Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > EXPED Down Air Mattress > David Anderson > Field Report

Name: David Anderson
E-mail: danderson@backpackgeartest.org
Age: 38
Gender: Male
Height: 6'2" (1.87 m)
Weight: 285 lb (130 kg)
City: Olympia, WA

I grew up car camping with my family in California, and started backpacking sometime around 5th grade. As an adult I've lived, worked and backpacked in New England, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. I've also gotten involved in sea kayaking in the last few years. My backpacking style could be described as light-heavyweight. I carry the lightest version of the gear that I believe is up to the task. I will sleep under a tarp, but I am willing to carry a thick enough mattress so that I will be able to sleep.

When I was young, and my body was much more durable than it is now, I tended to sleep with just a tarp under me, or a thin closed cell foam pad. Once I entered high school that thin pad didn't quite cut it anymore. I started out with the original Therm-a-Rest, and as I got older and larger, I worked my way up through the thicker pads to be able to get a good night's sleep. Lately I have been backpacking with a Camp Rest LE, which is 2.5 inches (6.5 cm) thick.

Product Info

Manufacturer: Exped
Year: 2003
MSRP: $169.00

The Exped Down Air Mattress DLX (DAM), at first glance, looks a lot like the standard cheap air mattress that you can get at any department store. There are eight air tubes running the length of the mattress. But of course, as the product name implies, this is very misleading.

Inside those tubes there is 700 fill goose down to provide insulation from the ground. At each end of the mattress, there is a piece of open cell foam that keeps the down from shifting between chambers, and it also serves to keep the down from coming out the air valves.

The outside of the mattress is made out of laminated polyester fabric that is high-frequency welded at the seams. At the head end of the mattress, there are two air valves. Only one is used during inflation, but both are opened up while deflating and rolling up the mattress.

The DAM comes with a drybag stuff sack with a roll-top closure. The stuff sack also has a small valve at the bottom of it so that it can do double duty as an air pump. This helps to prevent moisture from entering the down and reducing its effectiveness. There is also a thin layer of open cell foam around the inside of the lower half of the sack to help it hold its shape while filling it with air while using it as a pump.

Pumping is accomplished by opening one valve on the mattress part way, and attaching the valve opening on the stuff sack to it. The top of the stuff sack is rolled over to seal it, then all the air is pushed out of the sack into the mattress. The roll top is then released and the stuff sack is refilled with air, and the process is repeated until the mattress reaches its desired thickness.

Field Report

Conditions: I have used the Exped Down Air Mattress DLX for six nights so far, along with some daytime testing in a hammock. The weather conditions have ranged from snowy with temperatures as low as 15 F (-10 C), to rainy and around 40 F (5 C). I have yet to use it in dry weather. The backcountry testing was done in the Mt. St. Helens region of Washington state, and snow testing was done in my backyard in Olympia Washington.

Inflating: If this air mattress has a weak point, it is that it is a pain to inflate. With practice, I have gotten the system down to where it only takes me a couple of minutes, but the difficulty is in trying to inflate it in a small, enclosed space like a 2 person tent while it is raining outside.

The stuff sack/pump that is used to inflate the DAM attaches to one of the valves that stick out the head end of the mattress, and requires a couple of feet of useable space to be able to use it in an efficient manner. While I was able to fold the mattress up for the first few sacks of air, once it started filling it became much more of an effort to keep the pad folded. In better weather I would have just pumped it up outside.

Trying to pump the mattress up in my Hennessy Hammock Explorer Deluxe during a snow storm proved even more difficult. While the space inside the hammock provides even more length than most tents, there are no hard surfaces to push the bag against to force the air into the mattress. Since my hammock tests were conducted at home, I finally gave up on trying to inflate it in the hammock and crawled under cover to finish inflating it.

The manufacturer suggested that I let the DAM sit out for a while to let it partially self inflate before pumping it up. While this does make a difference, it is only one or two sacks full of air at the most.

Comfort: As discussed in my initial report, I have found that for sleeping on the ground, 9 or 10 sacks full of air is provides me with just about the right amount of support. While I still wake up a couple of times during the night from feeling pressure points on shoulders or hips, this is much less of a problem on this mattress than on any others that I have ever used. In fact, I don't think I wake up any more often on this mattress than I do on the one at home.

Where the DAM really shines is when sleeping in cold weather. When we were hit with a couple weeks of cold and snow, I took the time to go test the DAM on the white stuff in the back yard. I had no trouble falling asleep with only the DAM between me and the snow, and only a 30 degree F (-1 C) sleeping bag over me as a quilt in weather down to around 20 F (-7 C).

One feature that I have really come to appreciate is using the stuff sack as a pillow. With some fleece stuffed inside, and the valve closed, and about half full of air, it makes an extremely comfortable and warm pillow. Way better than the jacket in the regular stuff sack routine that I usually use.

While it was difficult to inflate in the hammock, it is amazingly warm and comfortable. The problem I have with sleeping in hammocks is that the insulation that is between me and the hammock gets compressed, and therefore loses its insulative value. A normal pad underneath helps, but the wind blowing by under the pad robs more heat than if I was just sleeping on the ground. The hammock cloths also compresses the sides of the sleeping bag as it wraps around the side of my body.

With the DAM, there was enough insulation underneath me to keep me warm down to 25 F (-4 C), with no noticeable cold spots through the pad. And the pad was almost wide and thick enough to keep the hammock from compressing the sleeping back along my sides. As long as I kept my arms on top of my body, I was fine, but if started sleeping with my arms at my sides, they would get cold after a few minutes.

The stuff sack pillow was even more appreciated in the hammock than on the ground. Rather than putting it on top of the mattress, I put it off the head end, which increased the effective length keeping the foot end of the hammock from being able to compress my sleeping bag around my feet. If this thing was just a couple of inches wider at the upper body, it would be the perfect hammock pad.

Noise: One other issue I have with the Down Air Mattress is that it is noisier than a regular self inflating pad. Bare skin does not slide smoothly across the cover material, and the large hollow tubes make for a nice sound chamber. While it is minor annoyance when trying to fall asleep, it has not caused me to ever wake up from the noise. And it is a small price to pay for the additional comfort.

Conclusions

As someone with a bad back, I really appreciate the added comfort that the DAM provides. While inflating the mattress requires more effort than blowing up a self inflating model, it is time that is well worth it.

I will continue to test it through the rest of our winter, and into spring. We have a trip out to the coast planned as well as one into the lower elevations of the Olympic National Park. At least one of these trips will see it getting a proper hammock test in the backcountry.

David Anderson
squtch.quiet-like-a-panther.org

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > EXPED Down Air Mattress > David Anderson > Field Report