**Personal Biographical Information:**
Name:	Renée Corterier	André Corterier
Gender:	f	m
Age:	5	34
Height:	1.16 m (46 in)	1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight:	21 kg (46 lb)	80 kg (175 lb)
Email:	andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde	andreDOTcorterierATfreenetDOTde
Home:	Bonn, Germany	Bonn, Germany
Info:	Renée "hikes" by playing outdoors between hammock breaks and stove breaks. Her longest expedition so far was a 30 km (19 mi) overnighter on which she carried her own rain gear and insulation layer. She has spent nights in tent and hammock as well as underneath tarp and open sky.	I have started out with backpacking slowly – single-day 24 km (15 mi) jaunts by myself or even shorter hikes in the company of my little daughter. I am getting started on longer hikes, as a lightweight packer and hammock-camper. I’ve begun upgrading my old gear and am now carrying a dry FSO weight (everything carried From the Skin Out except food, fuel and water) of less than 10 kg (22 lb) for three-season camping.

The mat, ready to go. Note the mat's stuffsack on the other side of the pack, sheltering a self-made stove

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 is an orange, narrow, 3/4-length self-inflating pad with animal pictures on it. 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 utilizes the manufacturer's "Matrix foam core", which appears to be open celled foam with diamond-shaped cutouts to reduce weight. For a more detailed description of the pad, see my Initial Report.

Testing Experience:
We have continued to test the Kid's Mat on short trips around the local area. Elevations were near sea level, temperatures still have not gone below freezing (if this isn't global warming, it's German warming). Our experiences regarding the use and comfort of the mat are unchanged from our Field Report. This is good, as our experiences have been entirely positive. Winter camping as such has yet to happen. Of course, the mat is advertised as a 3-season mat, and has proven its ability to keep my daughter warm in this respect. I suspect that it would be adequate even for winter around here, which is generally mild. But the weather we've had lately cannot be properly called "winter" even here. Still, for three seasons most anywhere I would take it along for my kid.

Durability:
The initial tear in the mat, pre-fixing I managed to burst the mat on our last trip. It happened when my daughter asked me to join her on her pad in order to enjoy the view. I had folded the mat over after Renée had slept on it and allowed her to sit on it. As the mat had been well-inflated for the night, folding it over increased the pressure on it. Still not a problem with only my daughter's 20-odd kilos (50-odd pounds) on it, but adding my own caused an audible 'pop'. When turning over the mat, I also found that the assortment of dust and stones underneath it contained at least one stone of clearly volcanic origin (like the hills around here) mixed in with the gravel. So there seems to have been joint overpressure *and* a sharp object. Not something I would expect a mat to survive unharmed (in fact, I would likely shy away from mats built to withstand that kind of abuse due to weight considerations). As we had already passed a comfortable night, we were not inconvenienced by this occurrence.

The resultant tear had an odd angular shape to it. I found it quite difficult to take a decent picture of it, as well as the subsequent repair, because the orange material of the mat affords little contrast. What you see is the best I could do.

As I reported earlier, the mat came with a repair set. The repair set contains two sheets of fabric, one for each side of the mat. Following the instructions, I cut a piece of the material corresponding to the side of the mat with the puncture in it, about 2.5 cm (an inch) wider than the tear. I then used some of the supplied adhesive to glue the patch on and allowed 30 minutes for curing. After what was more like an hour, I inflated the pad and found that the patch was leaking air. So I removed the patch, cut a slightly wider patch and used all of the remaining adhesive to make sure I had a broad strip of adhesive-covered contact area all around the tear. It now holds air again, at least with my daughter on it. I had decided to refrain from more high-pressure testing, it being a *Kid's* mat, after all. However, I had placed it on the bed for my daughter to lie on it and she was bouncing around on it in short order. The repair still holds its air, and my daughter is so happy to have her mat back that she is sleeping on it (in her bed) as I type this.

The patch on the fixed mat As the patch is of recent origin, I am unable to make a qualified comment regarding the longevity of the patch. But I can say that it wasn't hard to fix (once I used sufficient care) and was quickly done with the supplied materials. And I would like to state explicitly that the accident I had with the mat was one of my own carelessness, that the mat held up very well over all and I am more than happy with it.

I'd like to thank Pacific Outdoor Equipment and BackpackGearTest.org, for myself and in the name of my daughter, for allowing us to participate in this test.

Read more reviews of Pacific Outdoor Equipment gear
Read more gear reviews by Andre Corterier

Long Term Report

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