Zenbivy Gentle Mattress Overview: Nonetheless the Finest Backcountry Sleep System
For 2025, the Zenbivy Gentle Mattress consists of two totally different quilt types, the Gentle Quilt and the Gentle Convertible Quilt, together with the Gentle Sheet in both full size or half size. I examined and suggest the convertible quilt, which supplies you extra choices and can be utilized in a wider vary of backpacking situations. The convertible quilt may be unwrapped to lie completely flat and sq. like a quilt in your mattress at house, nevertheless it may also be clipped up right into a mummy-bag-style, draft-free footbox for colder nights.
I really like the flexibility to have my ft protruding of the absolutely unclipped quilt on summer time nights. For me, this makes it potential to make use of the 20-degree quilt on a lot hotter nights than I would in any other case have the ability to, making the convertible quilt far more of do-everything choice.
The convertible quilt in dimension giant (25-degree ranking) is $319, and the lengthy sheet uninsulated (25 diploma ranking) is $129, bringing the combo to $448. If you would like one thing hotter, the 10-degree model of each comes out to $558. For comparability, our prime decide ultralight sleeping bag, the Sea to Summit Spark 15, is $549 for dimension common.
Enlightening
{Photograph}: Scott Gilbertson
The massive information in Zenbivy’s 2025 revamp of the Gentle Mattress is the brand new 25-denier (25D) Pongee cloth that is on all of the panels that contact your pores and skin—the sheet, the hood, and the within of the quilt. It is softer and fewer nylon-y than older variations. You too can get a half-sheet, which saves you about 5 ounces in weight, though I didn’t check it.
My favourite half concerning the new sheet is what’s not in it, particularly DWR coatings. I am not a fan of chemical compounds, particularly in one thing I am sleeping in, in order that was a welcome change. Do I want there was an all-natural merino wool Zenbivy sheet? Why sure, sure I do (although it will undoubtedly be heavy), however there is not, so I am a minimum of glad to see just a few chemical compounds eliminated. Notice that the outer shell of the quilt does have a PFAS-free DWR coating to assist shed any tent moisture it would are available in contact with.