It is the sleeping mat that you should be looking to first if you’re after a good night’s sleep when camping. Sleeping mats define your comfort by providing protection from the ground below, whilst also working as the most crucial element for warmth.

The nuances of sleeping mats are almost as diverse as sleeping bags. You’ll find varying degrees of weight, durability, value, thickness and, most importantly, warmth. All sleeping mats (or pads, as they’re sometimes known) for backpacking will have temperature ratings similar to sleeping bags. We’ve tested a handful that roughly fall into the three-season range, and that are suited to a variety of activities.

Choosing The Best Sleeping Mat For You

Most sleeping mats are very lightweight with backpacking in mind, while others are the ones you’d want if you were camping in the same place for a few days – the kind you wouldn’t want to lug across somewhere extremely wild.

Best Three Season Sleeping Bags

And that’s the first decision to make: What will you be using the mat for? Sleeping mats all sit on a scale between weight and comfort, but always bear in mind the temperature you’re expecting. If you’re going to be using it almost exclusively for long-distance backpacking, then you want to consider weight over comfort.

If you’re just going to be camping in a car or staying in one place for a few nights, then comfort wins, but it will be at the expense of weight. The old school roll away mats can still be bought (also known as closed-cell foam), take for example the Therm-a-Rest option in the list below. The main focus of this group test, however, will be on inflatable mats.

Bear in mind also that we’re testing one mattress from each of the relatively few companies that make sleeping mats. Within their ranges, you will find you’ll find something that suits your needs. Take a look at our Sleeping Mats Buyer’s Guide for an in depth look into the different features of sleeping mats.

Warmth

When buying a sleeping mat, be sure to check out the warmth rating. Mats are usually rated for warmth by using the R-Value. This is the same value you may recognise to measure the insulation efficiency at home. Unlike a sleeping bag which can be ventilated, you should always buy the sleeping mat with an R-Value that is the lowest temperature you’ll encounter. Plus if you’re a cold sleeper, always boost the R-Value. For winter, aim for 4-4.5 or greater, and for extreme cold look for higher than 5.7. For three-season use in the UK spring, summer and autumn, then 2.1-4.5 is fine. Less than 2 should suffice for ultra-lightweight summer camping.

There are various ways designers increase the warmth of a sleeping mat. Firstly, is thickness. You’ll be higher off the ground and with more air between you and the cold earth; that’s more air to heat up and keep you warm. Another way to increase warmth is through the materials that are used. A thicker material will generally keep the cold out a little bit more. And finally, a layer of down or synthetic insulation can be used to add warmth. Even a very thin layer can make a huge difference when you’re sleeping on top of snow.

Construction

Durability has always been an issue with sleeping mats. In the constant push to make these mats lighter, the materials used tend to get thinner and thinner and sometimes at the expense of durability. Over the years, we’ve noticed that mats tend to be the item of camping gear that fails the most with heavy use. Three main things can happen: the valve can go, which is a hard fix; and the interior baffle walls can disfigure and balloon.

Any punctures, however, can usually be fixed quickly on the go. Most mats come with a puncture repair kit and can be fixed pretty much like a bike inner tube.

Inflation

There have been a few changes in inflation systems over the last couple of years, in an attempt to eliminate getting dizzy blowing up the mattress. Some use a pump, perhaps fashioned out of a piece of fabric supplied. That said, for most of the lightweight mattresses, because they are quite small and thin, you should be able to fill them in 20-30 breaths or so. Thermarest makes a battery powered pump that works well, and Exped and Sea to Summit favour pump bags to fill them. Larger mats, such as the Quechua, are self-inflating, requiring only minimal topping up.

The Best Sleeping Mats For Backpacking

Here’s our pick of the best lightweight sleeping mats out there. We’ve picked a variety of different types and constructions here, but all of them are lightweight and packable enough for life on the trail. The majority of these, with only a couple of exceptions, made it into the current or previous editions of our Outdoor 100 product guide and all of them have been fully tested and reviewed by our team.

• NEMO Tensor Insulated – Best Sleeping Mat Tested

• Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Uberlite

• Sea-To-Summit Comfort Light Insulated

• Exped Synmat UL 7

• Robens Primacore 60

• Snugpak Air Mat

• Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Topo Luxe

• Big Agnes TwisterCane BioFoam

• Nemo Quasar 3D

• Quechua Arpenaz Comfort 65

SHOP SLEEPING MATS ON

BEST BUY: NEMO Tensor Insulated

Price: £175
Weight: 425g (regular)
Best for: 3 to 4-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Super comfortable, clever design, convenient size

Ideally suited to backpackers or weekend wild campers who want a sleeping pad that’s lightweight but also warm enough to see them through some cold nights, the NEMO Tensor Insulated mat is a great pick. With an R-Value of 3.5, it’ll be able to get you through all but the most extreme of winter nights in the UK.

It’s available in standard or ‘long wide’ sizes. The latter model, with its large and rectangular shape has a slight weight penalty (tipping the scales at 675g), but is well suited to side sleepers, and/or those who tend to move about in their sleep.

The mat has an interesting quilted construction, mixing both horizontal and vertical baffles (the horizontal ones being slightly more prominent) and this results in a very comfortable 3-inch platform that doesn’t collapse too much with any pressure at the sides. For insulation there are two layers of a ‘aluminised’ film to reflect body heat back to you. Fortunately these are designed to be rustle-free, so there won’t be much noise when you move about at night. The same thought has gone into the outer material which is a 20D PU coated ripstop polyester which is soft to the touch – useful for quilt sleepers – and provides a slight bit of grip to stop you sliding about too much.

