I ended up getting the exped hyperlite duo right before we went on a 3 night trip in the White Mountains over 4th of July weekend. I figured I would give a short initial review in case anyone else comes along who is considering getting one. Our previous solution was two neo air all seasons lashed together, so some comments are only comparing those two options.
Exped Hyperlite Duo
Weight (quoted): 27.9 oz.
Weighed: 829g (29.2oz)
The synmat hyperlite duo is couples sleeping pad, with synthetic insulation inside giving it an R value of 3.3. The design is similar to a tapered vertical baffled sleeping pad like their synmat hyperlite, except double wide.
We recently used this pad on a 3 night backpacking trip in the White Mountains of NH. We combined it with an Enlightened Equipment Revelation X wide 20 degree. Over night lows were high 30's and above.
The pad has a lot of nice design features, including the fact that the inflation chambers are separate for the two people using the pad. Each can be inflated to a desired firmness, and one person shifting on their side affects the other person less, although they still might hit you with an elbow! The last side baffles are also slightly bigger than the others, meaning it's more difficult to slide off, and your arms stay on the pad without falling off like they do on some other pads.
As a well designed couples pad it also eliminates many of the classic problems of having two pads while being competitive in weight. There were no more collapsing edges in the middle preventing cuddling, no more cold air gap in between the pads, and no more shifting in the night and waking up with 4 inches between pads. I did find the surface slightly slippery, and woke up one night when were camped on a slight incline, with my feet hanging off the edge of the pad and 6 inches of unused pad above my head. I'm not sure if this is the fabric or the vertical baffles at play, but it was easier to slide vertically while sleeping.
I found the size to be plentiful. Contrary to my expectations that the tapered bottom might be annoying, I never had any problems with space, or felt I had to sleep at an angle to keep my feet on the pad. I also never had problems bumping shoulders, although we are both relatively small (5' 10" and 5' 2") and don't mind cuddling, YMMV.
My only complaint is about the valves. If I had to rate only the pad ignoring the valves it would be 5 stars, and the valve would get one star. Keep in mind I used to have a neo air all season, so this may be just getting used to a different valve system, but every time I used the valves, I found them annoying, limiting, and seemingly fragile. If you aren't familiar with exped valves (as I wasn't) they have a small rubber one way valve on their pads, very similar to an umbrella valve on some water filters. When you blow air in, it lets air in the bag, when you stop, air pressure inside causes the valve to close. A hard plastic plug is then placed into the opening to create a second closure after you have inflated the bag to make sure it doesn't deflate by accident at night, and to protect the rubber valve.
First, I found the hard plastic plug hard to remove and insert, requiring more force than I am used to applying to an air mat simply to open or close a valve. I haven't heard of many pads failing at the valve, but I felt uncomfortable applying so much force to a thin pad where a weakness or small hole can cause the entire system to fail. Second the umbrella valve I found to be hard to use, and annoying to deflate. In order to blow in, you have to put your face and mouth directly on the fabric surrounding the valve. It's not necessarily super annoying, but compared to neo air, where a small plastic nozzle comes out of the pad, it seemed more difficult to get a seal, and more uncomfortable to force my nose and face into air mattress instead of being an inch or so away.
As an umbrella valve, there is also no easy way to deflate the mattress. This is important both for storage purposes, but also for sleep comfort! For a neo air, you simply unscrew the valve (which you can do while laying on the pad) let out a small amount of air, and close the valve again. On the hyperlite duo, the valve is on the bottom of the pad, and therefore largely inaccessible without getting of the pad and flipping it over. In addition you have to remove the hard plug, and then either depress the umbrella valve with your finger or the included tab, and hope you let out the right amount of air for comfort. Then you have to lay on the pad again to see if you got the firmness right. Since it's a two person pad, both people have to go through this process. In order to deflate for storage, you have to insert a tab into the umbrella valve in order to keep it open, then roll it up to force out the air, and then remove the tab. In theory this isn't much of a problem. However the umbrella valve is simply a small piece of rubber (silicone perhaps), and having a hard piice of plastic (essentially a zipper pull) forced against it, and then pulled out again, seems like it could cause a lot of wear and tear, eventually ruining the umbrella valve. Note that is is hypothetical, I obviously have not had this happen yet, since I have only used it three nights, but it seems like another potential area where the pad can be damaged.
Perhaps if I had not used the neo air valve before the exped I would not have these complaints, but overall I found the exped valve to be finicky, more cumbersome, and seemingly more fragile, without any obvious advantage over the other system.
SUMMARY:
The synmat Hyperlite duo is a great, and one of the only, lightweight pads for couples available. It is competitive weight wise with two separate pads, while eliminating many of the disadvantages of using two pads. It seemed as spacious as could be expected for a backpacking sleeping pad (YMMV), with separate compartments for each sleeper. The main drawback is the valve system, which I found finicky and potentially fragile, without any advantages over competing valve systems. Overall I would highly recommend it for a couple looking to eliminate the annoyances of using two pads, despite the valve or any other small inconveniences.
Tip: If you want an easier way to inflate the bag (that's cheaper than the schnozzle), you can take the top of an oatmeal container (or anything with a semi rigid plastic top, cut out a rectangular piece, and roll it into a tube that will fit snugly in the valve opening. Tape this together, and then cut out the corner of trash compactor bag, You can tape this tube into the corner, and now you can use the trash compactor bag to inflate the pad. (it can also double as a pack liner as long as you aren't expecting it to be 100% waterproof).
