Klymit Insulated Static V Lite or another Exped?

Oh my word another sleeping pad

BLUF: So why Klymit Insulated Static V Lite? Easy in short it’s the weight, size, quick to inflate, warmer, durability and price.

I have been mostly happy with my Exped Synmat Hyperlite; I mean what’s not to like 468g (Long Wide) packs up to next to nothing, with an R3.3 should go down to -6ºC. But it tapers in a very aggressive manner and being a sleeper that wiggles a lot I come off this mat far too often, I also found the mat cold due to the side baffles having NO insulation.

Left to right Exped Synmat Hyperlite, Klymit Insulated Static V Lite, Exped Down mat 7UL rear 1 liter bottle and snozzle bag. Notice how the exped mats totally fill the bags.

With the High Country Brevet coming I was left with a choice (it was around -6ºC last year), I have access to a Exped Down mat 7UL, but it weights 921g with the Snozzle bag,  and its pack size is massive. So I decided that a new mat was a better solution as on occasion when the temperature dips as it does sometimes unexpectedly at night the Synmat Hyperlite left me feeling the cold.

So let’s break that down.

• So the weight the Klymit mat comes in packaged with repair kit weight is 595g which is light for a winter pad, but heavier than Synmat Hyperlite at 468g, but remember you need the Snozzle bag to inflate adding 61g total weight of  529g. So an increase of 66g, So let’s be fair I am not going to notice 66g.

However on paper the Klymit is smaller than the Exped, but let’s take a look at that

• Exped Synmat Hyperlite (Long Wide)  197 x 65 x 7cm.  Pack size 19 x 9cm
• Klymit Insulated Static V Lite 183 x 58.4 x 6.5cm.  Pack size 12.7  x 20.3 cm

In reality this is very misleading and best seen in pictures:

When put upto the light you can see the lack of insulation

So from the pictures you can see the Exped is bigger, but it’s not really.

• The widest point on the mat is 65cm but is only insulated to 42cm so actually the insulated area is only 0.819 Square meter and though technically a narrower shorter mat  the klymit is insulated to its full size 183cm x 58.4cm so has a area of 1.06872 Square meter. The depth of 6.5cm is correct for the klymit the Exped seems much taller and measures 8.5cm, this is no more comfortable and actually is a pain as it puts me to close to my tent walls.
• The Extra 16.4 cm of width keeps me on the pad when I move about and doesn’t wake me when I touch the cold side baffles or my feet drop off the side, which is what happens on the Exped, so size and shape matters.
• The problem with the exped mats for my setup is actually using the snozzle bag to inflate them with the design of my tent. My mat runs parallel to the door opening rather than the traditional pup tent where it would be vertical to this. This is fine when the sun is shining but a royal pain when its raining as I can’t fit undercover while inflating with a snozzle bag, which means I run the risk of getting a wet inner tent and mat.

With the klymit being so quick to inflate 10-15 breathes for real, and its size being shorter I can close the outer and keep everything dry.

• At R3.3 = -6ºC  the Exped is just not warm enough for my useage
• At R4.4 = -13ºC the Klymit is noticeably warmer in the same conditions and being a quilt user a slightly warmer mat in the summer is fine as it’s easy to vent if I get over hot.
• Durability comes in here too, I have managed to hole 2 exped mats, yes easy to repair but not in the dark when it’s -6ºC outside. When it comes to looking after my gear I am a careful person, and had never had a problem with other makes of inflatable mats before, but have had 2 Exped’s let me down, I was not going to try for third time lucky.
• Then the one thing you can’t just walk pass price the winter version of the Exped would cost me $265 NZ  for an R 4.9 mat so a little warmer but but also 9cm thick if you look at my tent its too tall and would likely touch the inner to my face. The klymit came in at $148 NZ for an R 4.4 mat. $117 NZ saving equates to 19 nights under the stars at Department of Conservation campsites.

• So what the trade off +61g and a bigger pack size about half a liter in volume the snozzle bag does compress smaller but does need to be considered. But I am saying the Exped Hyperlite mat is not warm enough so if you compare Exped SynMat HL Winter
  575g and a pack size of 25 x 12 cm (Long Wide). The Klymit is +20g and has a smaller pack size about half a liter in volume, so sits right in the middle of the 3 mats.

