As a background, I have been doing yoga for more than 15 years and have used many different mats, both personal and studio mats. I am spoiled by the Manduka Black Mat, which for me is the best there is. I do different styles of yoga, Iyengar and Vinyasa mostly. I bought the Eko mat hoping it would be a good light weight alternative to hauling the Black Mat to class. Unfortunately, it is nearly useless. Yes, there is the smell, which I know goes away, I have another rubber mat (Jade) which had that smell but no longer does,. The Jade is also far superior to the Eko for practice, btw. My main complaint is although the Eko mat is touted to be sticky, it only feels sticky and in actual use I find my hands creeping forward in down dog (I am at least an upper intermediate yoga student and do not have this problem with any other mat.)I find this mat to cause a sweat to form under my feet, which makes them slip. I have washed the mat to the manufacturer's specifications, let it dry indoors - but if has gotten worse, not better. I am disappointed and will have to find another alternative. Manduka makes a great mat, but I really don't like the Eko - other than the obvious green factor. The mat also has a hardness to it that is unlike anything I have ever used, and it does not feel welcoming. Manduka eKO 71-Inch 5mm Yoga Mat (Acai)
I just got my mat in the mail yesterday, and from the moment I put it on the floor it was love at first sight. What a wonderful mat! I've never owned a Manduka before, but I have owned two other mats (the standard Harmony mat by Jade and another eco mat, the Earth Elements by Hugger Mugger). I was dismayed when my Earth Elements started getting abrasions all over the place after using it for less than a year (daily). So I sadly looked at other options, not thinking I'd find anything better (Prana and Gaiam make almost identical mats to the Earth Elements). Then I read about the Manduka eKO and decided to try it. Boy am I glad I did! What a great mat. It was sticky even right out of the packaging, lays super flat, and I feel incredibly grounded despite it's very generous 5mm thickness. Also, it's a bit wider and longer than regular mats, which is very nice. I've used it twice already, and I am never going to use another mat! Plus, it's 100% totally environmentally friendly, unlike the Earth Elements (made out of TPE). I'd much rather spend $65 dollars once and have the mat forever than have to buy a new mat every year because my mats keep breaking down! I highly recommend this mat.
I just started yoga, and this is my first mat so I can't really compare it to others. I started trying Ashtanga yoga and was having some difficult with the poses on the floor/towels/carpet. Once I got this mat, everything really starting working and now I'm loving yoga and also loving this mat.
I'm very happy that after much research and reading reviews I picked this mat. It was more expensive than I wanted to spend on my first mat but from other's advice, it was better to buy the best mat possible than have a collection of 3 or 4 cheaper mats that really don't match up to the quality and performance of the Manduka mats.
Yes it was smelly in the beginning, but after about 2 weeks or so the smell is gone. I'll admit it was pretty bad in the beginning. All I did was leave the mat unrolled on the back of a few chairs to give it as much air flow and air contact. It's fine now.
Yes it's heavy, but I don't travel with it so the weight is not really an issue with me. I don't mind folding it up and moving it from room to room.
I LOVE that it lays perfectly flat - right from the start. No curled edges/ends. It does want to unroll, but some Velcro straps works just fine for storage. And again, IT LAYS FLAT!!! Again, I don't travel with it so maybe the unrolling issue is a problem for transportation.
I love that it's sticky. Being new at this the stickiness helps me keep the poses and prevents me from cheating or being lazy and dragging my feet from pose to pose. I have not had any slipping problems.
I do strongly believe that this mat has helped me appreciate and enjoy yoga more. I started two months ago and hopefully it will be a lifetime of yoga with this mat. A big thanks to the Manduka company.
One more thing - I live in NJ and I got this mat with the free super saver shipping the FOLLOWING DAY! Thank you Amazon!!!
This mat has pretty much fallen in line with the comments I read before buying it, but a little work and a little patience has really paid off. 1)It stinks badly at first but I tried using the apple cider vinegar and then letting it lay open in my garage and that took care of most of the smell. 2)To my disappointment it was slippery on the hands when doing downward facing dog. That was one of the major reasons for me wanting a new mat. I spoke with other people in the class who have Manduka mats and they said it takes a little time but eventually that would go away, and, thankfully, for the most part it has. Now, I use a towel when I first start class but soon after I am working towel-free. Based on the progress I've made, I assume eventually I will not need one at all. 3)It is heavy, there isn't much that can be done about that. I figure I am going to work out so why cry about carrying around a few extra pounds before/after class. 4)5mm provides enough cushion for the knees. With my other mat, I needed to reinforce the cushion with an addition mat. I no longer need a second mat during my practice which I love. So, I was nervous when I first got this mat becuase it seemed to live up to all the bad stuff people had been saying about it, but after a little patience and perserverence, it is my favorite mat, and since it is a Manduka, I will get the pleasure of using it for years.
I purchased black Manduka ecoMat this spring, and truly wanted to love it - many other reviews were great. Unfortunately, my own experience has been anything but. First, there is a problem of smell that would not go away. I live in a city apartment, and kept the mat unrolled for already over four months. Despite that, the smell still remains. It makes it difficult to concentrate during my yoga practice, and relaxation becomes as exercise in pondering why am I subjecting myself and my fellow students to breathing rubber fumes. Second, there is an issue of cleaning the mat - even mild soap or diluted shampoo leave streaks on it, and drying the mat by hanging it over my bathtub railing leaves more lines on mat's surface. Finally, it is the surface of the mat itself, which is relatively harsh (not as bad as sandpaper, but getting dangerously close to that zone). Perhaps, because I have relatively dry skin to begin with, the mat scrapes the palms of my hands and my feet. I have read about the smell in the reviwes, but did not expected it to be so long-lasting and toxic, and have not seen the problem of harshness of the mat's surface addressed by anyone else. In fairness, it appears to be well constructed and the cushion is great. And yes, it is also *very* heavy - Yoga Mat - Manduka Yoga Mat - Yoga - Yoga Mats'
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