Best Backpacking Sleeping Mats For 2024

Options from Therm-a-rest, Exped, NEMO Equipment and more, plus our advice on what to look for when buying

It is the sleeping mat that you should be looking to first if you’re after a good night’s sleep when camping. Sleeping mats define your comfort by providing protection from the ground below, whilst also working as the most crucial element for warmth.

The nuances of sleeping mats are almost as diverse as sleeping bags. You’ll find varying degrees of weight, durability, value, thickness and, most importantly, warmth. All sleeping mats (or pads, as they’re sometimes known) for backpacking will have temperature ratings similar to sleeping bags. We’ve tested a handful that roughly fall into the three-season range, and that are suited to a variety of activities.

The Best Sleeping Mats For Backpacking 2024

Here’s our pick of the best lightweight sleeping mats out there. We’ve picked a variety of different types and constructions here, but all of them are lightweight and packable enough for life on the trail. The majority of these, with only a couple of exceptions, made it into the current or previous editions of our Outdoor 100 product guide and all of them have been fully tested and reviewed by our team.

• Best Overall Sleeping Mat: Exped Ultra 5R

• Best Ultralight Sleeping Mat: Therm-a-rest NeoAir Uberlite

• Most Comfortable Sleeping Mat: Therm-a-rest NeoAir Topo Luxe

• Best Sleeping Mat for Colder Weather: Sea-To-Summit Comfort Light Insulated

• Best Foam Sleeping Mat: Big Agnes TwisterCane BioFoam

• Best Value Sleeping Mat: Vango Aotrom Sleeping Mat

 

Best Overall Sleeping Mat

Exped Ultra 5R

Price: £190
Weight: 585g (regular)
Best for: Cold weather backpacking
Key attributes: Excellent warmth to weight ratio

This is a winter-rated sleeping mat that provides an impressive amount of insulation and without the burden of a heavy weight or packed size. In fact, we found that it boasts one of the best warmth-to-weight ratios out there.

It’s a comfortable sleep too, keeping you a good few inches from the ground and providing a nice bit of stability thanks to its longitudinal baffles.

It’s inflated via airflow through a one-way valve. You can either blow into it, which takes some time and effort, or you can use the pump sack that comes with it. Handily, the pump sack is waterproof and is designed to double as the sleeping mat’s stuff sack. To deflate it, you simply open up the ‘out’ valve and it’ll quickly be ready to be rolled up.

This, by the way, comes in numerous different sizes, styles and lengths. We tested the rectangular M size and really liked what we saw.

Featured in our 2023/24 Outdoor 100. Read our full Exped Ultra 5R review.

BUY NOW: ALPINETREK.CO.UK

 

Best Value Sleeping Mat

Vango Aotrom

Price: £70
Weight: 410g
Best for: 3-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Quick and easy to inflate, small packed size.

This mat is excellent value for money. We’ve found it to be light and packable, comfortable enough for backcountry use and, perhaps best of all, it’s super quick and easy to inflate and deflate. We found that just blowing into it was effortless enough but you can attach a pump or pump sack if you want to inflate it without blowing in moist air – and to save your breath.

It’s made from a 20-denier ripstop nylon which feels quite tough. You obviously wouldn’t want to plonk it on top of a gorse bush but, from our experience with it, it’s tough enough to withstand the sharp claws of a border terrier that’s trying to make itself cosy for the night.

Unlike the usual transverse or longitudinal baffles that you see on most sleeping mats, the Aotrom has air-filled welded channels. These mould to the contours of the ground and to your body, ultimately making for a more comfortable night’s sleep. It’s not the thickest mat, and though we could lie on it without ‘bottoming out’, we’d still say it’s better suited for people who tend to sleep on their back or front rather than their sides.

We found this mat was perfect for mild spring, summer and autumn conditions. You’ll want the Aotrom Thermo if you’re planning any winter stuff.

Featured in our 2020/21 Outdoor 100. Read our full Vango Aotrom Sleeping Mat review.

BUY NOW: DECATHLON.CO.UK

 

Best Ultralight Sleeping Mat

Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Uberlite

Price: £190
Weight: 250g
Best for: 2 to 3-season ultralight backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, impressively light and packable

This has been dubbed the lightest inflatable air mat ever made, and we’re not going to argue with that. At 250g this is super, super light. Much lighter than any of the other mats featured in this round up.