So far I have used the Klymit Insulated Static V Lite for only one night so too early to say much, however I was definitely warmer at -1ºC as I had to take my down jacket off that is a must using my exped mat as part of my sleep system from around 4ºC.

I found it more comfortable due to its shape and easier to deal with in my tent, the position and design of the air valve is so much better if you wish to add or remove air during the night to customise comfort.

Stayed on the mat all night and my sleep tracker said I slept deep and well with very little awake time, better than I slept in bed the previous night.

The storage sacks for the Exped mats require you to roll up the mat very well or they don’t fit, this is fine when your hands are nice and warm but not so easy with cold fingers and can make packing slow and difficult.

So for me the Klymit Insulated Static V Lite = Winner.

One happy camper!

Toku Haerenga Tour Aotearoa 2016

Toku haerenga translates to my  journey. It was a very private trip shared with about 250 riders, thousands of dot followers, immersed by half the population of New Zealand and thrust on the wider world by the power of the web, so as I say a private and very personal journey.

One of the interesting aspects of Tour Aotearoa (TA) looking back was the the Facebook forum, it was a wealth of knowledge, lively debate and a meeting place for a group of people I now genuinely call friends.

Somehow all of this had to fit

Traveling to the start for me was part of the journey flying to Auckland around midnight, was meant to arrive around 10 pm but flight delayed, this became a real pain as I had no fuel for my stove and was going to by at the shops but they were now closed more of this later.

So I spent  the night in the terminal chatting  to Sam Davidson  and an ever growing crowd of TA riders till 6 in the morning  when we caught the bus up to Waitiki Holiday Park.  It may not of been the cheapest way to travel but I would do it again, it was easy and got to meet some great people many of whom I rode on this epic odyssey, anyone that was on the bus will remember our conductor the shrinking violet Kevin Searle. 

Arriving at the Waitiki Holiday Park the great unloading and assemble began and like many the destination for the day was Tapotupotu campsite.  So before I had even set off disaster struck and the buckle on my seat pack snapped, so with cable ties and string and no fuel I set off for Tapotupotu.

So glad I did it was an amazing place to spend the night coming down to the beach was everything you see in the pictures and more.

That night I was given free fuel and fed thanks to Erick and Greg I soon realised this was just a cunning plan to shed some weight which I was more than happy to carry 🙂

Finally the day I had spent the last year plotting, planing and preparing for was here

Well the next couple of days !!!!

The last word in quality luggage

Well at $3.99 perfect designer bag

Journey North Starts Tomorrow

Well bike is packed

http://touraotearoa2016.maprogress.com?id=3941

(Shows where I am amongst others)

http://touraotearoa2016.maprogress.com?id=3941&justme=yes

(Great for older folks who just care about me)

Well if you have little else better to do you will be able to view where I get up to on the live tracker, I have included two options one is just me and the other is for all the riders so you can see just how slow I am :-). Wave 1 starts on the 21st, wave 2 on the 23 (this is the wave I am in) and then wave 3 on the 24 so there will be a good spread of riders, this has been done to ease bottle necks at ferry and Jet boat rides etc.

http://touraotearoa2016.maprogress.com?id=3941

(Shows where I am amongst others)

http://touraotearoa2016.maprogress.com?id=3941&justme=yes

(Great for older folks who just care about me)

 

 

The Road to the Tour Aotearoa

7 days out from the start it’s just about to start

Ride eat sleep

Repeat

For the next 3000 km

             

Well the training is nearly done 4500 km ridden to take me to a place where I am ready for the ride to start. It has been a real up and down journey and its not over yet, I have overcome so many little challenges and some not so small.

Every pay day on the way to the start there has been a something more to buy, something that’s broken or needs replacing or upgrading and if you change just one thing the knock on effect ripples through the whole system.

Sore knees, saddle sore and sore muscles are just a few of the things that have not gone as planned. I gave no regard at the start of my training to the fact that I am 50 now, but aging may not be an excuse for not training hard but I can assure you that I no longer recover as quickly as I did and have to build up slower,  this is not an issue if you have good systems in place to take care of yourself.

Oh and every 1000 km is equal to 1 kg in weight loss so far which has been a nice bonus

So what I now have is this to carry for the next 3000 km

  

So 26 kg of bike and gear and food and drink!

