Cascade Designs’ Thermarest Trekker Lounge is a chair sleeve that converts a Thermarest self-inflating mattress into campsite chair.
This combination works wonderfully while car camping or in the backcountry, and provides a very comfortable way to relax after a hard day on the Jeep or hiking trails.
Pros:
Quality and Comfort: The quality of the Trekker Lounge is what we’ve come to expect from Thermarest. The Trekker Lounge sleeve provided unparalleled comfort in a durable and compact design. The material is soft which makes the chair sleeve a nice addition to the self-inflating mattress when used as a bed (includes a built-in fleece pillow sleeve), yet durable enough when the mattress is folded and the sleeve is used to convert into a chair.
Size Options: There are two size options for the Trekker Lounge: 20 and 25. We tested a size 20 which works very well with a regular sized Thermarest LuxuryCamp self-inflating mattress, while size 25 will fit the same mattress in a size large.
Ease of Use: Setup is a snap with the Trekker Lounge. All you do is slip the Trekker Lounge sleeve over the length of your mattress, open the air-valve of your mattress to allow it to self-inflate, fold the mattress into three equal parts, and then strap the connections to make your chair. The sleeve doesn’t need to be removed and works well as an extra layer of warmth for your mattress.
- Please note that our first night at Big Bend National Park, where we tested the Trekker Lounge, didn’t work quite as easily as mentioned above but this was merely due to the fact that we were tired, we were in the dark, and we were morons (hopefully at least the first two of these are no longer the case).
Cons:
It’s hard to find any ‘cons’ for the Trekker Lounge since it’s a simple item that provides additional benefits to Thermarest self-inflating mattresses. With that said, the only item that we can note is possibly the price. At $40 retail for size 20 and $45 for size 25, one might be inclined to just use a camp chair if most of your adventures are car camping based. However, if you plan to use the Trekker Lounge in the backcountry, price may not be an issue.
Overall Rating: Cascade Designs’ Thermarest Trekker Lounge is definitely a cool add-on that provides quality, comfort, and multiple uses in a very compact design. Setup is a snap (unless you’re on the JPFreek staff), and because the sleeve doesn’t have to be removed from your Thermarest self-inflating mattress, you’ll never have to worry about misplacing the Trekker Lounge unless you happen to misplace your mattress.
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