Cycling UK Forum

Heltor Chasca wrote:Thermarest NeoAir Trekker. Very happy with mine after a year and a bit of service. Rolls up 'beer can' size which I like.

I have one as well because I was looking for something a bit more robust than the light Thermarests that I've had fail (including a first version of the NeoAir). So far I have used it for about 50 nights. If staying on one place I take care to let a little air out for the heat of the day and then add some before I go to bed. It is still noticeable that further pressure is lost during to cool of the night. I think this is not surprising considering that there is a fairly large volume of air involved and we must remember Boyle's Law where pressure is proportional to volume and temperature. I spent a night on a light Thermarest self inflator on the floor of a house recently. What a difference! Give me the NeoAir every time.

I mended the leaks in mine - following their on-line instructions. Seems to have worked and have just spent 8 nights on it. I thought it wouldn't work as the leaks were in the corners at the ends of a seam, not on a flat bit.

I've had the welding fail in two Synmats, one after about six months of continuous use and the other after three weeks, which I too thought was a shame because they are so comfortable. I switched to a Thermarest NeoAir Camper, because it's bigger and heavier, and therefore, I reasoned, might be more robust. So far no problems after a year.

My Exped mat failed after two trips. I returned it to the distributor and by return of post I had a brand new one which has been brilliant for the last five years and it will do my Germany tour next year.

John

Sweep wrote:I can't get over how tolerant you exped folk seem to be over these failure rates. Is exped a deity working in mysterious ways?

The plural of anecdote is not data. People complaining about the premature failure of any product are a self-selecting sample. All the other folk who have not had a problem don't tend to rock up saying so. In that respect, I'm an exception.

The thing about Exped mats is that nothing else comes close to their comfort and pack size/weight. My first downmat transformed my wild camping experience; an Exped is as comfortable as your bed at home. Using Expeds is the only way I can get my wife and daughter to camp with me these days - they really are that good. As for product failure, the first mat I ever owned finally failed last year after about 10 years of use. Like any item of lightweight kit, you do need to take a bit of care with it but the benefits make it worthwhile.

Thanks for the (polite) reply eton.

Can someone remind me what the guarantee terms are with these things?

And maybe more to the point, how good they are at honouring the legalese?

I had a problem with down leaking out of a more than five year old Downmat. The Dutch importer gave me a new one by return of post. My other Downmat is now 8 years old, and is still working fine. My Synmat UL summer mat has now also gone through a few seasons, and without any problems. That UL mat does seem vulnerable, however (the 2017 model uses slightly more robust material). So I am very careful with it. I don't use a chairkit (seems like asking for trouble) and in hot weather like this summer in France I do deflate it somewhat during the day.
As was said, the comfort (and insulation in the case of the Downmat) is exceptional, as are packed size and weight.

Eton Rifle wrote:The thing about Exped mats is that nothing else comes close to their comfort and pack size/weight.

Agree about the comfort, though you could replace "Exped" with "insulated air mattress" as Exped are neither the only make available or the first to produce them, though their marketing people did a great job of making them so commonplace.

The plural of anecdote is not data.

Indeed, though I'm sure that if the data existed you'd find the failure rate for this design is higher than for others, for reasons explained earlier.

Sweep wrote:Can someone remind me what the guarantee terms are with these things?
And maybe more to the point, how good they are at honouring the legalese?

I'm pretty sure it's two years for most models and one for the UL. Though there's plenty of stories on the web of distributors replacing long after the warranty has expired, something I didn't see until after I'd binned one
The difference in comfort is such that I will continue to take the risk. I've never toured anywhere that I wouldn't be able to get something to replace a failure next day, I might think again if that wasn't the case.

The warranty is five years, and two years on the UL.

thanks willem (and others) - do you pay postage to them and they pay postage back or can you sort the thing through any accredited retailer, whether or not you bought it from them?

This was in Holland, of course. If my memory serves me well I think I paid postage sending the old one and they paid postage sending the new one. Seems the easiest way to do it. Sending such a small parcel does not cost more than few pounds. I was pleased by the service. Also, the new one is better (better pump and easier to inflate with the modern pump bag).

Maybe pedantic question for which I apologise in advance.

I gather that these things come with a repair kit.

If on a trip you patch it does that mean that you cannot send it away for a replacement on grounds of failure?

It would still be a failure in my book - particularly as I am very careful about subjecting mats to anything that may puncture them - there will always be two layers between the mat and the ground.

Sorry - you can maybe tell that I have a certain distrust of warranties/insurance

Puncturing it is not, of course, covered by the warranty. But punctures can indeed be repaired with the repair kit (I never had to do this). The two problems that merit a warranty claim seem to be down leaking from the downmat valve, and spontaneous delamination. The latter is not necessarily a manufacturing defect, but maybe the result of increasing pressure inside due to high temperatures. I have noticed that the mattress really becomes very hard if you forget to deflate it quickly enough in the morning. This will be more of an issue with the UL than with the main series, I guess.

Just digging out our expeds for a trip.
One has successful repair from last year but the bung now leaks. Vaseline doesn't help. Considered cladding the bung in a condom. Luckily we kept the other failed mat and the bung from that fits well!
Also noted that the footpump thing has sand in it (from a Hebridean beach), which probably is cause of leak.