Ah camping, the joy of the great outdoors, after an extremely active day outdoors, getting a good nights sleep is important. A good nights sleep in a tent you cry? Yes a good nights sleep under the canvas does exist. We know getting a good nights sleep at the best of times can be a challenge, there are always distractions, noises in the night keeping you awake, being too hot, being too cold, someone hogging the covers, the list goes on. So it is therefore no surprise from the word go that sleeping in a tent isn’t going to be the best environment in which to get some sleep. But this can be improved and you can, we repeat can, sleep in comfort.
Getting a comfortable nights sleep will see you feeling refreshed, ready for action, ready to take on the outdoors world and ready to endure another extremely energetic and active day outside, all the qualities of a happy camper. Not getting a good nights sleep will find you feeling tired, unmotivated, and grumpy, basically the perfect recipe for somebody nobody wants to be outdoors with.
If you want to be in the happy camp (you do, you do, miserable-ism is so last year), here at OutdoorGB we have a range of sleeping solutions from Exped that will see you sleeping like a baby (and none of them intoxicating substances!).
Exped Sleeping Mats are the perfect choice for anybody who wants a comfy nights sleep. Sleeping mats keep you warm, they stop you losing heat to the ground through conduction and enable your sleeping bag to work properly, keeping it compressed under you. Sleeping mats also of course keep you comfortable, instead of just being a thin groundsheet and your sleeping bag between you and the hard rocky ground that is littered with stones, roots and who knows what else, there will be a luxurious air filled dream machine. Sleeping bags basically work the night shift for you, leaving you to do some sweet dreaming.
The Exped sleeping mats we sell at OutdoorGB fall into 2 different categories, clever self-inflating types and then those that need a bit of puff. Self inflating type mats are constructed with a layer of foam sandwiched inside an air tight shell with a valve. Opening the valve, causes the foam to expand and sucks air into the mat. When the foam is fully expanded, as if like magic the valve closes and the mat can be used. Packing away these mats is just as easy, just open up the valve, roll up the mat and squeeze out the air, then close the valve and the mat will stay the same shape.
The Exped Downmat Down-Filled Mats are self-inflating mats that as the name suggests are filled with feather down. Super comfortable, the mat will smooth out uneven ground and the down insulation means heat loss is dramatically reduced. As demonstrated when birds try to squeeze into small spaces, down compresses well too, so the Exped Downmats will pack small.
The other mats we sell are those that need pumping up using a bit of effort, which we will call er non self inflating mats. Non self inflating mats are constructed using the same air tight outer layer and valve as their more active brothers, self inflating mats but don’t feature the layer of foam, as it is the foam that sucks the air into the self inflating mats. Non self inflating mats tend to be thicker and contain more air, giving them a softer feel. Packing the same way as self inflating mats, non self inflating mats are better for those with limited space, as they are lighter and pack down smaller as there is no foam to compress.
A nice example of a non self inflating mat is the Exped AirMat 7.5. Built to be tough, yet incredibly lightweight, the Exped AirMat 7.5 is also amazingly compact. For improved slip resistance, the top surface of the mat is honeycomb patterned.
Find more snug sleeping solutions here.