When something comes in that low on the scales, we’re obviously all going to immediately question how durable it is, and with this the answer is that it’s, well, not that durable – the fabric is just 15D.

The thing is, if you look after it and be careful with what you’re laying it out on top of, there’s no reason why this won’t last a good amount of time without breaking, and if keeping your pack weight as low as possible is hugely important, perhaps it’s worth taking the risk.

When this thing is packed up in its stuff sack, it’s about the size of a Coke can. It’s quite remarkable really, and a potential game changer for any fastpackers or ultralight hikers out there.

It’s comfy – as comfy as any of the other mats in this round-up – and it creates plenty of space between your body and the ground, but there isn’t too much space to move around here as it’s tapered to the shape of someone lying on their back. It’s also not insulated, so look elsewhere if you want something for winter use.

Read our full Therm-a-rest NeoAir Uberlite review.

BUY NOW: AMAZON.CO.UK

 

Best Sleeping Mat for Colder Nights

Sea-To-Summit Comfort Light Insulated

Price: £165
Weight: 620g
Best for: 3 to 4-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Comfortable, lightweight, quick and easy inflation

The immediate thing that’s noticeable about this is the intriguing looking air cells. It’s what Sea-to-Summit call ‘Hybrid Layer Air Sprung Cell technology’. The idea is that small pockets of air are more stable than a few big ones, offering you much more comfort and support than large lilo-like tubes.

The Exkin Platinum fabric used here reflects radiant heat back to the camper, while Thermolite insulation prevents heat loss between the user and the ground, and this combination of tech makes the mat warm enough to be used in cold weather.

We tested this on a week long trek through Lapland where the temperature hovered around zero degrees celsius at night. It was perfectly comfortable to sleep on – both in terms of how warm it kept us and how it felt. In fact, after a while we stopped worrying about pitching our tent over smaller rocks because we knew we just wouldn’t feel them through the mat.

As for the inflation method, it comes with a lightweight bag that you scoop air into and then force it into the mat through the valve by pressure. It’s remarkably easy and quick and most importantly, it saves your breath!

Check out our full Sea-to-Summit Comfort Light Insulated review.

BUY NOW: AMAZON.CO.UK

 

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.

BUY NOW: THERMAREST.COM

 

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. 

BUY NOW: BIGAGNES.COM

 

Best of the Rest

NEMO Tensor Insulated

Price: £175
Weight: 425g (regular)
Best for: 3 to 4-season camping and backpacking
Key attributes: Super comfortable, clever design, convenient size

Ideally suited to backpackers or weekend wild campers who want a sleeping pad that’s lightweight but also warm enough to see them through some cold nights, the NEMO Tensor Insulated mat is a great pick. With an R-Value of 3.5, it’ll be able to get you through all but the most extreme of winter nights in the UK.

It’s available in standard or ‘long wide’ sizes. The latter model, with its large and rectangular shape has a slight weight penalty (tipping the scales at 675g), but is well suited to side sleepers, and/or those who tend to move about in their sleep.

The mat has an interesting quilted construction, mixing both horizontal and vertical baffles (the horizontal ones being slightly more prominent) and this results in a very comfortable 3-inch platform that doesn’t collapse too much with any pressure at the sides. For insulation there are two layers of a ‘aluminised’ film to reflect body heat back to you. Fortunately these are designed to be rustle-free, so there won’t be much noise when you move about at night. The same thought has gone into the outer material which is a 20D PU coated ripstop polyester which is soft to the touch – useful for quilt sleepers – and provides a slight bit of grip to stop you sliding about too much.

It comes with a little pump sack which can be quickly and easily fastened to the mat’s valve to make for a remarkably effortless inflation. You simply blow into the pump sack (you don’t even need to put your lips to it), then roll the end, squeezing air into the mat. Within less than 10 breaths your have a nice solid mat.

Featured in our 2020/21 Outdoor 100. Read our full NEMO Tensor Insulated Long Wide review.

BUY NOW: AMAZON.CO.UK

 

 

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. 

BUY NOW: NEMOEQUIPMENT.COM

 

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.

BUY NOW: TREKKIT.CO.UK

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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.

BUY NOW: SNUGPAK.COM

 

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.

BUY NOW: DECATHLON.CO.UK

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.

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