability when moving around the pad. I'm a side sleeper, so I tend to have the most weight on my hip/lower back, which can sink to the ground on a thin airpad. Both the Exped and my Klymit do a good job of keeping my butt off the ground when sleeping. I find that the Exped is thicker than the Klymit, however I think some of that may have to do with the complicated baffles and seams on the Klymit. I appreciate the inflation sack that comes with the Exped (see the second picture). It took a little over 2 bag fulls of air to completely fill the mat. Another plus, the mat held air nicely over 2 nights as I left it inflated for several days to test for air leakage. I've found that the Klymit I have tends to leak a bit of air as the valve isn't the best on it. The Exped has 2 valves, one for inflation and one for deflation. Very easy to read and use. The inflation sack attaches nicely to the inflation valve to blow it up. When ready to take it down, pop the deflation valve and roll it up. The Exped is much easier to break down than the Klymit as the baffles on the Klymit don't allow the air to escape very easily. Also included with the Exped is a patch kit. The Exped looks like a typical air mattress you'd use in your pool, however it does have what feels like a very thin layer of insulation on the inside, which helps give it the stated R Value of 2.9. So it should help ward off any chill coming from the ground in your tent. I can't speak to whether or not it'll work down to 20 degrees F though, it's currently 90F outside and only drops to 70F at night here in Southern California. Cold weather testing will have to wait until December if we're lucky. Suffice to say, this pad should be good almost year-round out west. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live and the weather conditions there. This pad is a nice addition to any backpacker's sleep system. Pair it with a pillow and a nice sleeping bag and you're going to have some nice dreams on the trail. Any ultralight backpacker probably won't be packing this because of the weight, but I find that it's not too bad to carry. It's relatively small size won't take up too much space in your pack. One place the Exped loses handily to the Klymit is on price. It's about 1.5 times more expensive. Is it worth the premium? You make the call.