None of this would be possible without my wife’s support

 

 

1x 2x 3x Crazy Gearing

So my crank is too long, easy just change it for a shorter one! Yea right, I have sent my self dizzy looking at 10 speed set ups. You can go 1x, 2x, 3x, extended range, compact ratio, boost and much more. I was able to keep it simple in one respect as Shimano  is the tool of choice, as it works with the rest of my gear and of their ranges I really was looking at Deore and  SLX  nothing above or below so firmly in the middle of quality and price.

Deore is what I have a now and to be fair it works well and I have not had any issues with how it works or looks, but I do know there are quality and weight savings to be made with SLX so I guess price/value will be my guide coupled with gears that will allow me to climb rather that sprint.

After much research on ratio’s I decided on and ordered a 36/22 Deore M627, great value and would give me a nice spread of gears with a 11-34 cassette with the option to move up to a 11-36 if needed.

Within hours of ordering I had changed the order as I found out that it comes as a Boost version which moves the chain line 3 mm out to correct for the 148 Boost system as I am not looking to change the whole drive train, I decided to keep clear. 3mm is not a lot but why make it less than ideal when you are buying new?

So I ended  back at my first choice, the M672 SLX 40-30-22.

The price was right and effectively gives me one more gear on the road for down hills and the same ratios where it counts for climbing, and its lighter, so in the end I win.

I think!

Training Underway

Well riding not so fast up that hill,not long but tough going. Was out for 76 km the sun was really hot, but not to much wind so was good news,

Time is marching on and training time becomes more precious by the day, think that the bike is now set  and good to go, the pack list is almost fixed

The Big Five – Luggage – Part Four

Look how much I can carry!!! Big but not clever 🙂

I love fully loaded touring but have come to realise fully loaded does not have to mean heavy and lighter is better. However for versatility you cant beat a pannier seat up and it gives you, its never going to be as light as a soft bag system and as for durability of soft bags I can’t say but I have done tens of thousands of kilometers with my Ortlieb bags over many years with only two problems.

• I put a hole in one (which I repaired)
• Hard to dry if they get wet on the inside (they don’t leak, packing wet gear or rain while bag open)

Fully loaded 2008

When I first got the soft bags I thought I had brought junk, not as easy to pack fabric feels easy to damage. But I remember thing panniers were a pain with being just a large sack and hard to find anything you just have to learn how to live with them. Now that I have reduced the amount of kit that I carry or upgraded to a smaller package size I like them in the main, and if I was going really remote or very cold climate for a long time the change I might make would be to add a light weight rack and a small set of panniers the main reason for this would be to carry extra food and or bulkier warmer clothes, but and here is the big but to that.

On average I travel 5km per hour faster with no extra effort up or down hill. I tend to cycle 8 hour days this depends on weather light etc, but if we say 8 hours that is 40 km per day further traveled or 280 km per week

• So with panniers average of 15 kph, 120 km per day or 840 km per week
• With soft bags average of 20 kph, 160 km per day or 1120 km per week

Now I know sometimes I will cycle less and slower or faster but for me over the same road or trail or mountains about 5 km per hour is a big deal. Lets face it anywhere that there is little water or no food you will not be hanging around for long on a bike and its a matter of head down long days enjoying the world you are in but keeping moving to the next resupply.

Fully loaded 2015

So whats is the difference in weight

• Front and rear panniers and racks, saddle bag and handle bar bag  = 7.5kg
• Bar bag, pocket, tool pod, fuel pod, frame bag and saddle bag and fork mounts = 1.5kg

A 6 kg weight saving is massive, and for most people in the developed world losing 6 kg of body weight would make them feel great and much easier to move about and this is the same effect it has on your bike.

 

 

 

 

 

The Big Five – Cook System – Part Three

Cook systems, I guess this is one of those things that cause so much personal disagreement over which is best

MSR WhisperLite international

The blow torch or better known as the MSR WhisperLite international, I owned and used one of these for about 10+ years, really great stove. The stove has one heat setting which full on, you can make it simmer by getting the stove cranking then switching off, release the pressure in the fuel bottle and then re-light without putting pressure on fuel stove will burn more slowly.  During this time the stove was used more than 600 days and never missed a beat, burnt white gas petrol and kerosene during that time, white gas the cleanest and kerosene the worst but all works well.

After long term usage I decided that a stove that could not simmer and was really about mountaineering where boiling water was the most important thing  and not cooking up something tasty.

