Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Pacific Outdoor Equipment Kids Mat > Andre Corterier > Initial Report

Pacific Outdoor Equipment Kid's Mat

Year of manufacture: 2006
Manufacturer: Pacific Outdoor Equipment
URL: http://www.pacoutdoor.com
MSRP: 39 USD

Measurements:
Weight: 435 g (15.3 oz) [P.O.E. lists 425 g / 15 oz]
Length: 122 cm (48 in)
Width: 41 cm (16 in)
Thickness: 2.5 cm (1 in)
Weight of the Repair Kit (w/pen): 32 g (1.1 oz)
Weight of the Stuff Sack: 16 g (0.6 oz)
Stuffed, the Mat occupies a volume 22 cm (8.5 in) long with a diameter of 12.5 cm (5 in). All dimensions correspond to the dimensions given by the manufacturer.

Introduction:
The Kid's Mat appears as an orange, narrow, 3/4-length self-inflating pad with animal pictures on it. It comes in a very tight stuff sack, together with a repair set and a permanent-marking felt tip pen (the manufacturer suggests that one may wish to record the growth of the kid who uses the pad with the help of this marker). The pad takes (and lets go of) its air through a valve at one corner, as is customary with such. The valve in question appears to be of a sturdy, hard-anodized aluminum construction, which I like.

The pad features idealized drawings of a number of animals native to Alaska and their tracks. None of these are indigenous to Germany and they seemed to spark little interest in my daughter. She was more attracted to the measurement bar on the pad, requesting that I take her height measurement. This was made difficult by the fact that the measurement bar on the pad only extends to 110 cm (43.3 in) - it appears we will have to find a different use for the pen (besides marking the pad with her name once the test is over and it becomes hers). The markings on the measurement bar of the fully inflated pad coincided with the tape measure I used to check this.

The stuff sack included a zipper closure plastic bag with patches, urethane adhesive, a small page with instructions, a felt tip pen and a Velcro strap. The latter is intended to facilitate carrying the pad as a roll outside of its stuff sack. That's a good thing: It fits into the stuff sack, but only barely. My daughter definitely won't be able to put the pad back into the stuff sack. The length of the stuff sack (or lack thereof) requires folding the pad in half lengthwise before rolling it up. I am glad to see that the potential difficulties resulting thereof were seen by the manufacturer, but would have preferred a more loosely fitting stuff sack as a solution.

The pad appears sized just right for my daughter, lying down. It's a little longer than she is, which will hopefully allow her to use it for more than a single season, and wide enough. It is, however, markedly slimmer than the (adult 3/4-length) pad she's used to. I am concerned that this may aggravate her problems staying on the pad. We will be testing this, obviously. I hope that the pad straps on her current cold-weather bag will work with this pad, but won't be able to test this until it gets colder around here. If everything works, she may be able to share the shaped tarp which I'm currently testing with me. We will see about that (and I will report the result here).

Fully inflating the pad took a lot of time. There was an explanatory sticker on the Mat which had this to say:

"NOTE: This mat has been stored in a compress [sic] state. Initial inflation may require up to 30 minutes. For best result, inflate and deflate several times before actual use."

I assume that the self-inflation will continue to take a little longer than I am used to because of the construction of the pad. It utilizes the manufacturer's "Matrix foam core", which appears to be open celled foam with diamond-shaped cutouts to reduce weight. The pattern of it becomes visible when held up against the sun. As it is the foam's expanding property which (self-)inflates the pad, less foam inside the pad would seem to equate to slower self-inflation. This likely won't be bothering us much - rolling out the pad and fluffing up the bag is a routine we tend to go through early in our camp preparations. But the holes in the pad's insulation may also allow for a certain amount of convective heat loss. We should be able to test this in the testing window of August to December.

Testing Location and Probable Conditions:
In this region, the probable test period (August to December) will typically see temps between 25 C (77 F) and -5 C (25 F). The relevant nighttime lows will likely be between 15 C ( F) and -5 C (25 F). For precipitation we'll have fog and drizzle as well as rain in fall, some snow in winter (though likely not before the end of the testing period). We hike in hilly, forested terrain which starts a 15 minute walk from where we live and extends for about 30 km (20 mi) in most directions. This includes hikes in the Kottenforst State Park, the Siebengebirge Nature Preserve (Seven Mountains – bit of a misnomer there, they top out at 461 m / 1512 ft), the River Rhine and the Ahr Valley. Elevations range from 60 m / 200 ft to the above-mentioned 461 m / 1512 ft, paths tend to be well-maintained though we do not always stick to them. Renée and I will mostly be base-camping in the near vicinity, but I intend to take her on a longer overnight hike as well.

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Pads and Air Mattresses > Pacific Outdoor Equipment Kids Mat > Andre Corterier > Initial Report