No power in the GFC for me. That said, I also stumbled onto this review of the Big Agnes pad I have. Maybe time to upgrade to a MegaMat.
I just picked up a pair of Sea to Summit Camp + RegularWide to slip in our Sierra Designs Duo 35. Tests on the living room floor are promising! Will report back after upcoming trip.
Unfortunately, itās still too hard. I think the move is to add 1" of latex rather than replace the top inch of GFC foam with latex. You could also try replacing the 2" of GFC foam with a hard or medium density Latex topper - thatās what I wish I had tried.
Iāll probably just add 1" of latex to the existing GFC mattress and try that on for size for a bit. Let us know what you end up doing.
I have a sea to summit pad for backpacking. Itās phenomenal. This is what Iāve been using in the GFC for me. As mentioned before, Iām a side sleeper and the original mattress (build 43) is a bit hard for me. No way the camper will close with it up there though.
Yeah, we already have a plan for pulling our bag and pads out and stuffing them into a big duffel. Luckily the duo bag has slots that fit the pads perfectly and it all comes out in one big fluffy bundle.
Figured Iāve give a quick update:
Over 100 nights this year on my Exped and zero complaints. Close the camper every day with all my bedding and a full size pillow up top as well.
Does your roof bow out? Heard that happens with the exped up top while closed. Iāve got a 2ā foam topper cut to fit the squares and my bed is so clutch, I can fall asleep fairly easily now. Roof closes easily with no bowing
The megamat Duo does fit and you can deflate and close the camper. It pushes out some on the perimeter so I took to folding it lengthwise. But, the pad self inflates overtime, even with the valves closed. This eventually pushed up the honeycomb roof up, bowing it some in the middle. I now remove the Exped if Iām not planning to camp. My experience anyway.
Weighing in on our mattress experience thus far. Weāve slept seven nights on the stock mattress and it seems good for us.
Hubs and I are both side sleepers. Heās 6ā and Iām 5ā and weāre not huge but not lightweights by any means. At home we sleep on a memory foam hybrid mattress on a very solid platform base, no box spring.
We slept on the GFC fitted sheet with a down rumpl blanket for me and an original rumpl blanket for him. Most nights were 30 degrees the whole night. I slept with really warm wool socks on the colder nights because my feet wander out and cool air coming in the vents got them chilly.
One night was maybe over 40 degrees and we were hot. Didnāt sleep with the blankets until maybe 3 am that night.
Our struggle seems to be pillows and arms. I canāt fathom closing the tent with pillows up there. We tried and it was bowing. One was a normal pillow and one was a pretty flat, old down pillow. Even with just the down it wouldnāt close to our liking. We definitely need pillows, but donāt like to have them in the cab. Maybe an extra blanket doubled over would work.
We both didnāt realize how much we put our arms out. Anything touching the tent walls or outside the blanket too long got real cold.
None of these things detracted from our trip and overall we were very comfortable. Just things to fine tune. However, I am curious about upgrading the mattress with all these comments. I suppose time will tell on that. For now the money will go to other fun accessories.
Any suggestions on pillows would be cool.
There were a few discussions in this forum about pillows. The general consensus is a bungee net mounted cab side, under the sleeping platform. Youāll have to search the forum for it (probably find it just by searching the word āpillowā), but there are several pictures and a few Amazon links that I remember seeing.
I use a Thermarest Compressible Pillow. It rolls up into a small package that I just throw into a duffel bag. I have the large size and it works well, even for a side sleeper like myself.
https://www.thermarest.com/pillows/foam-pillows/compressible-pillow/compressible-pillow.html
Sea to Summit Camp Plus RegularWide combined with Sierra Designs Backcoi try Duo passed the test. Super comfy and fit the camper perfectly. Down side is we have to remove the bedding to close the camper. But we tend to pull bedding pull bedding out most of the time so they dont get wet from all the condensation, so no big deal.
Iāve tried to read through this whole thing , but did anyone with the exped duo setup have an XL camper?
XL camper is 90x56
The specs of the exped duo 10 LW+ are
Length: 77.6 in
Width: 52 in
Im wondering if anyone with the xl camper finds that the exped slides around given the difference in width or has any other feedback
I donāt have an XL but I believe once inflated it will fit perfect and would not slide around at all. My Duo pushes out on the sides of tent when inflated. I think the XL platform would be ideal for the megamat duo.
I agree with @Kwood, I would guess the fit would be perfect and you might be able to close the gfc without deflating (though opening the deflate valve is probably advisable to avoid thermal expansion that might bust a mattress seam).
In case anyone is interested, thereās an Exped Megamat Duo 10 Sleeping Pad on Geartrade right now. Backcountry is the seller. Itās being blown out, almost 50% offā¦
https://www.geartrade.com/item/750434/megamat-duo-10-sleeping-pad-green-m-good
Iām not in the market but that is a great savings and I appreciate the link.
If only Backcountry.com wasnāt involved, I might consider that. After their whole fiasco of suing smaller companies who dared to use the word ābackcountryā for any part of their branding, I will never do business with them again. Sad, I used to enjoy Steep and Cheap.
Backcountry made a mistake. They owned up to it and have continued to support the businesses they wronged. Cancel culture is annoying. They have awesome employees and customer service.
I just had a great experience with them when evo screwed me.
Definitely looking for your feed back on two singles with 2 ppl as well. The two singles would also allow me to have one in the tent and one on the platform in the bed when out on a hunting or fishing trip with a buddy.