Pacific Outdoor Equipment Insul Mat Über-Lite

[nsandersen]

This is a small light mat with an hourglass-shaped self-inflating compartment supporting hips, spine and shoulders. There is a narrow patch extending beyond the shoulder area, but it is hard to balance your head on it. Furthermore doing so would mean resting your head upon the valve located at the end of it, so it is necessary to add a small piece of clothing under your head. There are thin foam pads sealed between the top and bottom nylon layers between the hip and shoulder compartment, which insulate and cusion the elbows a bit; for some reason there are also such pads on either side of the valve piece, which could probably be removed.

It is about 80cm/32″ long (94cm/37″) with the valve piece, 36-42cm/14″-16.5″ wide and mine is just a fraction more than 2cm/0.8″ thick at the edges (the manufacturer states 2.5cm/1″ – this may be true for the centre of the mat). It weighs about 270g/9.5oz with repair kit and mesh stuffsack which weigh 25g. The stuffsack is 23cm x 12cm diameter (9″ x 5″ Ø); it is possible to squeeze the mat smaller.

The special shape (and small size) of the self-inflating compartment means that there is practically nowhere for the air to go, except where you are lying. This makes the pad very comfortable, more so than I imagined considering the modest thickness – there is no need for slender people to blow extra air into the pad and moistening the foam to avoid hitting the ground as there might be with thin 50cm/20″ wide rectangular pads.

The ripstop nylon feels more durable than the new Therm-a-Rest ProLites with “sticky dots”. While I haven’t slept on one of those, thus being unable to compare, I find this mat slippery – best to find a level place to sleep.
The foam cut pattern has a wide rim. While very comfortable, looking at the pattern and thickness I would guess it is less warm than the Torsolite, probably loosing to it in terms of performance per weight. This has not been a problem for me for 3-season Scottish use (with a tent and groundsheet below it).

[paul johnson]

I would concur in all points with the first poster to this Review Thread (search for some older Forum posts in which I mention some of these same points), adding (repeating from these older posts) only that this mat is, IMHO, far superior in both robustness of construction and support to the ProLite 3 (having used both), and just very slightly inferior to the BMW TorsoLite inflatable pad (which i have also used).

[Harry Dodge]

i bought it cuz it was the lightest cheapest inflatable. i backpack for the nature, not cuz i enjoy sleeping on the ground, pad or no. i was more comfortable than i have been in years.

[Mike Clelland]

The UBER-LITE has such an odd shape that it is hard for folks to sleep on it. I spent 12 nights with a team of 10 people doing an ambitious light-weight camping trip. 9 of us had the UBER-LITE and I had the BPL TORSO-LITE.

The UBER-LITE has such a funny shape, that it’s hard to keep shoulders and hips positioned on the padding during a night of tossing and turning.

There was an overwhelming negative review from the UBER-users. I traded out with them a few nights, and my TORSO light was deemed far superior by everyone. The extra two ounces is worth the comfort. You’ll spend 1/3 of any backcountry trip on this thing.

The only people who found it comfortable were tiny and short (no offense, but it’s a good insight)

NOTE: If you are short and don’t weigh much, this 8-oz pad will most probably be great.

If you are tall or “hefty”, get the TORSO-LITE from this website.

(note: I’m 6 foot tall and weigh 165 pounds)

also – – – I have the Therm-A-Rest Pro-Lite 3 & 4. Both are excellent, and recommended if you plan to camp on snow. I teach on the glaciers of alaska in the summer, and the Pro-Lite 3 on top of a MEC evazote 5mm “bivi” pad is an excellent system.

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