Therm-a-Rest Luxury Map Review

The Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap is a single-person self-inflating mattress. This mattress is an excellent example of a fantastic and comfortable choice that anyone would be happy with if it was the only thing they owned. However, we like to test items by comparing them to other products in their category, and only by doing this does the LuxuryMap seem like less of a mattress. But we assure you, it is not! We loved the pressure mapping technology and felt that it did indeed live up to Therm-a-Rest's claim that it provides a more even sleeping surface. Overall, this mattress is comfortable, warm, and relatively affordable but was middle of the pack when accounting for all testing metrics in our review.

Performance Comparison

Comfortable and warm, this camping mattress is a solid choice.

Photo: Laurel Hunter

Comfort

This mattress incorporates pressure mapping technology to ensure a smoother sleeping surface. What this means is that Therm-a-Rest studied the patterns of where the most pressure is exerted by the human body while sleeping in multiple different positions and then used different density foam in those places within the mattress. One would think that they would use denser foam in those areas, but we were surprised to discover that they actually cut out and removed foam in the high-pressure areas, making them less dense. The effect is that your body sinks deeper into the mattress than a typical inflatable air mattress, eliminating much of the air displacement effect in air mattresses that can cause one area to rise unnaturally when another pushes firmly against the pad. The result is a more natural feeling sleeping surface that is indeed very comfortable. The reason we didn't score this mattress higher for comfort was that these areas of less dense foam allow one to sink a little too much, potentially touching rocks and other hard objects on the ground below.

The unique pressure-mapped foam pattern uses dual density foam for support and comfort.

Photo: Laurel Hunter

Ease of Use

Featuring two one-way valves that are clearly labeled for inflation and deflation, the LuxuryMap is very easy to use. It does not come with a pump sack or device, however, and requires blowing up by mouth. If you unroll the mattress, open the inflation valve, and give the foam a few minutes to self-inflate, it doesn't take very many breaths to reach a comfortable level of inflation, however.

Easy inflation with a one-way valve.

Photo: Laurel Hunter

To deflate, simply twist open the "out" valve and roll up the mattress. The stuff sack is plenty big to hold the mattress without full deflation.

A roomy stuff sack makes this easy to store without completely deflating.

Photo: Laurel Hunter

Warmth

This mattress has an R-value of 6.8, making it warm enough for most camping purposes. While sleeping on frozen ground with only the tent floor in between, we were perfectly warm while using this mattress.

Versatility

The LuxuryMap falls into a nebulous middle ground when it comes to versatility. On the one hand, it certainly does not suffer from problems like no insulation and reliance on heavy power air pumps, but it also isn't adaptable and super small when packed up. While its superior insulation makes it more versatile than an air bed, its large packed size isn't going to inspire you to carry it very far.

Packed Size

As alluded to above, the LuxuryMap does not pack down very small. While it easily fits into its provided stuff sack, that sack is a 30 inch long tube. It is smaller than many of the foam core mattresses we reviewed but not small enough for packing it out far from your car.

The Luxury Map (second from right) does not pack up much smaller than much thicker mattresses.

Photo: Laurel Hunter

Value

This mattress retails in the middle of the pack. In reality, the LuxuryMap scored well, and there are no durability complaints to be found on the internet, nor did we experience any. We found good value in this mattress.

Conclusion

The Therm-a-Rest LuxuryMap is a quality car camping mattress that is unique because of its pressure-mapped foam cutouts. This enables it to provide the most natural feeling sleeping surface of any self-inflating mattress we tested. We think that anyone who buys this mattress is likely to be happy with their purchase, and only in comparison to all the other great mattresses that we tested could it possibly be described as second rate. For those wanting a slightly more packable model but still looking for great quality, we wholeheartedly recommend this mattress.

With a full inch less foam, the Luxury Map faced still competition in the comfort metric, but is still plenty comfortable.

Photo: Laurel Hunter