Campman Outdoor Gear & Apparel

If you wanted to spend your away weekend feeling hungry, uncomfortable, and exhausted, you’d go backpacking. While that might be what you’re looking for from time to time, there’s no denying that sometimes, it’s nice to throw off the restraints of the ultralight trend and indulge in a little comfort. That’s where the Exped Megamat Max 15 comes into play.

The Exped Megamat 10 has long been a staple of the car camping community, and for good reason. With a plush tricot nylon face fabric, nearly 4 inches of core-channeled foam, and an intake valve that inflates most of the pad for you, what’s not to like? Once Exped added a 2-person sleeping pad option in the Megamat Duo 10 as well as specific sizes to make the Megamat fit into your car, it seemed like there might not be anywhere to go from there.

Exped saw things differently. They took their fan-favorite Megamat model, and made it 50% thicker, doubling down on comfort. While we won’t complain about more cushion when sleeping on the ground, the question remains, do you really need 6-inches of foam for a weekend away? We took the Megamat Max 15 Sleeping Pad for a spin to find out.

First Look

At first glance, you might wonder if the Megamat Max 15 is actually a camping pad, or if it’s just a deluxe version of an air mattress. Truth be told, the answer lies somewhere in the middle.

You’ll also notice that Exped used an undeniably comfortable tricot nylon material on the top, making for a plush sleeping surface whether or not there is anything between you and the pad itself. This gives you the option to pair the pad with a traditional sleeping bag, or to simply curl up with a blanket on warm summer nights.

Features

If you’re familiar with Exped sleeping pads, most of the features of the Megmat Max will be familiar to you, which isn’t to say this pad doesn’t bring a lot to the table.

Starting with materials, Exped included 50D Tricot Nylon on top and 75D Nylon on the bottom. In normal speak, this translates to a highly durable material that won’t start to leak the first time it encounters the sharp side of a rock under your tent.

Exped then tacked on two separate valves for inflation and deflation to make your life easier when trying to get camp set up in a hurry. With two, one-way valves, gone are the days of blowing up your sleeping pad by mouth and having to press your tongue onto the valve to stop air from escaping while you take a breath.

In fact, you shouldn’t have to use any of your precious lung power to get this pad to full capacity. Instead, all you have to do is pop open in the inflation valve, insert the included toggle, finish the rest of your camp chores, and come back to find a sleeping pad that has mostly inflated itself. Once you top it off with the included mini-pump, you’re ready for bed.

Once inflated, you’ll notice that there’s something different about this pad. You might not be able to put your finger on what it is until you lay down, and that’s when you’ll notice that the Megamat Max is six inches thick, keeping you from feeling the ground underneath you no matter how you sleep. True, you might find yourself uncomfortably close to the tent ceiling, but that’s a small price to pay for waking up without a stiff back.

At The Campsite

While a good sleeping bag will do wonders for getting you some much-needed shut-eye in the wilderness, a sleeping pad is what really makes the difference between a cozy night spent under the stars, and a sleepless night spent fidgeting and swearing off camping for good.

Inflation

Plenty of camping mats self-inflate, and with one over six-feet long, six-inches thick, and 30-inches wide, you might, justifiably, wonder just how much work you’ll have to do to make this pad sleep ready. The good news is that unlike many other self-inflating sleeping pads, the Megamat Max exceeds expectations. After just 10-15 minutes, the pad is mostly inflated and ready to be topped off to your preferred level of cushion using the included mini-pump.

This is in contrast to the Exped Megamat 10, which, in a recent review, previously failed to perform at the same level, meaning the Megamat Max 15 is more than just a thicker variation of the famous Megamat.

Durability

Enough can’t be said about the toughness of this pad. Made from the same tried and tested materials found in the Megamat 10, the Megamat Max can handle run-ins with rocks, sticks, and unruly pets, without coming out worse for the wear. I can’t say I actively tried to put a hole in the pad, but having enough experience doing so with other foam sleeping pads, I can tell you it would take some effort. Exped also includes a repair kit in case you need to patch it up in the field, but this pad is tough enough that you likely won’t ever need it.

Comfort

Having slept on a lot of sub-par sleeping pads over the years gives me a real appreciation for when something is truly plush, and if the Megamat Max is anything, it’s comfortable. The same core-channeled foam that made the original Megamat so popular, with two added inches of thickness, makes this pad verge on overindulgence. But hey, you’re car camping, it doesn’t hurt to enjoy the good life when you don’t have to carry the weight for miles on end.