 

 

Trangia

So back to a Trangia a long term favorite that I used back in my hiking days, I would say if you cant cook in a Trangia its your cooking ability not the stove system. Yes its slow but I am a cycle tourist, who cares I do this for fun not haste. You can cook anything from bread and cakes to a morning fry up and most things in between. If I know I am camping without facilities for any length of time this is my go to set up, at around a kilo its quite light and totally reliable.  I know in some parts of the world fuel is no so easy to come by but not impossible either. With the simmer ring fitted the stove will simmer on a fill for at least 40 minutes which is really nice and any fuel not needed is stored in the stove. The wind shield is about as good as they come.

The Omnifuel

This was brought as a replacement for the MSR for trips when the Trangia was not the best option. In some ways I wish I had kept the MSR as there are so many things I can see could go wrong, I am sure its fine but am not convinced. Yes you can simmer or maybe boil less rapidly is more true and it lacks the shaker valve you get on the MSR.  The benefit of the stove is it burns just about anything, from propane to kerosene, but there are valves to change to make it burn well but in practice you can just run it on the same one and get by.  To combine this with the Trangia seemed a great idea.

The Omni Trangia

So I already have the pots and pans why not combine? Turned out to be a complete pain really heavy bulky and don’t touch the wind shield for the fear of your hand melting, and that was with the stove on its lowest output, great idea complete fail.

The Evernew Appalachian Set

So my latest and lightest is the Evernew Appalachian Set at 161g it weights next to nothing and will burn alcohol, wood and solid fuel tabs which is pretty cool. This is my stove set for fast and light and is so small its great. This for me came about because most of the campsites in New Zealand provide a well equipped kitchen so this gives me a complete system which I can carry and not worry about its size and weight if its not needed on the trip, but to be fare this is what finds its way into my bag most often. I added a 1 ltr Ti pot and now I have a 2 pot system which is so light and flexible.

 

The Big Five – Sleep System – Part Two

Like most people of my age my first camping sleep system was the ground and a sleeping bag or blankets, which is really simple and cheap. But long term this was never going to work the cheap synthetic sleeping bag was never going to last, but it got you out and that was great.

From there the addition of the close cell foam mat, comfy, warm, nearly indestructible and light , but lets be honest small pack size does not belong here.  But defiantly better than the dirt.So years later funds and experience led me to the self inflating air mattress and a new level of comfort.  So the Thermarest Prolite 3 was added to my bag. But at 660 g not light but still more comfortable but I found as a side sleeper I needed to use 2 totaling a whopping 1.3kg, but to me it was worth it. But hang on a minute I thought this was about reducing weight and bulk? Well that is the next stage.

The Exped  range of mats, my son brought the 9 cm Long and wide (LW) down mat OMG what a mat. As I have no intention of snow caving and the like, so I went for the UL7 LW and its fantastic. I can sleep on my side and its warm, not as good as the down but still enough for my needs and I have access to the down version if required. At 668 grams and the size of a not much larger than Nalgene bottle its a win.

Sleeping bag of choice for me is down its pack to weight ration is far superior to synthetic. I have to bags both light weight but one will go to about -10 C and the other will take about -2 C at a push but not pleasant. I went this way as I was getting too warm in my winter bag and then waking cold as I had unzipped to let me cool down before I got to sleep.

A nice addition to any sleep system is a pillow, yes you can use spare gear but I tend not to anything I would like to use as a pillow.My first dedicated camp pillow was from Thermarest fairly light but not a small pack size

Then I moved to the Exped much more compact pack size ( the Thermarest packs to about 1/3 of its open size) and for me I thing more comfortable.

What I have noticed is that with Exped down UL mat I can sleep in far colder temperatures  with a lighter weight sleeping bag.  So my system is now  1 kg lighter and has reduced in volume by over 60%. My  UL7 LW  fits on my front forks on right as viewed in this picture.

The Ortlieb 14L dry bag contains ( everything in red is part of sleep system)

• Sleeping bag 650g
• Exped pillow 108 g of awesome
• P/J swimmers 130g
• UL down jacket 260g

So with with mat comes in a 1.86 kg which for the level of comfort/warmth is quite light for winter usage I need to add about 600g to that weight. I guess if a ultra marathon race type looked at my kit they would cringe at my version of UL but this is for comfort for many weeks/months  not a few days

• Tent nest and pole
• Mosquito head net
• Jacket WP hi vis
• First aid kit
• Bowl
• Evernew Ti cook-set