G'day Kate,

The Thermarest Prolite Plus Sleeping Mat is a really good first hiking mat. It'll definitely be comfortable for your daughter. There are a few other options that are on the table but that does depend a little on things like your daughter's height. It might be worth your while giving us a buzz on 1300 914 007 and one of our expert customer service gurus will be able to talk you through a few different options.

G'day Erika,

Yep - what you're trying to do is as simple as re-expanding the foam inside the mat which has been compressed in its packaging. If the foam isn't doing that itself it's likely because it's significantly compressed. On this occasion, get it going by blowing into the valve yourself and don't stress, you won't have enough pressure in your own breath to do any damage.

G'day Sara,

I've just checked with Thermarest on their website and it looks like this Women's Prolite Plus Sleeping Mat with an R-Value of 4.2 will provide enough insulation down to around -7C. Naturally, these ratings are always variable depending on many factors like body warmth, quality of the sleeping bag, ground moisture etc, but it gives you a good guide to work from. If you'd like to have a look for yourself, you can view Thermarest's website here with the temperature chart on the right-hand side of the page.

Hi Ruth, there was an update to Thermarest Mats back in 2014/15, but there have been no updates from 2015 until now. The changes involved making them lighter and more compact, they also updated the colours and included a stuff sack. In terms of a mat suitable for spring/autumn, you can't go wrong with a Thermarest, and the Prolite Plus will take you into winter. The only other range I would recommend looking at is the new Sea To Summit Mats. These are not self inflating instead requiring your breath or a pump sack for inflation, but they are super compact and reports so far are that they are very comfortable. Give us a call if you want to talk this over with one of our sales staff - 1300 914 007.