Lighter, Warmer, Quieter, & Smaller: Sea to Summit’s New Ether Light XR Sleeping Mat Does Everything Better

The wait is over. After years of innovative fine-tuning, the new Sea to Summit Ether Light XR improves on virtually every aspect of the brand’s signature inflatable sleeping mat.

Why Choose the Ether Light XR?

Say goodbye to the halcyon days of traumatising all your friends inside the hut with the godforsaken crinkling of your sleeping mat. This bad boy is as quiet as an ASMR YouTube algorithm. It packs up tighter than a GYG burrito. It’s the warmest, cosiest pad since that fireside cabin retreat you did last winter. Side-sleepers rejoice, you no longer have to wake up wondering if your ribs are bruised!

The Ether Light XR is a wholly competitive entry into the lightweight, three-season sleeping mat market, and it earns top marks in just about every category you’d want for backpacking, bikepacking, and all other forms of camping under the sun (or moon).

Since I’m so well rested now, let’s get nerdy

Who is Sea to Summit?

You may recognise the name from their indestructible dry bags, their versatile sleeping systems, or just about any piece of outdoors gear you’ve ever picked up.

Sea to Summit is a time-tested and omnipresent Aussie company that has stuck around through all the fads, movements, and evolutions of the outdoor industry over the last three decades, and for good reason. A tangible emphasis on durability, sustainability, and comfort has always been at the heart of every piece of their gear I’ve ever owned.

Which Features Set the Ether Light XR Apart?

This sleeping mat utilises a few key pieces of tech that keep it lighter and comfier than a lot of other comparable brands.

For starters, the patented air-sprung cells (ASC) mean that you get comfort and versatility while remaining super light. A good way to measure comfort in a backcountry mat is by how deep the ‘valleys’ are (baffles, cells, etc.) because the valleys give your arms a place to go, plus they offer stability when your body reacts and adjusts to different positions. The air sprung cells maximize the depth of these valleys, which means they maximise comfort too.

Not a single bump, ridge, or strangely pointy blade of grass to be felt

I’ve used Sea to Summit’s sleeping mats in the past, and being a serial side-sleeper, a tried-and-true tosser-and-turner, I can indeed attest to the fact that these are among my favourite mats upon which to restlessly roll through the night. The Ether Light XR got me very solidly intermittent ZZZs on some extremely gusty nights in Kosciuszko.

Read more: 5 Best Hikes & Walks In Kosciuszko National Park

The grid-style ASCs also make the Ether Light XR incredibly fast to inflate, and the fact that the inflation pump is sewn into the stuff sack scores it extra points for utility and space-saving. The new valve design means you can micro-adjust the inflation levels as well.

Quick inflation and spatial economy are honestly one of my favourite parts of this mat

What Sets it Apart From the Ether Light XT?

Good things come with time, and everything about the new Ether Light XR feels like an upgrade over Sea to Summit’s previous model, the Ether Light XT.

R-Value

• The XR has a much-improved R-value of 4.1, as opposed to the XT’s 3.2. This is right in the sweet spot of where you’d want an insulation rating to be for a 3-season mat

Weight

• A men’s regular size mat is down to 470g from 490g

Size

• The Ether Light XR packs down smaller and more compact than the XT, and a big part of this is due to Sea to Summit’s upgrades in insulation materials.

The old XT used THERMOLITE, which, unscientifically speaking, is essentially a synthetic down material. The new XR instead utilises ThermalCore insulation (you wanted tech talk, you got it baby!). ThermalCore is described as ‘a suspended TRM layer that reflects warmth back to the sleeper effectively’. I’m not sure what TRM stands for, but I can attest to the improved warmth.

I’ve had cannolis that take up more space in my pack than this

Noise Reduction

• Surprisingly, the outdoors community doesn’t have any fun acronyms or scientific values to quantify the noisiness of a mat – but after sleeping multiple nights in close proximity to other campers (on SilPoly, DCF, and Tyvek tent floors), I can safely assure you that this mat is objectively quieter than its predecessor.

Sidenote: Can we start measuring the decibel level of sleeping mats being rubbed across various surfaces? We can call it the ASMR-factor, the lower the better.

Three-Season Camping

I like my camping conditions how I like my sandwiches: Not too hot, not too cold, and full of fun little surprises.

With its 4.1 R-value, the Ether Light XR is in the Goldilocks zone of insulation. If you couple it with the right sleeping system, it’ll keep you warm on cold nights and cool on warm nights.

Slept like a rock next to some rocks

When it comes to sleeping warmth (and in basically every other regard), I’m a very, very average person. When I paired the XR with a Sea to Summit Ascent II sleeping bag, I was perfectly cosy on nights that got down to 1 or 2 degrees celsius.

Read more: How to Choose a Sleeping Bag

Increased Durability

Why mess with a winning formula? A couple of features also remain the same in the new XR.

In terms of durability, the XR utilises the same 30/40d nylon as the previous model (as well as most of its competitors), but it boasts a shiny new ‘TPU lamination’ which I’m guessing contributes to its reduced noise (ASMR-factor).

S2S also notes increased weld strength as an improvement, although no more detail is given, I imagine this is in regards to reinforcing the edges of the mat.

Beautiful aerodynamics on this thing too

Where can I pick one up?

The Sea to Summit Ether Light XR is probably one of the easiest mats to find. It retails competitively for $300 on Sea to Summit’s website or at Paddy Pallin, Anaconda, or any local, independent outdoors stores.

Going in-person to test it out is always a good call, so you can compare and contrast the features of every mat to suit your budget and sleeping style, but if you’re looking for a true all-rounder then the Ether Light XR is definitely worth consideration.

Thanks also to Matt, Abbie, Blythe, Ryan, and Molly for snapping some of these other pics, backpacking with friends is always beautiful

We’ve Tried Out a Bunch More Sea to Summit Kit!

• We Asked a Chef What Makes Sea to Summit’s Frontier Range So Good for Outdoor Cooking
• How to Choose the Right Sea to Summit Tent For Your Next Adventure
• Sea to Summit’s Airlite Towel Weighs so Little You’ll Never Leave it Behind
• Sea to Summit’s Telos TR2 Tent is Adaptable for Any Adventure
• Sea to Summit Air Chair – Reviewed & Tested