Exped 7 Downmat review - failed!

[Ent]

Gradually working my way through my rather large collection of bushwalking gear and due to a new interest starting to reuse the heavier gear such as the Exped 7 Downmat. Being absolutely generous it might have made forty nights in the wilderness over its three year life. Probably a bit less as I use the lighter Thermarest Neoair mats now. So it failed in typically annoying fashion. Took a lot of effort to inflate but did not notice much else wrong until I deflated it. The tent then filled with down until it blocked both valves completely. As space was a concern to fit it back I was tempted to take a knife to it but in the end managed to deflate it. So ends the life of a very expensive XL size mat.

It was great while it lasted but at an absolute maximum of forty nights use an expensive failure in the end. Another person I walk with experienced a string of failures with the Exped mats so my issue was not unexpected. O'well yet another piece of over priced junk that failed to last in the real world. Scrub Exped from my buying list.

I might summon up the motivation to release an vEnting session on Exped but frankly rather jaded by crummy products that proliferate in bushwalking shops. It is amazing that my packs from One Planet have been used and maybe abused but have soldiered on as have my Hilleberg tents so yes there are many good brands out there and largely I have found them. The Thermarest mats have worked well apart from occasionally leaking in the valve.

Cheers

[juz]

Ent,
Just thought I would make sure you are aware that all standard Exped products have a 5 year warranty (their UL stuff has a poor 2 years). You should return it IMO.
You probably already now this, but useful for others as well.
Justin.

[frenchy_84]

I might summon up the motivation to release an vEnting session on Exped

Cheers

This isnt it? Or do we have more long winded ramblings to look forward to

[norts]

Ent. I had 2 mats go like that I took them back, second time they just checked the batch number and replaced it after a short phone call.
It seems there was an issue with the glue. I would take it back to where you purchased it.

Roger

[Miyata610]

It's funny how people have different experiences.

I own three exped mats. All have been faultless.

The only mat that has ever let me down is a thermarest. They're obviously junk. Don't ever buy thermarest products.

[Strider]

Yep, early Exped mats had glue issues between the tubes. Send it back under warranty.

[jackhinde]

I had a mat fail at 2 1/2 years (about 30 odd nights use), it was swapped at the shop i purchased it from as they knew exped would replace it without any issue. As I had bought the first one on a sale for $50 and it was replaced by a fancier hand pump new model I am pretty happy with the failure actually.

[cooee]

My UL 7 has been through hell and back and not a problem yet. Best mat l have ever bought.

[Mano]

Despite my excercise of all due care and the use of a footprint under the tent floor I managed to puncture my Synmat UL after its third night in the bush. The 20 year old Thermarest that it replaced was sitting smuggly at home all warm and dry. And to make matters worse I bought TWO of them!

[photohiker]

Exped 7 Downmat $220. Pretty cheap mat!

/40 = $5.50 per night.

Cheaper than a motel

[Ent]

Ent,
Just thought I would make sure you are aware that all standard Exped products have a 5 year warranty (their UL stuff has a poor 2 years). You should return it IMO.
You probably already now this, but useful for others as well.
Justin.

Hi Juz

Thanks for the info. I have sent an email to Exped so will see how I go. The shop I brought it from was sold to a large outdoor chain and they appear not to sell Exped products so were not much help.

Cheers

[Ent]

An update on progress to date. Received an email reply from Exped.

Thank you for your inquiry. Sorry to hear that you have experienced a problem with one of our products.

Please ask a retailer nearby you, if you can bring the item back to him. They will then send it to our regional distributor for repair or exchange.

The following link contains a list of distributors, agents or retail stores.

Promising start so off to Mountain Design I trundled but as suspected in the change from Franchised store to Corporate store Exped along with many other great brands such as One Planet were dropped. But to the store's credit they offered to contact Exped as they still had their address and arrange the return. Apparently they have done that a couple of times in the past with Exped products and found them good to deal with. So here is hoping.

Cheers

[Ent]

Well the travel to rectification continues. As MD Launceston is now a corporate store they no longer stock Exped but to MD credit they followed up the distributor and I was asked to take it around to Paddy Pallin Launceston. As MD had rung ahead they were expecting me.

Ok mat is now with PP so stay tune for the outcome.

Cheers

[Ent]

Well after many hoops and jumping through them no replacement. Yet again, I find that in Australian retail warranty is generally a marketing claim that is not backed up with endless waits and promises of it will be here tommorrow. Heading off for an eight night walk in winter and no Downmat, so will have to either buy a warmer mat than I have, or make do.

