If you ’ re on Facebook you would ’ ve seen these sleeping pads , Vertex is just one name they ’ re sold under . The advertising campaign saturates social media and they ’ re cheap , but are they any good ?
We picked one up with the sole purpose of using and putting it to the test to see whether they do stack up to the rigours of motorcycle travel .
The first thing that ’ s noticeable is just how small the Vertex sleeping pad rolls up , out of the packaging it ’ s not much larger than a small water bottle and exceptionally light , less than half a kilogram . That ’ s a massive tick , less than a quarter the size of a regular self-inflating pad and a third of the weight .
Twenty regular breathes will inflate the Vertex pad to a firm level , in fact you ’ d probably get away with half of that . The valve is easy to use and is genuinely a one way , meaning the air stays in . The pad is deflated by opening the lower part of the valve . The downside of this is that the fittings are plastic to plastic so we wonder how much use it can handle before wearing and losing air . Our use has seen no problems to date and has been used by riders weighing around 100kg . The pad itself is wonderfully comfortable but perhaps a little poorly designed . The pillow which , is a part of the same air cavity as the pad is large and uncomfortable , you can ’ t release the air without affecting the pad .
Another downside is the design of the pad itself . The design has many ‘ ripples ’ that form air pockets , between these are numerous grooves .
TRAVERSE 136