Vango Radiate Heat Mat Review

If the thought of you or your children getting cold when you are camping puts you off, or if you find yourself shivering in your sleeping bag, then worry not, I have a recommendation that will revolutionize your camping experience. You need never be cold in your sleeping bag again, with the Vango Radiate range.

I know you can’t go wrong with Vango – after all they have 50 years’ heritage that is trusted and respected with outdoors enthusiasts, but I am genuinely really impressed with the Radiate heat mats that they have sent me to test.

As you know, I have been using Vango products for a long time, but recently I have become an ambassador for their brand. They haven’t asked me to write this review, but I wanted to because it is such a unique product.

The radiate heat mat uses Graphene technology to create a heated zone inside the mat. It can then be placed anywhere in your sleeping bag for extra warmth and comfort, wherever you happen to be camping. To power the heat mat, it will need to be attached via a USB lead to a power pack (USB lead supplied). The Radiate heat mat is compatible with most power packs, so once attached, the power pack should be placed and stored securely in the pocket provided on the heat mat.

At the touch of a button, there are four different heat settings, varying from 45°C to 36.6°C. The warmest setting will demand more power from your power pack, so depending on your power bank, this setting is likely to drain the battery quicker. Personally we found that the 39.6° temperate setting was more than adequate for us and using the Vango AirBeam power pack it gave us over five hours of running time. This setting gave us a lovely feeling of warmth, making our sleeping area cosy, without getting it too hot.

Whatever power pack you use, it is unlikely to last all night. To ensure you can stay cosy night after night, you will have access to something to recharge your power pack, e.g. electric hook up, solar or access to charging points on the campsite you are staying on.

Pros

Machine washable at 30°.

Easy to set up and use.

Compatible with lots of different power banks.

Four heat control settings.

Heats quickly.

Small enough to easily move around in your sleeping bag, so you can position wherever you feel the cold e.g. under your feet, or under your back. My children managed this themselves easily.   

Softshell fabric is comfortable to lay on.

Cons

It is difficult to find any negatives for this product, but this is an expensive luxury so it entirely depending on your camping budget. The power bank pocket is on the small side which makes it difficult to fit larger power packs inside. Ours was too big (as you can see from the pictures).

We are also fans of the Vango Radiate Embrace chair. Click here for a short video of it in use.