THERM-A-REST TREK & TRAVEL SERIES TRAIL COMFORT REGULAR
Long-term Report
November 14, 2006

Photo courtesy Therm-a-Rest

Authored by

Andrew Priest
Perth, Western Australia, Australia
aushiker@yahoo.com.au

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Product Details and Specifications
• Tester's Details
  • Personal Biography
  • Testing Playground
  • Testing Environment
• Long-term Report

Andrew, the tester:

I am a 46 year old male, 180 cm (5' 11") in height, I weigh 111 kg (245 lb). I have been bushwalking in Western Australia for approximately five years. For the past four years I have been regularly walking and leading on and off-track pack carries with the Perth Bushwalkers Club. I have also got into geocaching. I consider myself as moving towards being a lightweight tent-carrying bushwalker with my pack base weight in the 8 to 12 kg (18 to 26 lb) range. I have completed my End to End of the Bibbulmun Track (2003), the Cape to Cape Track (Nov 2001), the Coastal Plains Walk Track (numerous times), the Larapinta Trail (July 2005) and Fitzgerald River National Park (April 2006).

I have previously tested a Therm-a-Rest ProLite series sleeping mat and own and have used a Therm-a-Rest Classic full length sleeping mat and a Aritach Confort-Mat 3/4 length sleeping mat.

[Click here to return to the top]
 

Andrew's testing playground:

The bushwalking environment of the south-west of Western Australia allows for bushwalks and backpacking from coastal plains to forest. Elevation ranges from 0 to 585 metres (0 to 1,920 feet). Within this region, I walk in varying conditions from forestry roads, to sandy tracks to single-purpose walking trails, to rock hopping, to beach walking to completely off-track walking through open and dense country.

The testing environment:

During the summer period, daytime temperatures average 30° C (86° F), whereas from March through to December the daytime average temperatures range from 15° C to 26° C (59° F to 79° F). During the autumn, winter, and spring periods the normal weather pattern is fairly wet with frequent heavy rainstorms evident. It does not normally snow in Western Australia.

According to The Times Atlas of the World (Concise Edition - Revised 1997) our weather is described as being "Mediterranean - rainy climates with mild winters, coolest month above 0° C (32° F), but below 18° C (64° F); warmest month above 10° C (50° F)." The atlas depicts the coastal area north of Los Angeles, California, US as having the same climate.

[Click here to return to the top]
 

Product Details:

• Manufacturer: Therm-a-Rest
• Year of Manufacturer: 2006
• MSRP: US$69.95

The Therm-a-Rest Trail Comfort sleeping mat is part of the Therm-a-Rest Trek and Travel series. Therm-a-Rest describe this series of mats as their "warmest, most comfortable backpacking mattress."  The Trail Comfort is a long mattress (in the regular size, 185 cm (72 in) and is thick at 5 cm (2 in) so this may well be a valid claim.

Specifications for the Regular Size:

• Manufacturer's specified weight: 1080 g (2lb 6 oz)
• My weight: 1079 g (2lb 6 oz)
• Manufacturer's Dimensions: 51 x 183 x 5 cm (20 x 72 x 2 in)
• My Dimensions: 52 x 185 x NA cm (20 x 72 x NA in)
• R-Value: 5 as specified by the manufacturer.

[Click here to return to the top]
 

Long-term Report:

My long-term use of the Therm-a-Rest Trail Comfort was somewhat less than I had planned. Unfortunately due to personal circumstances my planned weekend backpack in September had to downsized to day walk. This left me with only two more testing nights with the Trail Comfort on October 31 - November 1, 2006 in the St John Conversation Park, Nannup. On this trip I car-camped at Cambray Siding on the Friday night and then walked in carrying the Trail Comfort to Sleeper Hewers' Hut on the Old Timberline Trail.  Both nights involved sleeping in my Big Sky Products Evolution 1P tent. The average minimum temperature for the area in October is 6.7 C (44 F).

On both of these nights the Trail Comfort was very comfortable to sleep on and appeared to help keep me warm. I had no issues with coldness coming from the ground either night.

Reflecting back on my primary six testing points outlined in my Initial Report and as summarised in my Field Report , I am pleased to conclude that:

• In respect of comfort this is a very comfortable mat for me to sleep on. I have noticed a significant improvement in my sleeping during the test period. That said, is it enough of an improvement for me to warrant carrying this heavier and bulkier mat? I would suggest the jury is still out on that. I am probably more likely to take this mat on shorter backpacks rather than my longer backpacks.

• Over the test period I have not experienced any issues in respect of durability.

• As alluded to earlier I have found this mat to be warm given my weather conditions. I had no issues with cold coming up from the ground.

• Using the mat in my nylon and silnylon floored tents has not caused any issues in terms of slippage. The mat has stayed in position quite well given I am a restless sleeper.

• As per my comments in my Field Report, I have found the Trail Comfort did not pack down that small and therefore has been a bit of pain to carry. That said on my weekend backpack I did get it in my Granite Gear Stratus Latitude okay but was pushed for room.

• I reported in my Field Report that I had no issues with inflating and that deflating was a bit harder than with my smaller mats. This summary remains as reported.

Overall I am quite happy with the Therm-a-Rest Trail Comfort, my only negative being that it is a bit bulky for my backpacking set-up, but the comfort does go so way to make up for it.  I suspect I will continue to use the Trail Comfort on car camping trips and on shorter and easier weakened backpacks where weight and space are less of an issue.

My thanks to BackpackGearTest.org and Therm-a-Rest for being able to participate in this test.

[Click here to return to the top]