Exped Down Air Mattress DLX
October 22, 2003
Reviewer Information:
Name:
Jim Hatch
Age: 44
Gender: Male
Height: 5'9" (1.8 m)
Weight: 180 lb (82 kg)
Sleep Type: Back & side sleeper (neither warm nor
cold)
Email:
colonelcorn76@yahoo.com
City/State:
Simsbury, Connecticut
Date: October 22, 2003
Backpacking Background:
I've been backpacking and camping for 30 years (ever since I was a Boy
Scout). I'm out at least once a month for a weekend or more and for
5 nights several times during the year. Most of my backpacking is
done in the mountains of the East Coast (Appalachians, Whites,
Berkshires, Adirondacks), but I will occasionally camp as far south as
the Florida Keys or as far west as the Grand Canyon. Having tired of 60
lb (27 kg) loads, I caught the lightweight bug about 5 years ago and am
currently carrying a base pack weight of 15 lb (7 kg) before food and
fuel and rarely venture out with more than 30 lb (14 kg) anymore. I am
a hammock camper for most of the year, using a tent only during winter
(under duress).
Product Information:
Manufacturer: Exped
Year of Manufacture: 2003
URL: http://www.exped.com
Style: Air mattress, down filled
Mfg Weight (mat): 45 oz (1,280 gm)
Mfg Weight (packsack): 7 oz (200 gm)
Tested Weight (mat): 46.1 oz (1,308 gm)
Tested Weight (packsack): 6.6 oz (190 gm)
Tested
Total Weight: 52.8 oz (1,498 gm)
Size: 78 in X 26 in (198 cm X 66 cm)
Thickness: 3.5 in (9 cm)
Rolled Size: 15 in X 7 in (38 cm X 18
cm)
Tested Rolled Size: 16.5 in X 7 in (42 cm X 18 cm)
MSRP (pack): $169
Initial
Impression:
The Exped
Down Air Mattress (DAM) arrived via UPS in a large cardboard box.
Accompanying the DAM was an envelope with a one-page instruction sheet
and an Exped catalog. The DAM was rolled and in the packsack
(stuffsack). Attached to the packsack was a hang tag with some
advertising copy, a plastic zipper bag with two pieces of
material, and "quick start/use" information on small card stock.
Since the envelope was sealed, I did the only reasonable thing and
pulled the DAM from its packsack and tried to set it up.
Rolling it out was the easy part. Confronted with the sack & a
mattress with 2 fill valves staring back at me, I resorted to
reading the quick start instructions. Confusion reigned---page 1
of the packet was some marketing info related to the DAM's receipt of
the European Outdoor Award Product of the Year for
2002/2003. Flipping the card over revealed several quotes
in German (I know this because it said it was Deutsch) followed by
English translations. The next card contained diagrams of the
parts and contents as well as text in what I presumed was
German again. Flipping this card over, English again, but
apparently picking up where the German left off, not a translation of
the prior page. This continued to the next page (labeled P3) but
reverted back to German on the last page (labeled S4). Undaunted, I
pressed forward. The next card began with the missing page 1 of English
instructions, proceeded to S2 and S3 in German, and completed with page
4 of the English instructions.
Okay. Time to follow the instructions and inflate the air
mattress. With 12 "pumps" of the packsack (which doubles as a sort of
air pump--more on this below) per the instructions, I immediately
tested the mattress for comfort by laying on it. The wide width and
extra length of the DLX model became immediately apparent (the Exped
DAM is also available in a narrower/shorter standard model). Wiggling
and squishing myself into the mattress I was happy to find I could not
bottom out against the wooden floor and I wasn't falling off. My son,
patiently watching to this point, forced me to relinquish temporary
possession of the mattress and after repeating my gyrations, informed
me that I must buy him one too. My wife,
skeptical as always of "free" gear, tried it out and was heard making
comments to the effect that "it's not too bad" -- high praise from a
woman who believes roughing it involves hotels without 24 hour room
service.
Done playing, I proceeded with the official scientific
process with a quick check of measurements (dead on as
advertised), workmanship (no obvious defects, sturdy looking
materials), and weight. To weigh the mattress I first deflated and
rolled it. Deflation was a straightforward process of opening both
valves, folding the mattress in half lengthwise, and simply rolling
from the foot to the head (where the valves are located). While
inflation took a good 2 or 3 minutes, deflation took no longer than any
other self-inflating camping mattress. My weights (using a Pelouze PE5
digital scale) came in a trifle under the manufacturer's numbers.
