Sleeping Mats

[flyingmonkeycorps]

What kind of mat do folk use for sleeping? I'm new to bikepacking, come from biking and backpacking and decided to smoosh the two together... I've got most of my kit down to a level / fit I'm happy with (I could do with a smaller sleeping bag, but that will come) but I currently have the choice of either a foam roll mat (which is tricky to carry but light) or a Thermarest copy (which is warmer, not *too* heavy but still massive - packed it's about 25cm long by 20cm round).

I carry a backpack and it'll be going in there - I'd ideally like something reasonably light but with a smaller pack size. Warmth obviously of some import too, though I'm unlikely to be camping in really cold temps.

Naturally I don't want to spend loads, but there's no point in getting something cheap only to discover that it's useless. I've been looking at stuff like this, but always open to suggestion... http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk/oex-travers ... at-p429580

[whitestone]

The usual suspects are the Thermarest NeoAir series and the Exped Synmats. Neither are cheap though. An uninsulated mat is fine for summer use but when the ground is colder you will need something with insulation - look for high R-values, I can't see an R-value for the mat you link to. As you've noted closed cell mats are a bit unwieldy on a bike, the above mats pack down to a bit bigger than a typical water bottle.

There's quite a few threads on here about sleeping mats so either search for "NeoAir" or "synmat" and you'll find more info. In one of them I've posted a shot of the packed size of a couple of the Exped mats for reference.

[flyingmonkeycorps]

Aye I had a look at those, but they're a bit more than I can really spend at the moment - if I'm cold camping I'm less likely to have the bike with me, and the Thermarest copy (I think it's a Multimat or something) will do the job. Tempted to take a punt on a cheapie off Amazon...

[Bearbonesnorm]

Only the other day did I mention ..... https://www.tauntonleisure.com/robens-v ... g-mat.html

[flyingmonkeycorps]

Ooh! Ta very much, that looks ideal.

[Mariner]

Only the other day did I mention ..... https://www.tauntonleisure.com/robens-v ... g-mat.html

Do you know if the Robens mat will work with a Schnozzle?

[Bearbonesnorm]

Do you know if the Robens mat will work with a Schnozzle?

Don't know but they do their own bag for about a tenner.