SGB Outdoor News
Multimat warns about ‘over-inflated R-values’
Multimat’s self-inflating and foam mats routinely feature among the vital pieces of kit taken by expeditions to the harshest environments on Earth.
From the Caudwell Xtreme Everest Expedition in 2007 to the Kaspersky Commonwealth Antarctic Expedition earlier this year, Multimat’s reputation has led international teams heading for the Earth’s frozen extremities to come knocking at their door before embarking on their frozen adventures.
However, there’s one recurring issue that confuses even some of the most seasoned explorers and that is the different ways of expressing a product’s thermal insulation used around the world. On the face of it there are two different measurements - the Tog and the R-value or “Thermal Resistance value”. But what is often overlooked is that the R-value in the USA is significantly different from the R-value used by the rest of the world.
The R-value is usually expressed around the world in the SI Units – that’s “metric” to most people. It is the amount of heat that passes through one square metre of a material each second when the temperature on one side is one degree higher than on the other. Its units are “square-metre kelvins per watt” – but not in the USA. America still uses US Customary units, an imperial system similar to the British Imperial system, based on old-fashioned square feet, Fahrenheit and British Thermal Units. The result is two completely different figures.
It is particularly easy to confuse SI R-values and American R-values, because they are often cited without their units, e.g. R-2.8. Adrian Stammers, managing director of Multimat, said: “It’s the poor consumer who suffers from this misleading situation – and not just ordinary campers but serious expeditions too. We make bespoke mats to order for some of the best known polar explorers and mountaineers in the business – some of them household names - but we still have to explain it to them.
“It also undermines Multimat and other UK-made products as many American mats have an R-value nearly six times what it would be if they were measured using the SI system that we and the rest of the world use.
“We’ve already put the record straight on our website and in our product brochure. Now we’re broadening our horizons and embarking upon an educational campaign to try and explain it to the camping community at large whenever we can.”
There are conversions that can be done to enable campers to compare one product with another, though you will need a calculator; a US R-value is 5.7 times the UK R-value, so divide the US R-value by 5.7 and you get the equivalent UK R-value.
“This still requires campers to know that the mat they are looking at is quoting American R-values,” said Adrian Stammers. “I tell people that if the R-value quoted looks suspiciously high in comparison with other similar products, especially if it is an American brand, treat with caution. Of course, American manufacturers love R- values because it makes them look more thermally efficient than British mats when, more often than not, the opposite is true. “At Multimat we usually quote tog values to avoid misleading comparisons. Tog (from the Latin word toga) was developed for the British textile industry in the 1960s as an easier system to use for textiles’ thermal insulation qualities. 1 tog is 0.1 RSI or 10x the R-value when expressed in SI units.”
NITE IZE takes on INOVA
NITE IZE, through UK distributor Whitby & Co, announced early this year that they had taken over the INOVA brand of handtorches. Now, Whitby & Co has confirmed that after significant investment into research, innovation, development and the manufacturing process the re-launched Inova range from NITE IZE is ready to wow retailers.
The same strict adherence to the high quality materials and production processes that Inova have always been known for will not change. The same lifetime guarantees apply and also new and vastly improved light output and burn times for all models – all of this with significantly lower price points, in some cases 50% lower than previous models allowing more volume sell through for retailers.
There is also much clearer information on product specifications and performance using the emerging ANSI world standard for portable lighting.
Garry Woodhouse, Marketing Director for Whitby & Co commented: “This is excellent news for our customers in these times of raw material price increases as they will be getting an even better product at significantly lower cost. We expect sales volume to be strong as we move into the dark nights that signal torch-selling season. It is a very exciting re-launch which will be kick-started this autumn with a rigorous PR campaign to further support our retailers.”
Highlander (Scotland) Ltd
London 2012
We are thrilled to have been appointed official licensee of the London 2012 Olympic Games where we will be providing official merchandise to the event which will enable people to celebrate the Games. We will produce and sell official London 2012 merchandise including outdoor accessories such as picnic rugs, sleeping bags, folding furniture, blankets and a range of soft luggage including bags, wallets and accessories.
If you’re interested in finding out more or how you can stock the products please e-mail us at
london2012@highlander-outdoor.com. NOVEMBER 2010 SGB OUTDOOR 5
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