ProView – Exped DeepSleep Mat Duo 7.5

Every weekend my partner and I are faced with the same dilemma. Should we sleep at home in the comfort and warmth of our own bed and wake up painfully early to get to the trailhead? Or should we risk getting a poor night’s sleep in the back of our vehicle for the convenience of waking up at our objective? Do we fork over the money for a hotel? Designed to conveniently serve as a ‘trailhead hotel’ for couples, the EXPED DeepSleep Mat Duo 7.5 may put this debate to rest once and for all.

With full-time jobs in the front-range of Colorado, my boyfriend and I take every opportunity we can get to escape into the mountains for the weekend. Over the past several weeks we have tested the DeepSleep Mat Duo LW+ (extra wide and extra long!) in our tent on a car-camping trip, in the back of our adventure vehicle overlooking the mountains of the Sawatch Range, and even on our bedroom floor.

Fit/Comfort

With a whopping 8.5 R-value, this sleeping pad is hard to beat when it comes to comfort. The DeepSleep features three inches of open-cell foam for maximum coziness and warmth. In fact, the DeepSleep is rated down to -45 degrees Fahrenheit. I haven’t had the chance to take it out in sub-zero temperatures yet, but I have a feeling I might have an easier time convincing my partner to join me in sleeping at the trailhead the night before an ice climbing adventure with this pad in hand.

Look/Style

I really dig the blue color of the DeepSleep Mat Duo, but you won’t be spending much time with your eyes open with this pad! In the past, my partner and I have always used two separate sleeping pads which slid around the tent or car whenever we tried to sleep next to each other. A two-person sleeping pad has been on our list for a long time now and we will never go back. To put it into perspective, the LW+ pad is just a couple of inches shy of a full-size mattress. 

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Features

The pad features individual “inflate” and “deflate” valves for easy setting up and putting away. The pad is self-inflating to a point, and therefore does not come with a pump.  I recommend fully inflating the pad and then pressing your finger into the deflate valve while laying on it to slowly release air and reach your desired firmness. Sleeping on it slightly deflated provides support from the open-cell foam as well as the air.

I found the Schnozzle PumpBag (sold separately) to be incredibly efficient at inflating the pad to avoid that out-of-breath feeling you usually get when blowing up sleeping pads. It took five volumes of the Schnozzle Pumpbag to fully inflate the pad and about 30 deep breaths to blow it up manually. The Schnozzle bag, made out of 20 D Ripstop nylon, also doubles as a waterproof compression sack!

Weight/Packability

This is not a backpacking sleeping pad – as part of EXPED’s Basecamp series, it is meant for the couple who values getting a good night’s sleep over being light and fast. When deflated and stowed away into its oversized stuff sack, the DeepSleep Duo LW+ measures in at roughly 2.5 feet by 1 foot and weighs just under ten pounds. The extra-large deflate valve allows air to flow in both directions, so I found it a bit difficult to get all of the air out by myself when putting it away without it re-inflating. The most efficient method I found was to fold it in half lengthwise and roll the air out from the back. The pad does come with a Velcro strap to cinch down the pad and prevent unraveling when wrestling to get it back into the stuff sack.

Function/Performance

I knew the pad would make for an awesome trailhead hotel, but I did not expect to be so comfortable on the pad in my own home. My partner and I tested the pad on our bedroom floor to potentially use as a spare mattress for guests, and let me tell you, they don’t call this pad the ‘DeepSleep’ for nothing. I kid you not, this was the first time in as long as I can remember that I was able to sleep through the night without waking up. So much for that $1000 mattress I just bought!

Durability/Construction

The 75 D polyester fabric used on the top and the bottom is very soft to the touch and remained quiet whenever my partner and I shifted throughout the night. We are admittedly very bad at packing up our belongings at the end of a road trip and all of our gear ultimately gets thrown in the back on top of our sleeping pad. I don’t recommend doing this, of course, but on our most recent trip we had climbing gear (including ice axes) strewn across the pad and it showed no signs of wear or damage when we got home.

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The Final Word

The DeepSleep Mat Duo 7.5 solves the never-ending debate overpaying for a hotel room, sleeping at home and waking up early to get to the trailhead, or getting poor sleep in the back of a vehicle. With an R-value of 8.5,  the comfort goes above and beyond any other pad I’ve ever slept on and I no longer dread the cold and uncomfortable nights that I used to experience sleeping in the back of my car. Although the pad serves my partner and me well as a weekend warrior, I think it would be even better suited for a full-time overlander or vanlifer!

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