1)Tester Background and Contact Information

Name: Curt Peterson
Age: 34
Gender: Male
Height: 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Weight: 270 lb (122 kg)
Email address: curt<at>boopants<dot>com
Location: North Bend, Washington, USA

I live in the Cascade foothills, just 20 mi (32 km) from the Pacific Crest Trail via trails leading right from my backyard. My outdoor time in Washington is spent dayhiking, backpacking, climbing, and skiing everywhere from the Olympic coast to rainforests to Cascade volcanoes to dry steppe. I played football in college and often evaluate products from a big guy perspective. My typical pack load ranges from 11 - 20 lbs (5 - 9 kg) and usually includes plenty of wet weather gear.

Co-Tester:
Name: Ethan Peterson
Age: 4
Gender: Male
Height: 3'4" (1.0 m)
Weight: 37 lbs. (16.8 kg)
Email address (Using Papa's): curt<at>boopants<dot>com
Location: North Bend, Washington, USA

I can't believe I'm already 4 years old! I hike on a trail every single day with my mommy and papa and dog. We go on the trail to the lake and throw rocks in the water. I've started to do a lot fishing now, too, but for some reason Papa won't put a real hook on my pole yet. This summer we're going to go camping a lot! We'll have a 4-day weekend every week, so there should be a lot of time to go into the mountains to hike, camp, fish, and play.

2) Pacific Outdoor Equipment Kid's Mat 1.0 Specifications

Includes Kid's Mat, stuff sack, repair patches and glue, instructions, and marking pen
Color: Sunshine (yellow-orange)
Weight of Kid's Mat only: 15.4 oz (435 g) *P.O.E. lists 15 oz (425 g)
Weight of Kid's Mat stuff sack: 0.5 oz (16 g)
Weight of Kid's Mat repair kit, pen, & instructions: 1.1 oz (32 g)
Width of Kid's Mat: 16 in (41 cm) padded portion, 17 in (43 cm) total *Same as P.O.E. list
Length of Kid's Mat: 48 in (122 cm) padded portion, 49 in (124 cm) total *Same as P.O.E. list
Thickness of Kid's Mat: 1 in (2.5 cm) *Same as POE list
Manufacturer Website: www.pacoutdoor.com
MSRP: $39 US

3) Long Term Report - January 2007

For a look at the features and first impressions of the Pacific Outdoors Equipment Kid's Mat 1.0, please see my Initial Report. For a look at the outdoor use of the Kid's Mat, refer to my Field Report.

Fall testing of the Kid's Mat 1.0 has been a bit limited. November came in as the wettest month in Puget Sound history (quite an achievement in our soggy climate) and December brought record windstorms that left many with damaged property and without power. Fortunately, while we were out of power for a week, we are all in one piece and our home is safe and sound. This has created a bit of a challenge for gear testing children's products, however. While I am enough of a knucklehead to get out in poor weather myself, taking my 4 year old with me to test gear would probably lead to me living in the woods permanently once my wife found out. So, while we did get in a chilly late October overnight, the Long Term Testing has not been extensive enough to offer more than a couple of new insights into the Kid's Mat. What the testing period has offered, however, is a reinforcement of the qualities we've noted to date.

The Kid's Mat 1.0 packs well, is reasonably light for a pre-schooler to carry, inflates very easily, and so far has held up perfectly to all that a 4 year old can dish out. While it's only been used a couple of nights outside over the past two months, it has been jumped on, tossed, crammed - and actually slept on - much more frequently in the house. While these are not real world testing conditions, I do think it says a lot about the durability as the pad definitely saw some abuse that is unlikely to happen on the trail.

Probably the best testing we completed besides the durability was the warmth of the pad. We spent a night on the ground and I recorded a night temperature of 36F (2C). Ethan was cozy warm (I checked on him multiple times during the night) and slept like a log. This was about as cold as I was willing to push a little kid for testing a sleeping pad, but I'm confident it can handle freezing temperatures easily based on this experience. Both Ethan and the top pad surface were warm to the touch and there didn't seem to be any problem with the cold seeping through the die-cut foam holes.

Staying on the pad is still a challenge. The pre-school gymnastics continued, and I'm starting to think pad straps that lock the sleeping bag to the pad would be a great idea in a children's sleeping pad.

The excitement of the animal pictures and graphics has diminished, but not the pride of ownership. As I noted in the Field Report, he loves that this is his own piece of backpacking gear.

Long Term Highlights:

Fantastic durability
Plenty warm as temperatures dipped to near freezing
Undoubtedly a piece of gear that belongs to the kid of the house

Suggestions for Improvement:

Possibly some sort of integrated sleeping bag attachment system
Could be a bit more grippy to accommodate wiggle worms
Still wishing for a Kid's Uber-Lite with graphics for the budding ultralight mini-backpacker

4) Final Comments

I'm very pleased to see high quality child-specific gear on the market. In a time of declining backcountry participation - particularly by the youth segment of the population - anything that makes kids want to get out a little bit more is a great thing in my opinion. I'd love to see an entire line of products developed along this concept. One pound (.45kg) sleeping bags, 8oz (230g) backpacks, and pads like the Kid's Mat can make backpacking more comfortable, more fun, and more appealing to little ones. I look forward to seeing more great products along these lines!

Thanks to BackpackGearTest.org and Pacific Outdoor Equipment for the opportunity to test the Kid's Mat 1.0!

Read more reviews of Pacific Outdoor Equipment gear
Read more gear reviews by Curt Peterson

Long Term Report

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