The Ionosphere 5 sleeping mat achieves the fine balance of a very comfortable, warm mat that packs down small and doesn’t weigh too much, and therefore gets my Best in Test this time.
David Lintern Best in Test
The Ionosphere 5 hits a sweet spot of comfort, warmth, packability and price and addresses some environment concerns with it’s use of materials.- Warmth
- Pack Size
- None
| Quick specs | |
|---|---|
| Price: £170 Weight: 633g (regular) Type: air mat Materials: 20D Recycled Polyester outer fabric with internal TPU Coating and fluorocarbon free DWR, and Stratus™ R 100% recycled polyester insulation 160gsm with TILT. Dimensions: 183x51cm (regular) Thickness: 8cm Rating: 4.8 Sizes: Regular, Long wide Women’s version: unisex rab.equipment |
The regular mat is long enough and wide enough to handle both tall and restless sleepers – my arms only occasionally drifted off the mat when turning. It’s not especially noisy under pressure either. The baffles run vertically along the length of the mat, with oversized tubes on the outer edge, a design that means we’re less likely to roll off the mat in the night. The mat is internally insulated with both synthetic fill and reflective film, and materials throughout are (at least part) recycled. The R value of 4.8 feels realistic and I experienced no cold spots on some seriously cold test camps.
The inflation bag fits securely onto the valve, and it only takes 5 bags of air to inflate, so a quick and easy process that didn’t leave me short of breath. It’s a 2-way valve, and deflation is equally straight forward.
The Ionosphere 5 packs down really small into a soft pouch. This is an excellent system, and really makes a difference to useability. It’s simply to stow, both in the pouch and then into a corner of your rucksack.
The Ionosphere 5 hits a sweet spot of comfort, warmth, packability and price and addresses some environment concerns with it’s use of materials. The 20D shell feels tough enough to deal with camp life over the longer term, and a repair kit is included.
