Alpkit Double Dozer Sleeping Mat
We're big fans of Alpkit sleeping mats — great quality, reasonably priced, and they've never failed us. So we were excited to hear that Alpkit extended their range with the Double Dozer, a double-bed-sized version of their popular Dozer mat.
The Double Dozer is almost the size of a standard double bed — 196cm by 129cm, just 10cm slimmer than a standard double mattress, with a 7.5cm thickness to ensure there's air space between you and the ground.
As you'd expect from a double-mattress-sized sleeping mat, the luxury of a comfy mat comes with a larger pack size. We wouldn't be hiking with one of these, but if you take the car to your basecamp it's actually smaller packed up than you'd expect — the Double Dozer packs down to 115cm in length with a 121cm circumference, and weighs in at 4kg.
"Dozer is an institution. Known for its unrelenting pure comfort and hours and hours of blissful sleep. It has converted many an apprehensive camper into a zealous regular. Double Dozer is double the comfort and double the fun. In fact, it is just double the everything." — Alpkit
For unadulterated comfort, the Dozer is designed for people who want to share the comfort around — but it's also ideal for those who don't want to share and just want to starfish. The foam is cored laterally to reduce weight and die-cut in less load-bearing areas to reduce pack size, with a soft-touch polyester cover.
Who it's for
This is very much a basecamp mat rather than a backpacking one. If your camping trips involve driving to a pitch, unloading the boot and setting up for a weekend (or a festival), the Double Dozer is squarely aimed at you. If you're walking any distance to your pitch, or trying to keep your pack weight down, this isn't the mat for that job — Alpkit's own single Dozer, or a lightweight inflatable mat, would suit that use case far better.
Where it does make sense is as a shared mat for a couple, or as one large mat instead of two singles pushed together — no gap down the middle, no two mats sliding apart in the night, just one continuous sleeping surface.
Pros
- Genuinely double-bed sized, so two people can sleep on one mat without a gap down the middle
- 7.5cm of foam gives solid comfort and cushioning on uneven or stony ground
- Self-inflating foam-and-air construction is simple, durable and doesn't rely on a separate pump
- Soft-touch polyester cover feels good against skin and is more forgiving than a bare inflatable mat
- Good value if you'd otherwise be buying two single mats
Cons
- Bulky when packed — at 115cm long and 121cm circumference, it takes up serious boot space
- At 4kg it's heavy compared to any backpacking mat, and not something you'd want to carry far
- No use at all if you're walking in to a pitch rather than driving
- Being one large mat, it's harder to dry out fully if it gets damp than two separate mats would be
- Only really works if both people sleeping on it want to go to bed and get up at the same time, since there's no separating it mid-night
The Double Dozer launched at £90 (£30 more than the single) — at the time it launched, that made it a reasonable step up in price for a genuinely double-sized mat, though prices and the range have moved on since, so check Alpkit's current lineup for what it costs and what's replaced it now.
Our verdict
If you're car camping or based at a festival and want one proper double-sized mat instead of two singles, the Double Dozer does exactly what it says — it's comfortable, well made, and removes the annoyance of two separate mats drifting apart overnight. The trade-off is bulk and weight, both of which only matter if you're carrying it any distance. For anyone backpacking or hiking to their pitch, this isn't the mat for the job — but for basecamp and family camping, it's well worth a look.