Monday, July 13, 2020

Two Chambers? The Double Chambered Sleeping Pad - Yekka Review




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This very well may be the only Double Chambered Sleeping Pad on the market today and my question is this; is this something that is really needed?

In this episode, Luke is reviewing the Yekka Double Chamber Sleeping Pad from Rakaia Designs and will go over the good, the bad and the fake!



Price : Suggested Retail is $87 but currently onsale on Amazon for $35 at the time of filming.

Claimed Weight : 19 Oz

Weight on my scale : 19.6

Agenda Free Link : https://rakaiadesigns.com/pages/yekkasleepingpad

Colors : Blue
Air chambers : 2 
R-value : 2.5 
Length : 76.3" (73” when inflated) 
Width : 25.1" (23” when inflated) 
Packed Size : 8.6" X 3.9" 
Thickness : 2“ (1.5” with my measurements) 
Fabric : 20 D Nylon 
Carry bag fabric : 230T recycled polyester (rPET) 
Patch Kit : Yes 
Warranty : Lifetime

Pros :

Fairly lightweight

easy to inflated

Lifetime Warranty – no questions asked.

Comfortable but not the most comfortable sleeping pad and that’s due to thickness.

Good quality valves for inflating and deflating.

Double Chambered does provide additional protection

Sale price makes this pad a good value.

With my testing I’ve had no issues with quality and the sleeping pad has held up well throughout the seasons; around 6 months of use and testing.

Includes a repair kit

Cons :

+Thickness at least with my sleeping pad doesn’t measure up to 2” and when you move around there are occasions when you can feel the ground below you. It’s not uncomfortable by any means but could be more comfortable if thicker.

+ You will only be off of the ground when you are laying flat on the pad; if you sit on it or move around on it you will come into contact with the ground.

+Loud material; if you are a light sleeper this is not the pad for you as it does make a lot of noise as you move on it.

+Not quite as long nor as wide as stated by the company.

+ Full retail price seems a bit expensive to me for the level of comfort which this pad provides.

+ Not sure how practical a double chambered sleeping pad is; yes pads to on occasion have issues but in my years in the outdoors, those issues are rare. In fact, I have only had two issues with leaking sleeping pads over the last 15 years. If it wasn’t a double pad, it would be less expensive and the weight would be less; both aspects interest me more so than the double chamber design.

+ Both chambers can’t be inflated at the same time; if they could, it would make this pad more of an interesting option. Image if it offer 3” of cushion when both chambers were inflated and only 1.5” when there was a leak with one chamber.

+ I couldn’t help but notice the reviews on Amazon and how overwhelmingly positive they were; no one spoke of the issues which I mentioned so I checked with a site which analyzes reviews and the amazon listed was rated an F for a high degree of deception.

In fact, the site stated; 11.4% of the reviews are reliable.

Summary :

Forgetting about the reviews on Amazon, in the end I am going to give the Yekka a passing grade on the merits of the product itself; for the sale price I can recommend it easily. For full retail price, I would like to see a thicker pad; a pad that is more comfortable. For $35 you can overlook the issues because it costs only $35. For $80+, it’s too much even when considering that it is a double chambered pad. If you need more cushion to get a good nights rest, I would recommend a thicker sleeping pad as this is what I would consider 1 step above minimalist.

Minimalist would be a closed-cell foam pad.

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