REI Sale 03/27/15 – What are you getting?

Yeah….if you were looking at REI specs…those are wrong. It puts the hyperlite LW at 15.1 oz. Exped shows 16.

I thnk it was the rei figure that sold me, but the packaging also says 15.7. Still pretty good though.

Ordered the Hyperlite medium today, thank you John.

Ok, so I sold the MW hyperlite since I'm not a back sleeper. I went ahead and ordered a Synmat winterlite M.

Its 14oz instead of 12oz of the hyperlite M. It will be a pad I use in the winter combined with a CCF, or in 3 season I can bring it for my wife or someone else that generally sleeps colder than me.

Here is what I don't get though. Its 2oz heavier….but its 3.5" instead of 2.8" thick, and has more than 3 times the insulation? I'm surprised its only 2oz heavier…

Plus, about the insulation. Yes, the hyperlite is rvalue 3.3 and this is 4.9. I would think it would be higher than that? Per exped specs, the hyperlite uses 60 g/m² Texpedloft Microfibre, and the winterlite: 200 g/m² Texpedloft Microfibre

To me that reads that the winterlite has more than 3 times the insulation….I would just assume the rvalue difference would be quite a bit more but…what do I know.

John,

There's definitely something going on with the insulation of all the Exped mats. Originally, when Exped showed them at all the trade shows, the Synmat Winterlite was R6 and the Downmat winterlite was R8. The retail versions turned out to be R4.9 and R7, respectively even though some sites still list the old specs. In fact, my downmat came with a tag stuck to it that said "R Value = 8". I am not sure if they just underrated the mats now, but it would explain why the Syn winterlite is R4.9 even though it has 3x insulation.

My Hyperlite arrived on Monday, and I tried it out by sleeping with it in the house. Yeah, maybe I was a little over-eager to try out my new gear, but who isn't?

I got the medium size. My impression so far mirrors what others have said: If you're a back sleeper, you're probably better off with one of the wide sizes (or a UL 7). I'm a side sleeper, so I think this will do just fine, and the weight savings over my Downmat UL 7 will be appreciated.

Now, I decided to also order a Synmat Winterlite, also in size medium. Why? A few reasons: 1) I may be selling a Downmat to a BPLer 2) I have some dividend left (from using an REI Visa) 3) On a whim, I added the Winterlite to the cart, and used the 20% coupon code again. And, to my surprise, it let me use it a second time.

So, I figured, it'll be a while before I'll actually use the Winterlite, but as long as I've got dividend left, and the coupon works, why not?

As for the Hyperlite, I'll be taking it out on the trail next week.

I'm a side and back sleeper, and the Hyperlite seems fine to me. Mine came while I was out sleeping on my ProLite Small for the last couple of nights, and discovering that the Hyperlite is .3oz heavier instead of that much lighter was rather disconcerting. It's literally 6 whole GRAMS more.
I don't know if it's worth all that. How many kcal does that add up to per year?
It packs up smaller, but does it really even look more comfy than the Prolite?

I suppose it IS a little longer, and has more r-value, but I may have to ponder that .3oz for awhile :p

btw, I'm loving the coincidence that my Downmat and warmer quilt both weigh 20oz, and the Hyperlite and summer quilt both weigh 13. Maybe I'm just easily amused…

2014 dividend + 20% member coupon = Werner Bent Shaft Kalliste for $40!

Best.

Paddle.

Ever.