Still, at more than 3 1/4 pounds (1,500 gm), this is no small pad. Yet,
if the comfort suggested by my preliminary tests holds true, I will
happily carry the extra weight during the cold months (versus my 3/4
length Therm-a-Rest GuideLite at one-third the weight).
DAM Features:
The DAM has a black fabric top and a silver bottom. The
fabric appears to be similar to other camping air mattresses
(especially self-inflating ones) which the manufacturer states is
"laminated polyester fabric [that] is absolutely airtight and textured
for slip proof comfort". My initial tests appear to bear this out. The
black topside should help soak up the sun out on the trail similar to
sleeping bags which have black fabric interiors to facilitate drying.
There are 8 channels formed in the mattress with quarter-inch (0.6 cm)
seams running nearly the length of the mattress. These seams appear to
be "high frequency welded" per the manufacturer. About 2 inches (5
cm) at either end are not welded/seamed and overlap what appears to be
the foam barriers the manufacturer says are at each end to prevent the
escape of down through the valves and between chambers (since I'm not
about to cut this thing open, my physical examination is constrained to
the exterior and conclusions as to the interior construction are
reasonable inferences). This foam barrier stretches across the entire
head & foot of the mattress instead of simply plugging the chambers
near the valves -- this is more than I expected and does not seem to
impact inflation/deflation effort or rollability.
To inflate the mattress I closed one valve, opened the other
and pushed it into a corresponding valve in the packsack. By opening
and closing the packsack I trapped a cylinder of air approximately 7
inches (18 cm) in diameter by 26 inches (66 cm) long in the packsack. I
then rolled the top of the sack down toward the valve forcing the air
into the mattress. (The photo below shows this process.)
A simple process which takes less than 3 minutes. However,
the mattress valve has a slight tendency to slip out of the sack's
valve which slows things down while reattaching (and allows some air to
escape the mattress). I'll be interested to see if this is due to the
newness of the materials and doesn't occur after some use or if it gets
worse. Page 1 of the instructions shows a small diagram of someone
following this rolling procedure to fill the mattress. Further in the
instructions however (page 3) they instruct that the sack should be
"pressed" to fill the mattress with air. Once the sack's air has been
pressed (or rolled/pushed) into the mattress, the sack is opened, an
interior foam cylinder springs open which causes the sack to fill with
air and the process is repeated. The instructions note that "at most 12
full pumps" should be used to fill the mattress. (Later, reading the
instruction sheet contained in the aforementioned sealed manila
envelope, Exped says 12-15, more or less to comfort...12 seemed to work
for me and I'll test more and less to see what effect
over/underinflation has on comfort.)
According to Exped, the DAM is 3 times warmer than
conventional self-inflating foam mats of similar weights (which would
make it 9 times warmer than my GuideLite!) due to the 11 oz (320 gm) of
700 fill power down contained within the mattress. Further, due to the
high fill power of the down, it packs "small" and "flexibly fills the
air spaces found in the mat". As a quick test I stood the mattress,
inflated, on end for 4 days to see if the down fell to the bottom --
after those 4 days the "squeeze" test of the mattress where I squeezed
the mattress from top to bottom, I could discern no bunching of the
down at the bottom of the mattress. So far the manufacturer does not
seem to be making typical marketing overstatements. I can't wait to get
this in the field.
(Note: The "high frequency fabric welds" which are used to
form the seams around the perimeter of the mattress and the seams
between the baffles are supposed to result in fabric joined by welds
that are "actually stronger than the fabric itself". With the
assistance of my wife, I undertook an ad-hoc test of the mattress'
ability to withstand the stress of heavier weights compounded by some
bouncing around designed to multiply the effect of the
weight. With a combined static weight of a tad over 300 pounds/136 kg
in motion, the non-slip fabric was effective and no seams blew out.
Anecdotally anyway, it seems the claims for the "high frequency" welds
are true. I won't worry about my kids jumping on this mattress and
blowing out a seam or popping a chamber.)
