Most Comfortable Sleeping Mat

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Topo Luxe

Price: £155
Weight: 650g
Best for: 3-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, clever valve design, surprisingly light

Therm-a-Rest has a following for its sleeping mats that would make any other company envious. The NeoAir Topo Luxe should suit a specific type of backpacker; one who doesn’t want a heavy weight to carry but then also likes a fairly luxurious amount of comfort. For instance, they might find the 250g NeoAir Uberlite too minimalist but then, at the other extreme, will find the car camping-oriented Therm-a-rest Basecamp too cumbersome at 1.14kg. That said, this would also be an appealing option for any car or van campers that want a comfortable mat that won’t take up a load of room in the boot when it’s not in use.

Considering this offers a whopping four inches of elevation off the ground and the fact that it’s rectangular-shaped rather than tapered, it’s actually surprising that this weighs as little as 650g. That’s by no means cumbersome.

The secret is in its use of Therm-a-rest’s Triangular Core Matrix construction which involves two stacked layers of triangular baffles. No bulky and heavy foam here. To ensure it’s still able to block cold convection from the ground, there’s a Thermacapture Lining which, to put it simply, bounces your body heat back to you. It’s not a winter-rated mat though. The R-rating is 3.7 which is three points short of the all-season pass mark. Still, it’s definitely capable of serving you in all but freezing conditions.

The shell fabric is a 50D (top and bottom) polyester knit. That’s pretty tough, you won’t have to worry too much about anything tearing into it. It’s also quiet as well so if you tend to move about in your sleep, you won’t drive your tent buddy mad.

Featured in our 2020/21 Outdoor 100. Read our full Thermarest NeoAir Topo Luxe review.

Best Foam Sleeping Mat

Big Agnes TwisterCane BioFoam

Price: £50
Weight: 397g
Best for: Long-distance trekking, climbing holidays, camping trips
Key attributes: Lightweight, durable, eco-friendly 

Big Agnes’ TwisterCane BioFoam Sleeping Pad is a great bit of simple and relatively inexpensive kit that will do the job for climbers, backpackers and Cub Scouts alike. Unlike most other foam mats, however, these mats are made from sustainably-sourced sugarcane biomass (over 60%), in a process that is not just carbon-neutral, but actually removes carbon from the atmosphere.

Admittedly, this isn’t the thickest or the warmest sleeping pad around, nor the most packable. Unrolled, it has a depth of about half an inch, or 13mm, with an R-value of 1.7. The roll mat design means it is reasonably compact and still straps to the outside of a pack, but isn’t quite as space efficient as a concertina or Z-folding closed-cell foam mat. We’d love to see Big Agnes come out with a BioFoam mat of that design, with thicker dimensions and a higher R-value.

Still, in its current form, the TwisterCane would work well for warmer-weather adventures, especially if you’re a hardy wild camper or seasoned trail hiker accustomed to relatively spartan levels of comfort. And as the brand suggests, it could also be combined with an insulated air mat for additional warmth and comfort, creating a robust four-season system for year-round use, even on frozen ground or snow.

Selected for our Green Gear Guide 2021/22 – Read our full Big Agnes TwisterCane BioFoam sleeping mat review. 

Best of the Rest

Nemo Quasar 3D

Price: £150
Weight: 774g
Key attributes: sustainably-produced, 3D contouring, raised head baffle
Best for: comfort, sustainability, side-sleepers, backpacking, wild camping

Packable, durable, weight conscious and sustainably produced, it’s difficult to find a box that the Nemo Quasar 3D sleeping mat doesn’t wholeheartedly tick. 

We recommend inflating and deflating using the Vortex pump sack (included), although the Nemo Quasar can be inflated using lung power alone. When fully inflated you get 3 ½ inches of cushioning. One end has a slightly elevated head baffle to keep your camp pillow in place, with the rest of the mat using curved body mapped baffles, making for an extremely comfortable night’s sleep.

There are two versions, insulated and non-insulated. Unless you’re strictly a summer camper, we recommend that UK campers opt for the insulated version, which bumps the R-value of the mat from 1.8 to 3.3, making it suitable for three-season camping.

The best bit? You can sleep easy knowing that your purchase has had no negative impact on the planet, it’s made from 100% post-consumer recycled materials.

Selected for the Outdoor 100 2021/22 – Here’s our full Nemo Quasar 3D Sleeping Mat review. 

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.

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.

Quechua Arpenaz Comfort 65

Price: £34.99
Weight: 1700g
Best for: Car camping and basecamp/campsite use
Key attributes: Comfortable, warm, good value

The Arpenaz Comfort 65 from Quechua sits firmly in the car or base camping category. This is the mat to use when you’ll be staying in one place for a few days. It comes in a big pack and is rather heavy at 1700g, but blimey it is comfortable.

Taking the mat out of the pack, we were also struck by the soft face fabric. Rather than having any squeaky plastic you sometimes see, there is a non-slip, soft material that we found offers a really good night’s sleep. To inflate it, you just lay it out flat and open the clearly-marked ‘in’ valve while you put your tent up. It will self-inflate to around 80% before it needs some topping up. It should be said, the self-inflating mechanism works best after it’s been used for the first time.

It’s a pretty big mat too – as we say, this is one for comfort above all else – at 65cm wide and 190cm long. And while it’s only 4.5cm thick, it is warm thanks in part to the thickness of fabric. There is no R-Value given, but again, we’d suggest this mat down to around 2-3ºC. Lying on it, we did find it very comfortable, although it did makes us wonder whether we’d prefer to go the whole hog and get a large mattress if we were car camping.

There is a zip down either side to help keep the mat folded in two lengthways when you’re rolling it up. We’re not sure if this feature is essential, but it does make it easier to pack up.

Either way, this is a good mat for what it is designed for, and especially at this price.

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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.