It comes with a little pump sack which can be quickly and easily fastened to the mat’s valve to make for a remarkably effortless inflation. You simply blow into the pump sack (you don’t even need to put your lips to it), then roll the end, squeezing air into the mat. Within less than 10 breaths your have a nice solid mat.

Featured in our 2020/21 Outdoor 100. Read our full NEMO Tensor Insulated Long Wide review.

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Uberlite

Price: £190
Weight: 250g
Best for: 2 to 3-season ultralight backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, impressively light and packable

This has been dubbed the lightest inflatable air mat ever made, and we’re not going to argue with that. At 250g this is super, super light. Much lighter than any of the other mats featured in this round up.

When something comes in that low on the scales, we’re obviously all going to immediately question how durable it is, and with this the answer is that it’s, well, not that durable – the fabric is just 15D.

The thing is, if you look after it and be careful with what you’re laying it out on top of, there’s no reason why this won’t last a good amount of time without breaking, and if keeping your pack weight as low as possible is hugely important, perhaps it’s worth taking the risk.

When this thing is packed up in its stuff sack, it’s about the size of a Coke can. It’s quite remarkable really, and a potential game changer for any fastpackers or ultralight hikers out there.

It’s comfy – as comfy as any of the other mats in this round-up – and it creates plenty of space between your body and the ground, but there isn’t too much space to move around here as it’s tapered to the shape of someone lying on their back. It’s also not insulated, so look elsewhere if you want something for winter use.

Read our full Therm-a-rest NeoAir Uberlite review.

Sea-To-Summit Comfort Light Insulated

Price: £165
Weight: 620g
Best for: 3 to 4-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, lightweight, quick and easy inflation

The immediate thing that’s noticeable about this is the intriguing looking air cells. It’s what Sea-to-Summit call ‘Hybrid Layer Air Sprung Cell technology’. The idea is that small pockets of air are more stable than a few big ones, offering you much more comfort and support than large lilo-like tubes.

The Exkin Platinum fabric used here reflects radiant heat back to the camper, while Thermolite insulation prevents heat loss between the user and the ground, and this combination of tech makes the mat warm enough to be used in cold weather.

We tested this on a week long trek through Lapland where the temperature hovered around zero degrees celsius at night. It was perfectly comfortable to sleep on – both in terms of how warm it kept us and how it felt. In fact, after a while we stopped worrying about pitching our tent over smaller rocks because we knew we just wouldn’t feel them through the mat.

As for the inflation method, it comes with a lightweight bag that you scoop air into and then force it into the mat through the valve by pressure. It’s remarkably easy and quick and most importantly, it saves your breath!

Check out our full Sea-to-Summit Comfort Light Insulated review.

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Exped Synmat UL 7

Price: £100
Weight: 450g
Best for: 3 to 4-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, warm, impressively light and packable

While this might not be technically classed as a four-season sleeping mat, it does have a temperature limit of -4C – so it could therefore make a suitable option for use in all but the coldest of UK winter conditions. This cold weather performance is thanks to the 60 g/m of Texpedloft synthetic fibres that are laminated to both the upper and lower sides of the mat.

Alongside this insulating ability, it’s also remarkably light and packable, making it ideal for backpacking trips where you want to keep the load light. And it doesn’t skimp on comfort either, keeping you a good few inches off the ground and, with its lack of tapering, giving you a lot of space to move around.

There are separate inflate and deflate valves that are single-directional (so they won’t let air out until you want them to), and, like the Sea-to-Summit option above, it comes with a large pump sack to inflate it. If you get your “scooping air” technique right, you can inflate the mat with two squeezes of the pump sack.

Two smaller things we’d liked about this mat, are that the fabric has a tiny bit of grip to it to stop you sliding around, and it also keeps fairly quiet when you move about.

Note: Further down this article you’ll find Exped’s warmer down insulated version of this.

Read our full Exped Synmat UL7 review.

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Robens Primacore 60

Price: £89
Weight: 650g
Best for: 2 to 3-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, durable

The key thing about this sleeping mat by Danish brand Robens is that it’s filled with PrimaLoft synthetic insulation. We like this stuff; it has high insulation qualities, it lofts almost like down, and it carries on working even when it gets wet (unlike down). This fibre works excellently in insulated jackets, and well, it turns out it works well in sleeping mats as well.

There are similarities between this and the Exped Synmat UL reviewed above. This is in regards to weight, packed size and the type of insulation. The Exped has the edge in each area though, being slightly lighter, slightly cheaper and slightly warmer, and it comes with a pump bag already supplied, whereas with Robens you have to purchase one separately.

Still, we don’t want to knock this too much. It’s comfortable, it’s by no means heavy, it’s warm enough for three-season use (R 2.2) and it packs down small enough to be attractive to backpackers.

Read our full Robens Primacore 60 review.

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Snugpak Air Mat

Price: £62
Weight: 630g
Best for: Summer camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, great value

The clever thing about this sleeping mat by British brand Snugpak is that you don’t need to waste your breath on it or even carry some form of pump either. That’s because there’s a pump built into it.

To inflate it you open up a little valve in one of the corners and then you either stamp down on this repeatedly or pump it with the palm of your hand. Do this for about a minute, and maybe give a puff or two at the end for a little extra pressure, and then viola, you have a very comfortable mattress to sleep on – one that’s actually rather large as well.

There isn’t any insulation (as far as we can tell) in this, so it’s not one for winter use, but for spring through to autumn this will serve you well.

At 630g there are much lighter mats out there, but there are also heavier and much more expensive ones as well. £59 for a mat like this is a great deal in our books.

Check out our full Snugpak Air Mat review.

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