Climber September/October 2017

This is because when you sleep on down it’s
crushed and becomes less effective so more of
it is located in other areas of the bag where it
works better.
This means a sleeping mat is important and
the extra insulation it gives so it’s got a neat trick;
there’s two soft wide(ish) elasticated straps on the
base of the bag that you feed your sleeping mat
into to keep it in place whilst you sleep – contrary
to some testers’ initial derision it worked well
with no one finding themselves rolling off the
mat. We found it worked beautifully with the
Thermarest XTherm. On the sample we had, the
straps were permanently in place but with the
newer versions the straps are detachable.
There’s a generous neck baffle and a full length
two-way zip with a baffle to keep out the cold.
The zip moves well with hardly any snagging. The
fit of the bag was found to be roomy, especially
around the body and hip area with plenty of space
to move around and the well-shaped hood is
generous too. Finally, there’s a small external
zipped storage pocket near the bag entrance.
There’s a long version for taller people and it
comes with a stuff sack and storage bag.
It is the heaviest on test (just) and the pack
size wasn’t as small but for that you do get the
warmest sleeping bag, and combined with the
Thermarest XTherm sleeping bag it makes an
excellent sleeping system.
Western Mountaineering Highlite
Weight: 455g Comfort limit: 2C RRP £365
Not a name familiar with many UK buyers, Western
Mountaineering have built a strong reputation in the
US, due in no small part to the quality of construction
and materials they use. There are three sizes: short,
regular and long – it packs down extremely small,
the smallest on test and also the lightest at 455g.
It’s constructed with a stitch-through baffled
box construction and to avoid cold spots they
use baffled vertical seams with a 4cm netting to
separate the inner and outer fabric thus allowing the
down to fill the gaps and hey presto, no cold spots.
In terms of features, to get it down to such a light
weight it’s very stripped down with a half-length
non-baffled zip and no neck baffle. Creating such a
light bag is about compromise and they’ve covered
the main features needed in a good bag. This is
evident in the use of 225g of high quality 850+ fill
power down with high loft coupled with a light,
but reasonably durable, ‘Extremelite’ shell fabric.
The bag was used down to around 4C at the
lowest and no one complained of being cold but
it would have been nice to try it at a lower
temperature. A criticism though was the zip, it
comes undone at its base and was a fiddle to put
back together plus it was a bit slick and could
slowly creep down if you didn’t fasten it all way
up and use the Velcro fastening at its top to
secure it. The toggle on the zip was also a bit
small and fiddly. Perhaps Western Mountaineering
should look at the choice of zip. The hood
looked like an area that had been trimmed down
and was a little shallow with headspace feeling
cramped and the hood closing system didn’t
close up as well as others.
The cut of the bag is fairly narrow; some
found it snug, particularly around the hips and
feet, whilst for others it wasn’t an issue and there
was sufficient space. It’s always difficult for a
manufacturer to size a bag to fit all shapes and
Western
Mountaineering
HighLite
sizes, so follow the simple rule; try before you
buy. In summary, there are compromises but if
you want an ultra-light, well-made bag with
first-rate down filling that takes up hardly any
space in your pack then look no further that
the HighLite.
Sleeping Mats
There are loads of different mats on the market but
given the parameters of this review we focused,
in the main, on lightweight air inflated mats.
Each mat is given an R-value; basically the
higher the figure the warmer the mat is. Thermal
resistance is the measurement that indicates a
material’s ability to insulate and there are two versions
of the R-value, the US Method that basically
gives a higher reading due to a difference on how
the reading is made using imperial units, and the
SI version that is used in most other parts of the
world. So to help you, and acknowledge that
most of the mats here use the US method, we
adopted both systems for this review.
With an air-filled mat most of the body heat is
lost through radiation which in turn establishes
convection currents within the mat. One way of
combating this is by incorporating reflective
layers to reflect the radiant heat back to the user.
Sometimes it’s combined with a light insulation
layer to help break down the convection currents
resulting in a warmer mat for use in colder
weather. Given the two to three season use we
are looking at all the mats are suitable, however,
using a warmer mat means you can often get
away with a lighter weight sleeping bag and thus
less weight to carry.
A point worth highlighting is inflating the mat.
For years people have used their own breath to
inflate, the down side of this is your breath contains
moisture and you can transfer some of that into
the mat. This eventually leads to a build up of
fungus on the inside of the mat and a breakdown
of the material. To combat this some manufacturers
either coat the inside to prevent the fungus
growing and/or provide another means of
inflation – often in the shape of a pump or a bag/
air capture inflation device. The beauty of this is
that the mat lasts longer and you don’t get light
headed from blowing. Of course, this adds extra
weight so most people stick to good old breaths.
Brand/Model
Price
(RRP)
Weight
(grams)
Exped AirMat HyperLite M
Weight: 310g RRP £110
The lightest on test and with a tiny pack size, it’s
pretty amazing that it inflates to a thickness of
7cm and offers a small degree of warmth. Inflated
to its fullest it offers a firm platform and you can
make it a little softer to your taste by letting a
little air out – something which most testers did.
The tapered mummy shape helps reduce
weight further and that gives width at the
shoulder and less at the feet (common with most
mats on test). The vertical centre air cells/baffles
are smaller on the inside of the mat and wider on
each edge of the mat help prevent you rolling off.
R-value
(SI)
R-value
(us)
Dimensions
(regular
size)
Exped AirMat HyperLite M £110 310 0.33 1.9 183 x 52 x 7cm
Klymit Static V2 £72 463 0.23 1.3 183 x 59 x 6.5cm
Sea to Summit UltraLight £90 395 0.12 0.7 183 x 55 x 5cm
Sea to Summit Insulated UltraLight £105 488 0.58 3.3 183 x 55 x 5cm
Therm-a-rest Evolite £105 528 0.37 2.1 183 x 51 x 5cm
Therm-a-rest NeoAir XTherm £165 430 1.00 5.7 183 x 51 x 6.3cm
72 Sep–Oct 2017 www.climber.co.uk