Gear Review: Mammut LightPump Mat

Best All-Around

Love everything about camping but the hard, cold ground? Park yourself on this fat pad and say goodnight. From the chilly Swiss Alps to the rocky Utah desert, our testers fought over the LightPump’s three inches of inflatable cushion. It’s warm enough to insulate atop snow, it compresses almost down to Foster’s oil-can-size, and it’s as light as much thinner self-inflaters.

Credit a new open-cell polyurethane foam, which traps body-heated air closer to the sleeping bag, prevents heat loss to the cold ground, and limits heat loss within the long vertical chambers. The LightPump inflates with an integrated hand pump (or you can blow into it, saving a couple of minutes, but breath moisture can condense into the insulation and freeze on cold nights). It took testers about four minutes of CPR-like compressions to fill it.

On sloping campsites, the texture of the lightweight ripstop nylon shell kept bags from sliding off. The tapered cut shaves weight and bulk, without sacrifing comfort or warmth. We saw no significant damage, but one tester discovered a pinhole leak on the pump (he repaired it easily with the included patch kit). $149; 1 lb. 4 oz.; 21”x72”x3”; mammut.ch