Moral of the story. Avoid Exped products as their warranty is largely a waste of time unless you buy items to be returned that are on a never-never replacement guarantee. No doubt if I were to threaten then file a report with the consumer bodies, generally behave like a three year old, something will happen but frankly I walk for pleasure not to have this distasteful, but typical warranty service from Australian Distributors of products so will not bother following up as the brand Exped is not worth the effort. So much for the claim of buying locally and having the security of a local business to deal with.

Sigh! And though this is the outcome that I expected I am still disappointed and frustrated. It appears that Australian retail is destined for oblivion as there is no reason to pay massively inflated local prices for no existent warranty service.

Regards

[Strider]

Have you spoken with Exped directly?

[doogs]

I had an Exped mat replaced no bother at all. I was a bit peed off to be without a decent mat for a month or so but the Australian company I bought the mat from (Mainpeak), and Exped themselves, both kept me up to date with the process. I can't fault their customer service one bit.
Ent- Maybe try being nice to folk rather than ranting at them?? I find I get better service that way.

[Ent]

Hi

Believe it or not I am generally "nice" as failure of gear is a fact of numbers as the odd one will fail. Exped on this thread appear to have had more than share of failures though.

Why should a product take months to replace? Is the warranty extended by the delay in replacement? Practically if you want to walk you need another mat. Does Exped come with two mats. One in warranty and one to use?

Simple fact is under Australian Consumer law an item should be replaced-repair or refund. Australian Distributors tend to treat their customers with contempt.

My Fenix watch for example was air freighted at my cost to Jonny Appleseed with a known fault. They immediately sent it to the Australian Distributor that then proceeded to do nothing. They are having to follow up daily. Johnny Appleseed are a good mob to deal with but Garmin are terrible.

Frankly I find excellent service from local manufacturers and overseas companies but Australian Distributors tend to be impossible to do to right thing without letters to the manufacturer or consumer bodies. Surely we deserve better?

I accept reasonable time to process claims but honestly Exped are a joke. They sold product with high failure rate and are not responding.

Yes I have been in direct contact with Exped and told it should have been replaced immediately.

Regards

[Strider]

Yes I have been in direct contact with Exped and told it should have been replaced immediately.

Yes but since you didn't bring it to their direct attention in the first instance, how were they to know? If Exped have agreed that immediate replacement in required, then the service issue does not lie with them.

[Ent]

Hi Strider

They are aware. In fact MD spoke to them and they instructed MD to contact me and take the mat around to Paddy Pallin for replacement. Which they did and I did. PP then forwarded the mat off to Exped. No issue with MD and PP, in fact both have been excellent.

Sorry Strider do you know something about the facts of this case to hold to your view?

Regards.

[doogs]

Yes I have been in direct contact with Exped and told it should have been replaced immediately.

Yes but since you didn't bring it to their direct attention in the first instance, how were they to know? If Exped have agreed that immediate replacement in required, then the service issue does not lie with them.

When my mat failed I contacted Exped first, as they made the mat. They thanked me for contacting them but informed me that I needed return it via the place of purchase. So I don't think contacting Exped first or second would make a blind bit of difference!!

Believe it or not I am generally "nice"

*and love a rant

[Ent]

*and love a rant

Yes I do but actually enjoy more something that I buy working faultlessly. Generally when gear fails and I did not play a part I attempt resolution. Actually very little gear fails as I tend to buy high end. One Planet packs not an issue with my only reason to contact them when I have done the damage. Fast repairs and brilliant service when they replaced a harness as it was not the optimum size for me. Western Mountaineering never had an issue. While I might dislike Hilleberg's price fixing I can not fault their product so never needed service. Primus failed heat shield replaced with no need to return the faulty part as known fault. Can not stand the Australian distributor of Cascade Designs but very rarely do their products fail so most will never experience the lack of spare parts in Australia and their Australian distributor's standard claim that it was your fault. I have had a faultless run with Scarpa boots but that does not mean that I am not aware that people experiencing problems are generally ignored in Australia. Result I will not buy Scarpa boots in Australia anymore.

I do get feed up with claims of quality and excellent service when the reality is not that. I have three Miele appliances but one is a total dog. It failed yet again and Miele's response is I will need to pay for an unlimited supply of replacement bits until the problem is fixed. By that, the fault is a F53 which could mean circuit board, motor, sensor, broken wire, grubby connector, anything short of the badge on the washer/dryer. So for my $3,500 I have had four years of a machine that has been broken down more times than any other washing machine I have ever owned and repair cost that could well exceed its purchase price. One fault was traced to the fact Miele had assembled it with bits missing!!!! I am sure that owners of Miele will rant and rave how great their machines are, and yes my other two I might be tempted to say the same but get a dog and suddenly you find out Miele has no idea how to fix their machines apart from swapping out (at your cost) every component short of the badge. Read the consumer complaint websites and more than a few have found Miele full of hype and short on warranty plus ability to repair their machines. But if enough sales people endlessly chant their machines are built for twenty year service life and fallacy becomes fact with people not finding that pillared.

