"This inflatable, down insulated sleeping pad is made by a swiss company with a true gift for product design and a complete incompetance in the realm of marketing. I suspect the innocently thought they would make a superior product and word would spread (didn't work for Beta!).
This down airmattress has a unique inflation device: It uses the stuff sack as a belows. This allows you to fill up the pad without getting moisture in that will ruin the down. It may seem awkward, but it feels rather natural after a few runs and only takes a minute or two to inflate.
If for some reason you do get moisture in the bag it has two valves so you can run hot air throught the bag to dry it out (they really thought this through).
I am 6'2" and 200# and the 3.5" of insulation on this full length pad make for a dreamy sleep (just a few more grams than my thermarest 3/4 length). I have used this winter camping during Search and Rescue training events and was the envy of my fellow SAR folk.
Their customer service reps were very helpful when I was first figuring out how to use this pad.
The downside (no pun intended): These ain't cheap and they are hard to find in retailers to take the for a test drive (Big Agnes is getting all the press!)"
"Last September we were headed to the Canadian Rockies for some hut to hut hiking.
I don’t sleep well, not even at home. Finding items to assist in a better night’s rest (amongst 30 strangers) became my mantra. In addition, I wanted all of my gear to fit “inside” my Marmot Eiger 36 for safer air travel. This meant updating my very old Therm a Rest sleeping pad.
Through online research, I whittled my candidates down to the Exped DownMat 7 and the Therm a Rest ProLite 4 Women’s. Then off I went to my local REI to go lay on them. After 1.5 hrs in the store, I still couldn’t decide. There were pluses and minuses to each. The DownMat 7 was $139 (includes stuff sack/pump) The ProLite was $90 (plus $13 stuff sack/self-inflating) I purchased both, the runner up would be returned. At home I got out my sleeping bag, told my Fella I wouldn’t be in the “Big Bed” for the next few nights, and set up camp in the living room.
I chose the DownMat 7 Regular
Pros:
It’s 4 inches longer in length (I have an extra long sleeping bag ALL of me fit on the pad)
It’s 1.3 inches thicker which made sleeping on my side more comfortable
It did seem to provide more warmth between me and my wood flooring than the ProLite
It’s 3 oz lighter
It packed up 1 inch shorter making for a better fit inside my pack
Cons:
Even after practicing, over and over again, I don’t get the stuff sack pump to work the first time. Last weekend, after cross country skiing out to the Bradley Hut in a heavy snow storm, I wished I’d had a self-inflator. It took several attempts to get the DownMat inflated. At one point I even lacked the confidence that I’d succeed. By the time I did, my hands were numb with cold.
I do think it’s warmer to sleep on and I know that I’ve slept better in the huts with it."
"These are accurately described in the previous two reviews so I won't give details. I bought mine for winter camping but I like it so much it often accompanies me in other seasons too. I think it adds 10 degrees (F) to any sleeping bag, more to bags with built in sleeves for the sleeping pad. A bonus feature is that I can put clothes into the stuff sack/pump and use it as a pillow. I have only two complaints. First, it's often difficult to keep the valve of the stuff sack on the mating valve on the pad while inflating, making it take even longer to inflate. Second, the valves could use some sort of mechanism to lock them closed. Occasionally I've come back to camp to find a limp pad from a leak. As this doesn't always happen I attribute it to a valve that's been jostled or accidentally rubbed, opening it slightly. At any rate it's no fun working the pump all over again before snuggling inside my sleeping bag, and problem number one is even more acute in the dark. Otherwise a great pad that weighs a bit more than Therm-A-Rest or closed cell pad but really helps a cold sleeper."
