Sneak Peek at Summer Outdoor Retailer Show's most Innovative products

The Summer Outdoor Retailer Show (or OR as it is commonly referred to) wrapped up last week in Salt Lake City and the Backcountry Skiing Canada crew was on hand to get a sneak peek at all the new products that will be available at your local retailers for spring 2015.

The most innovative new products that we saw at the show had to come from Sea To Summit. Their spring 2015 line up will include six new sleeping mats along with a very innovative new folding pot, yup, a folding pot! 

Sea To Summit X-Pot

The “X-Pot” as it is called will come in two sizes, a small (34oz/1L) and a medium (94.5oz / 2.8L). The small X-Pot weighs in at just 7.5oz / 220g and will retail for $39.95, the medium X-Pot is slightly heavier at 10oz / 283g due to its increased capacity, and will sell for $49.95. The real magic is not the X-Pot’s minimal weight but rather its size. When not in use you can collapse the X-Pot much like Sea To Summit’s popular X-Set cups, plates and bowls which we've reviewed here. 

The X-pot is made of a food grade, heat resistant silicone wall with a hard anodized aluminum base. The translucent polycarbonate lid provides good visibility to what ever you are cooking and the built in strainer is ideal for those backcountry pasta dishes. The medium sized X-Pot conveniently fits a small X-Pot and X-Bowl inside for a complete compact cooking system.

Sea To Summit Sleeping Mats

The other big news from Sea To Summit is their full line of sleeping mats which are not only super comfortable but also incredibly innovative in their design. Having been a long time Therma-Rest and then Exped user I can’t wait to get my hands on these new Sea To Summit Mats for extended testing in the field. 

These new sleeping mats come in 6 variations, the Ultra Light Series which consists of an un-insulated and an insulated version, the Comfort Light series, again in un-insulated and insulated versions and finally the Comfort Plus in both insulated and un-insulated and regular and rectangular shapes. All the sleeping mats in the new Sea To Summit line use “Air Sprung Cells”, this dot welded pattern provides incredible comfort when compared to a traditional baffle construction sleeping mat. I first experienced a similar waffle construction while testing a Big Agnes sleeping mat and the difference in comfort was immediately noticeable.

Sea To Summits Air Sprung Cells deform independently so that the sleeping pad can better conform to your specific body shape no matter if you are a back, front or side sleeper. All of the insulated mats use Exkin Platinum fabric which is a light weight metalized layer that is designed to reflect radiant heat loss back to the user. Combine this with Thermolite insulation inside the mat to reduce convective heat loss to the ground and the Sea To Summit mats provide 4-season warmth. The 40 denier nylon face fabric and 20 denier nylon internal fabric keep things light while also ensuring the mats are still relatively light weight. 

The other area of these mats that I find to be very well designed is multi-functional valve which makes inflation and deflation a snap through a single valve. This one way valve is very low profile and is able to rapidly deflate the mat by simply pushing on the inside of the valve. Within a matter of seconds the mat is completely void of air. A Jet Stream Pump Sack or an AirStream Dry Sack are sold separately to make inflation much quicker and easier than simply inflating with your mouth.

Sea To Summit Ultra Light Sleeping Mat

For those whose mantra is ‘fast & light’ the Ultra Light Sleeping Mat is a natural choice at just 11.5oz / 325g for the small (66 x 21.5in / 168 x 55cm), 12.5oz / 355g for the regular (72 x 21.5in / 184 x 55cm) and 16oz / 455g for the large (78 x 25in / 198 x 64cm). The Thermolite insulated versions of the Ultra Light model are available in all three sizes but the weights are slightly more due to their 2.5 R-value they provide versus the 0.7 R-value rating for the un-insulated version.

Sea To Summit Comfort Light Sleeping Mat

If weight is not your primary concern and you wish to have more comfort with your sleeps then the Sea To Summit Comfort Light Sleeping Mat is likely a better option for you. These mats are again available in the same three sizes mentioned above in both insulated and un-insulated versions. The un-insulated version provides an R-value of 1.0 and the insulated version has an R-value of  3.5. The weights come in at 15oz / 430g for the small, 16 oz / 460g for the regular and 20oz / 575g for the large mat.

Sea To Summit Comfort Plus Sleeping Mat

The Comfort Plus mats are not only the most comfortable mats in the Sea To Summit line up but also the most insulating with a 1.5 R-value for the un-insulated version and an R-value of 5.0 for the insulated version. All of the Comfort Plus mats come in both a form fitting contoured shape as well as a larger and more roomy rectangular shape. Being the thickest mats at 6.3cm / 2.5in in height they are also the heaviest in the line up at 19oz / 540g for the small, 21oz / 595g for the regular and 27oz / 760g for the large—still very respectable weights.

Have a watch of the following Sea To Summit promo video:

The new Sea To Summit sleeping mats are an excellent addition to the Sea To Summit XT 2 Traverse 3D Down Sleeping Bag (which won our prestigious Gear Of The Year Award) and the ultra-light Sea To Summit Spark SP III Down Sleeping Bag which is reviewed here.

Tough, light, innovative and well designed, the new Sea To Summit sleeping mats have raised the bar for other sleeping mat manufacturers to follow. Stay tuned for a full review of these products coming in the spring of 2015.