Sea to Summit Ultralight XR Insulated Air Sleeping Mat review: Can this ultralight pad still deliver real comfort?
Sea to Summit trims weight and pack size but aims to keep comfort front and centre
by Julia Clarke · T3T3 Verdict
⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐
The Sea to Summit Ultralight XR Insulated Air Sleeping Mat joins a new era of lightweight backpacking pads, trimming weight and packed size without sacrificing warmth or comfort. It’s not the lightest or the warmest sleeping pad I’ve tested, but it really shines in stability and comfort, easily fits in my 32L backpack and is warm enough for three seasons. I really can’t fault it.
Reasons to buy
- Light and packable
- Very comfortable and stable
- Easy to inflate and deflate
- Not too noisy
Reasons to avoid
- Not for winter use
What a time to be a backpacker. Gear is getting lighter and more technical with each passing season, and nowhere are the gains more noticeable than in sleeping pads.
Sea to Summit’s new year announcement that it was updating its sleep system wasn’t so much a U-turn as the logical evolution for a brand that’s proven itself a leader in lightweight gear over the past few decades.
As a frequent backpacker, every comfortable night I can get on the trail means more energy for hiking the next day, but I like moving fast without a heavy pack to weigh me down.
So hearing that the Aussie brand planned to release a pad that was lighter and more packable than the already excellent Ether Light XT Extreme pad, yet still warm enough for three seasons, was music to my ears.
How were they going to achieve this without making the pad shorter, you ask? According to the brand, it’s all down to an update on its long-running Air Sprung Cell construction, which uses individual air-filled cells (151 of them in this case) instead of the horizontal or vertical baffles you’re probably used to.
The brand says the new-and-improved “dot-weld geometry “helps you feel more stable than you might have experienced on other ultralight mats. That should translate into a better night’s sleep, but does it? I took it out for some wild camping in Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park in Scotland to find out.
Sea to Summit Ultralight XR Insulated Air Sleeping Mat review
Price and availability
The Sea to Summit Ultralight XR Sleeping Mat is available in Small, Regular and Large sizes, with prices starting at £140 / $149 for the Small size, going up to £160 for the Large size, which I tested. Here in the UK, you may be able to find it cheaper at Alpine Trek or Cotswold Outdoor.
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The recommended retail price is substantially cheaper than the brand’s previous ultralight release, the Ether Light XR Insulated Air Sleeping Mat, although it’s important to note that that mat is built for four-season use and is substantially thicker. But if you’re not planning on camping in winter, keep reading.
Design and materials
This inflatable sleeping mat uses three key technologies to ensure a successful night’s sleep. The brand’s trademark Air Sprung Cell technology is designed to improve your weight distribution and eliminate pressure points, and that’s especially good news for us side sleepers who are tired of feeling our hips digging into the ground.
It keeps you warm when you’re sleeping on cold ground, thanks to ThermalCore insulation with a reflective layer that boosts the R-value to 3.6. And finally, the Hybrid 30D/40D fabric is durable and has been treated with an antimicrobial agent to help keep it from getting funky. Better yet, some of these materials are recycled and bluesign-approved for a lighter carbon footprint.
My pad arrived packed away in a stuff sack measuring 22cm x 10.5cm / 8.6in x 4in, which isn’t as tiny as my Big Agnes Rapide SL sleeping pad, but a little digging revealed that the smaller size is comparable to that one, at just 19cm x 10cm / 7.5in x 3.9in. Mine is still small enough to fit in my Yeti Skala 32L backpack along with my camping quilt and tent, so whatever size you buy, I think you’ll be happy with its packability.
At 590g for the Large (small is 450g), it’s quite a bit lighter than the Ether Light XR and comparable to my Big Agnes pad. Despite the name, that doesn’t necessarily place it in the lightest sleeping pad ever category – the Thermarest NeoAir XLite NXT comes in at only 370g, and there are even lighter ones on the market – but it’s not a weight that’s going to make or break your trek.
The stuff sack has an integrated inflation system, a feature that is becoming increasingly common in backpacking pads, and it works surprisingly well. It has a nozzle that attaches to the inflation valve. You can simply breathe (not blow) into the sack, then use your hands to squeeze the air into the pad.
This takes all the effort out of inflating your pad, works quickly, and apparently reduces moisture inside the pad to help keep mould at bay. If this all sounds a little high tech, don’t worry: there are instructions on the inflation sack to guide you through it all.
The inflation valve has two settings, one for inflating and another for deflating, so when you’re ready to break down camp, you just pull the valve to deflate, all the air whooshes out, and it’s reasonably easy to fold it back up and get it back into its carry sack without too much drama.
Finally, it’s fitted with the PillowLock system, which keeps your Sea to Summit Aeros Pillow securely in place if you have one. I don’t have this pillow, so I wasn't able to test this feature, but I think it’s a nice and useful bonus.
Inflation process
Now that I’ve tried this inflation system a few times on different mats, I’ve come to really appreciate it. Yes, you can just blow the old-fashioned way, but if you don’t want to get lightheaded, this is a great option.
Both times I’ve camped with this pad, it took me between 15 and 20 breaths to inflate, or a couple of minutes max. It reaches a point where I can’t squeeze any more air into it, and at that stage, it doesn’t look fully inflated to me, but one or two puffs directly into the valve do the trick.
Performance and comfort
When I first inflated this mat, I’ll admit that it didn’t look super promising. It doesn’t lie flat when it’s inflated, and this gives the impression of it not being a very refined product, but I was pleased to discover that when I lie down, this in no way hinders my comfort.
This mat is 6.5cm / 2.5in thick when inflated, which isn’t the thickest pad around, but it is really comfortable, and I noticed the welcome stability. Sometimes you feel like you’re rocking around on a 1980s waterbed on camping mats, but this one is much more akin to sleeping on a regular mattress at home.
I sleep on all four sides, and no part of my body was ever touching the ground except for my knees when I was on all fours packing my kit away in the morning. Even then, when I sat back on my heels, I noticed that my knees and shins were no longer touching.
I tested a Large, but I’m actually quite small, which is cheating a bit, so I made my six-foot, broad-shouldered boyfriend give it a shot, and he was pretty happy with the amount of available real estate.
I’d probably go for a small pad if I were choosing it myself, since that would be lighter, but the upside of the Large is that it took up every square inch of my one-person backpacking tent, and that meant no part of me ever found itself dangling off the side. I might be onto something here.
I’ve tested this in early spring weather. Once night was unusually mild, and the other was cool, but I’ve had no problems staying warm enough.
It’s not a completely silent pad, but I wouldn’t describe it as especially noisy or rustly when I move around on it.
Verdict
The Sea to Summit Ultralight XR Insulated Air Sleeping Mat balances comfort and packability with weight and packability admirably. On those specs alone, you’ll find others that appear to be similar, but where this pad shines is in its stability, which means your sleep will feel a little less rocky.
It’s also not the thickest pad on the market, but the cell construction means no part of your body touches the earth, and that’s all that matters. It’s easily warm enough for three-seasons and well-priced, so if you’re looking to upgrade your sleep system with something reliably comfortable, this is the pad for you.