Home Australian Geographic Adventure Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat: Tested

Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat: Tested

The 10cm-thick mat, when fully inflated, offers a nice balance between too firm and soft for a comfortable night’s sleep. Image credit: Mark Watson

Mattresses and shoes. Those are the two key things worth investing in properly to ensure you are always comfortable. After all, you’re pretty much constantly using either one or the other. When purchasing a mattress for home, the main constraint is only budget. However, when purchasing a mattress for mobile slumber, there are a few more factors to consider: packed size and weight, ease of inflation / deflation, comfort and the price. Finding something that balances all four is the aim and we reckon the Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat has a pretty good bash at doing so…

Design

Weighing in at just over 6kg and measuring 71cm x 31cm, when packed, the Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat is clearly not for stuffing in a lightweight pack for multi-day trekking excursions. This mattress is aimed fair and square at car-campers, and in doing so, it excels. Most importantly, it is entirely manageable without needing to leave a child behind to fit in the car or employ a yak to carry it from car to camp.

The mattress comes rolled in a drawstring bag, and secured by two straps with quick release buckles. Set-up is simple: unclip the straps, unscrew the inflation valves and let the self-inflation magic get to work.
Gone are the days of huffing and puffing or packing the foot pump. Self-inflating mattresses are essentially a layer of compressible open cell foam, sandwiched inside an airtight envelope of fabric with a sealable valve. (This Macpac version uses horizontally cored foam to save on weight). Opening the valve allows the foam to expand, sucking air into the mat.

Left to its own devices the Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat self-inflates in under seven minutes (yes, we did time it). Your best bet is to unroll it and let it do its thing while you make a cup of tea. On returning to fully inflated mattress, you just close the valve screw caps and you’re ready for snooze time.

In the field with the Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat

On first impressions the mattress feels neither super-soft nor agonisingly hard. After a short period of time however, the absence of any ground contact, nor airbed-wobble, or scratchy-fabric-noise becomes noticeable and the fact the mattress does not stand out in any way is a good thing – you almost forget you’re lying on it.

The stretch fabric on the top surface feels soft and cosy, while the underside offers a hard-wearing Peach Polyester. All surfaces having been treated with a TPU (Thermoplastic Polyurethane) coating to ensure the mattress is both waterproof and breathable.

One of our favourite features of this mattress is how quiet it is when you move around on it; you barely feel a second person tossing and turning. The days of bouncing off a squeaky airbed are long gone. If you must share nicely, the mattress is 130cm wide, so a reasonable width for two adults, but the bonus is, at 200cm long, it can accommodate those over 6ft, like myself.

On striking camp, the mattress deflates as easily as it is inflated… OK, well not quite as easily. The open cell foam takes a little coaxing to compress so is considerably easier to deflate with two people rather than one. The trick is to roll loosely once to remove excess air, close valves, unroll, then roll again. Once rolled, two compression straps clip together to hold it secure for placing back in the bag.

The final word

At $350, the Macpac Deluxe Double Sleeping Mat is not cheap, but is comparable to other high-end double self-inflating mattresses. Even at that price, its well-thought-out feature and its quietness, escalate it to the front of the line for those wanting a great piece of comfortable camping kit.

RRP: $350 ($245 Macpac Club Price). See Macpac for more info.

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