Packsack Features:
The DAM comes in a stuff sack that Exped calls a
"packsack". It is worth separate comment due to several unique
features. As mentioned above it is used to inflate the mattress so that
moist air from the user's lungs doesn't introduce water into the down
which would freeze in cold weather as well as reduce the insulative
value of the down. The packsack has a drybag design wherein the top has
a stiff webbing sewn to the bag. The top is rolled several times (10
times from fully open to its limit when the mattress is in the bag) and
buckles on both sides are clicked together to keep the top from
unrolling. The material is similar to the mattress' and is said to be
waterproof. The manufacturer recommends filling it with clothes and
using it as a pillow. A plastic valve is attached to the bottom to
receive the valve from the mattress when inflating.
I found though, that
if the bag is turned inside out, the interior surface is a very shiny
black. The seams have been sealed and the valve can then be closed (it
is an "outie" in this position versus the "innie" style when the bag is
rightside out). It comes to mind that a) the bag really is waterproof,
and b) that filled with water and hung in the sun it could make for a
credible camp shower by attaching the hose from a Platypus hydration
bag to the valve. I'll have to test this possibility over the next few
months. The instruction cards note that it is not a submersible bag,
but I'm going to give the shower functionality a go.
First Field Test:
For my first foray into the wilds, I took the Exped
DAM, my Trease! Flying Bivy (think bivy on a trampouline hanging from
the trees like a hammock), a 35 F (2 C) synthetic filled bag, and a
group of teenage scouts into the hills of northwestern Connecticut.
After hiking 6 miles (9.6 km) over broken terrain and up near vertical
1,000 foot (300 m) ascents, my 44 year old body was ready for some
rest. Pitching the Flying Bivy about 5 feet (1.5 m) in the
air, I inflated the Exped DAM on the ground, shook off the pine needles
and slid it into the bivy. It took up nearly the whole length and
filled most of the bivy from side to side. Looking at it from the side
it appeared to be your basic bunk bed in the trees. The thick mattress
certainly looked far more comfortable than the thin pads my fellow
campers were laying out. I placed my sleeping bag on top and after much
review and "poke" testing by the group (the consensus of which was that
I could easily sell sleeping rights by the hour if I wanted) I hopped
into the bivy and sank into the DAM. I hardly wanted to bother with
getting undressed or even crawling into the bag. (Was that a contented
"ahhhhhhh" I heard escape from my back and neck?) However, as it was
supposed to get chilly (40 F/4 C) that night, I stripped to my base
layer (silk long underwear & merino wool socks), put on my fleece
beanie and crawled into my bag. I fastened the bivy's fly and zipped
the bug netting closed before drifting off to sleep. I awoke a couple
of times during the night due to noises in the woods (the ranger told
us earlier that day they had tagged 40! black bears within the confines
of the park) and to unzip the sleeping bag. I was overly warm. I
finally had to take off the beanie and use the sleeping bag as a quilt.
I awoke around 7 in the morning feeling as rested and comfortable as I
ever have on the trail. Between the airborne bivy and the Exped DAM, my
back suffered none of the initial stiffness that I experience when
ground sleeping and the DAM prevented the chilly underbottom familiar
to hammock campers in cooler temperatures. Feeling like I had just
spent the night at home in my bed, I have to give night one a "thumbs
up".
Future Test Plans:
Following my experience in the woods this weekend,
I will be testing the DAM for comfort, functionality, and durability
using a variety of sleep systems including my Hennessey hammock, a
Trease! Flying Bivy, and a 3-season tent. Sleeping bags will include a
standard 35 degree F (2 C) down bag, a 20 below 0 F (-29 C) bag, and
a 20 F (-7 C) Nunatak Arc-Alpinist quilt (with 2 oz/57 gm
overfill -- resulting in a nominal 10 F/-12 C temperature rating). I
will also be testing with and without a reflective vapor barrier
(normally a cold weather necessity in a hammock or air-borne bivy like
the Trease!) to determine if the air/waterproof qualities of the DAM's
fabric will eliminate the need for this additional layer. Temperatures
should dip well below zero (-18 C) during the test series. I will
also be testing the water resistance of the mattress before I head into
the woods as I will be sea kayaking later this winter and do not want
to find out the hard way that the mattress gets wet easily and leaves
me shivering in the cold. Finally, in an effort to objectively validate
the manufacturer's claims of insulative values I will be taking
detailed temperature measurements while using the Exped as compared to
a control of a self-inflating closed-cell pad.
