I have a bunch of new toys, including a mapping GPS and an LED flashlight. But the coolest product of all I've just recently acquired (as in, today). It's an Exped down-filled air mattress. For about the weight and packed size (and more than double the price!) of a thermarest, I can have 9 cushy centimeters of insulation under me. I've been lounging on it all evening and will sleep on it this weekend -but my preliminary conclusion is, so long thermarest. The stuff sack (unlike Cascade Designs, Exped includes the stuff sack with the product) is waterproof, with a drybag-like closure and a valve. You need the valve, because the stuffsack is also the bellows you pump the mattress up with. Down = can't blow it up with your breath if you want it to stay warm. Then, when you're done with the blowing up portion of the entertainment, you close the valve, inflate the stuffsack - it's *padded*, go figure - and pillow! *And* you can store the mat both folded in half and rolled, or rolled its entire width - both fit into the stuffsack, it's got some weird extender thingy that allows the buckles to be pulled through some slots, but that would require reading instructions. But, oh - cushy!
My list of places I will be in the next six months is getting longer than it has been in a while. Alas, only one of the entries on the list (the Charlottes) will require the new downmat. Not rocket science to thus conclude that the majority of places I'm going are 1) trips with hotels 2) for work 3) without my kayak 4) far from backcountry.
But. New mattress. Charlottes in July. Can't complain about the way 2005 is shaping up, now, can I?
Posted by Johanna at January 6, 2005 11:25 PM