The major advantage of this forum is users can see what people experience with gear failure and rectification. Exped has a high failure rate on their mats but supposedly their warranty system is good. Well that is not the case. I would love to have reported what I was told should have happened but instead Exped kicked its customer in the teeth.

Regards

[stepbystep]

Such is life Ent.

Just as you rave about One Planets customer service I had a bad experience. Most people seem to be happy with them, I was the exception.

You're the first(of many) i have heard of to have chased a replacement and failed on these pads. I can't actually understand why you weren't given a replacement, perhaps you just rubbed someone the wrong way? It happens.

[Ent]

Hi

Can not fault Paddy Pallin Launceston as though they did not sell the mat they followed up and a replacement is now on its way. They even looked at their stock to see if a large wide was in stock to speed the process but sadly one was not in stock.

As nearly always as a rule the issue is not with the local shops but with the Australian distributors. One shop owner I know described dealing with one particular distributor as being worse than the tax office.

The more I have been around the commercial world the more apparent is the importance of individuals plus the culture of a firm. Some firms have individuals that make things happen while other firms have a can do attitude that is stuffed up by the square peg in the round hole. Maybe with One Planet you struck such an individual so give them another shot by avoiding that person.

What is needed is people to push for service and reward it with their buying patterns.

Regards

[Nuts]

Meh, service comes at a price, trouble is that (in general) people overwhelmingly are choosing budget instead.

As for posting opinions on distributors making a difference, a quick search is alll that's needed: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2871&hilit=exped+mat+nuts&start=60 I'm slowly realising that the world has moved on from caring a great deal about quality (until something goes wrong for each person individually) (otherwise they would take notice of reviews) (ie save yer breath) (lol) (... )

Anyhow.. the first eight synmats we returned through Expeds Au distributor. The company wanted them sent back to the U.S so the Ozzie distributor was pretty helpful given that I didn't buy them here... You must have had a bit of bad luck there ENT I guess?

[steveh72]

I brought an exped UL through main peak.

It failed on third outing

Main peak & exped were great, item was replaced no questions asked - this was only 4 months ago

So not sue what happened here other than a tale of woe.

At least we will have something to talk about on our upcoming stroll ENT

Cheers

Steve

[Strider]

What failed exactly, Steve? And was it a Synmat or Downmat?

[steveh72]

Hi strider
It was a synmat UL 7

The inner stitching on the the inner tubes came apart so instead of having three inner tubes I had two.

I hope I have explained this OK

I must also say though the mat is so comfy I had no hesitation in just getting a replacement and again the staff at main peak were great - it took around 2-3 weeks from memory for the replacement to arrive

Cheers

Steve

[Strider]

All 20" Exped mats I have seen have 6 inner tubes. But I understand what you're saying, this issue was prolific on the earlier mats.

[Ent]

In the mad rush getting ready for the nine day OLT stroll I did not get around to mention that Paddy Pallin followed up and on Friday afternoon went to great trouble to get hold of me and let me know that the replacement mat had arrived. Given that they did not sell me the mat the service I received from them was first class. The MD store in Launceston sold it to me before it became a corporate store.

It is the newer model that needs CPR to inflate it and appears from memory to be a little shorter and heavier plus takes more pack space. Also the mat no longer comes in an airtight/waterproof bag so a bit of hunting is required for that item. However, it is a comfortable as the original which for me set the standard for comfort. Once I track down the appropriate waterproof bag then it will become my kayaking mat of choice as the weight is not a major issue.

Interesting the email exchange with Exped Head Office. Exped works on a 2% return rate. Now that means 1 in 50 mats will be returned. Take an average of a two night walk then one in fifty customers will spend a cold hard night out. I would expect that the failure rate to be higher still as not all people return faulty goods. I almost did not bother but decided to test out Exped's commitment to warranty. Yes they in the end honored the warranty but were very slow resulting in my having another mat.

Anyway, thanks to PP staff for a top job. I just hope it is not the one in fifty that fail.

Cheers

[Joomy]

All manufacturers have to work with a certain failure rate. 2% doesn't sound too bad at all. I would be perfectly happy buying a product with a 98% certainty that it'll work properly for several years. Then again, it is clearly advertised as being ultralight while less durable. Generally I've heard very good things about Exped and their warranties. Even heard of my local Exped stockist replacing a mat that was bought elsewhere (online overseas, actually) as it seems PP Launceston did. I had a Synmat for a year that had no troubles over around 20 nights and I'm currently planning on buying an LW when they are back in stock.