Having built a platform into the bed of my truck, I usually sleep in the back while car camping. As my partner will tell you, the wooden platform tends to create pressure points on your hips and shoulders throughout the night, especially if you sleep on your stomach or side. That is until I put the Megamat Max in the back.

Even when actively trying to create pressure points on this pad, I never once felt the platform underneath. What’s more, I couldn’t even tell there was a platform under me, which is a first.

Size

This is the first place where the Megamat Max came back with mixed results.

On the one hand, it's a great sleeping pad for tall campers or folks with broad shoulders. Measuring 77.6" x 30.3 means that it can accommodate most sleepers without anyone having to deal with their feet dangling uncomfortably off the end of their pad all night long.

On the other hand, you’ll want to make sure to check the dimensions of your tent before buying this pad. It will fit in most standard 2-person models, but you’ll be taking up more than your fair share of room inside. Even when rolled away in the included stuff sack, the Megamat Max 15 might be hard to find space for with a packed size of 31” x 11”. That’s the rough equivalent of 12, 1-liter Nalgene water bottles stacked in three rows of four. In other words, it’s not going to fit in your backpack, even the really, really big one you only use when you move.

Being unapologetically comfortable might come with a downside of a large size, but what you could do is opt for the Megamat Max Duo 15 Sleeping Pad instead. Yes, it is the 2-person version of our new favorite sleeping pad, and yes, it fits in most 2-person tents.

Similarly, with it’s extra-long, wide size, it doesn’t fit well in standard hatchbacks or trucks with beds shorter than six-and-a-half feet unless you plan to sleep with the tailgate down. You’ll notice how the 6-foot platform in the bed of my truck seems pitifully inadequate underneath the Megamat Max. This means the Max is best suited to full-sized truck beds and vans.

If you’re looking for something that does fit into most hatchbacks, SUVs, and compact truck beds, the Megamat 10 Medium Wide and Megamat Duo 10 Medium are a better fit.

Pros

• Comfort - Unless you’ve been dragging your mattress along on every car camping trip, you won’t get a better night’s sleep on any other pad. You could throw this sleeping pad down in a talus field and still wake up feeling refreshed and renewed.
• Self-Inflation - Older Megamat models did not self-inflate as well as expected, which made the results of the Megamat Max 15 even better in our eyes. Exactly as advertised, the Max inflates to about 80% capacity by just leaving the intake valve open, which is more than enough to give you a good night’s sleep without topping it off.
• Foam-to-Air Ratio - Some sleeping pads make you feel like you’re in one of those bouncy houses from your seventh birthday party, where if you move just right, you’ll be catapulted into the side of the tent. The Megamat Max on the other hand maximizes foam support, while still holding enough air that you can customize the cushion to fit your needs.
• Quiet Fabric - Ultralight pads tend to be made of materials that crunch in the middle of the night, startling you awake and making you wonder why your partner is sleeping on a bed made of aluminum foil. With the Max though, the only noise coming from your tent will be that of you sawing logs all night long.

Cons

• Price - There’s no getting around it, this sleeping pad is expensive. At just under $300 for the single model and over $400 for the duo, this is not your price-point sleeping pad. But, as they say, you get what you pay for.
• Size - While a bigger, wider sleeping pad can be good for many reasons, you might have trouble finding a two-person tent or car that this pad fits in without hogging all the floor space. This also makes it a bit unruly and time consuming to put away, making camp cleanup take longer than normal.

Conclusion

This a sleeping pad for someone who values sleep above all else. In many ways, it’s almost too comfortable and could easily ruin plenty of morning hikes, early starts, and beautiful sunrises. As such, it’s probably not the best choice for someone who wants to go camping once or twice a year.

It is, on the other hand, a great choice for someone who spends more weekends in their tent or in the back of their car than they do in their own bed. Especially, if their partner regularly tells them how uncomfortable the wooden platform is in the back of the truck *ahem*.

In short, if you ever want to watch the sunrise from the campsite again, this is not the pad for you. But, if unrivaled comfort is what you’re looking for, the Megamat Max 15 is undeniably the best sleeping pad out there.

About the Author

Dan Goodman

Most of the year, Dan can be found chasing the best climbing conditions he can get his hands on, and in the dead of winter, he’ll settle for chasing powder on his snowboard. He’s constantly seeking out better gear, testing new climbing shoes, backpacks, sleeping bags, and more to make his life in the outdoors a bit more comfortable. When he’s not outside putting his gear to good use, he’s writing about the products that he knows best.