Amazon Basics 1 Inch vs Gaiam Dry-Grip: Which One Should You Buy?

The Amazon Basics 1 Inch Extra Thick weighs 4.6 pounds. Gaiam lists its Performance Dry-Grip at 4.25. Hold one in each hand and you would struggle to say which is heavier, yet one is 25.4 mm of NBR foam and the other is 5 mm of PVC under a topcoat. Most of this page follows from that difference in density.

List prices are $38.40 and $69.98, about $32 apart. Both sell in big numbers, but to different people, and most readers will know within a couple of sections which group they belong to.

For anything where a knee, hip or tailbone is the contact point, the inch wins easily. Physio routines, core work on tile, stretching after a run, helping an older parent down to the floor and up again: foam this thick keeps bone off concrete in a way no 5 mm mat can. Softness is among the best-rated traits on the listing, which pools both thicknesses, with roughly 808 positive mentions to 112 negative in Amazon’s review summary.

At 74″ it is also six inches longer than the 68″ Dry-Grip, which counts for more on a mat you lie on. Someone five foot ten fits on it head to heel; on the Gaiam, their head or feet end up on the floor.

Shift onto a single foot and the Amazon Basics foam sinks more under the ball than under the heel, then keeps moving as you correct. Warrior three, half moon and tree all feel harder than they are, and a beginner can easily read that as a balance problem.

GearLab, which tested the Dry-Grip but not the Amazon Basics, found it firm for support and said it doesn’t budge on the ground. Standing sequences need exactly that, and it accounts for most of the extra $32. Amazon’s own title calls the Basics a workout and exercise mat before it says yoga.

The Amazon Basics listing promises a non-slip textured surface for stable, confident poses. Gaiam’s copy goes further: the Dry-Grip is billed as ideal for hot yoga, and its topcoat supposedly wicks moisture away.

In GearLab’s side-by-side test the Dry-Grip earned 6.5 for dry traction and just 3.5 once soaked. Of 19 mats, only the Primasole Foldable did worse wet. GearLab still liked it for stretching and slower practice, a long way from the heated classes on the box.

Amazon Basics owners split almost evenly on grip, about 263 positive mentions to 296 negative. Dry-Grip owners are happier, around 568 to 154, on a listing that also covers the Long & Wide. So the Gaiam is the better surface for dry hands, and neither belongs in a hot room without a towel. The IUGA PU mat has a sweat-absorbing top and costs about the same as the Dry-Grip.

If knees are why you looked at a one inch mat but you also want standing yoga, there is a middle route. For sensitive joints, GearLab recommends a solid mat that doesn’t make your body compensate, plus extra padding where you need it, and saves cushy mats for mostly restorative stretching. Fold a blanket under your knee for kneeling poses on the Dry-Grip and you get most of what the inch offers.

Some people own both. The two list prices add up to a little over $108, less than many single rubber mats.

Rolled, 74 inches of one inch foam makes a cylinder close to ten inches across by our arithmetic. The Dry-Grip rolls to roughly four and a half inches and slides into an ordinary mat bag.

Amazon’s title says the Basics comes with a carrying strap, and the fat roll needs one. The strap draws more complaints than praise in the review summary, including buyers who say it wasn’t in the box, so check for it on arrival. Gaiam doesn’t list a strap for the Dry-Grip. As for weight, GearLab’s scale put the Dry-Grip at 5.4 pounds, so the foam mat may be the lighter of the two.

Where you press hardest, NBR foam eventually stops springing back, and the patches under your hands and knees go first. Amazon’s review summary splits durability almost down the middle, about 470 positive mentions to 498 negative, with rips among the complaints. The warranty runs one year.

The Dry-Grip wears from the surface. GearLab gave it 4 out of 10 for materials, one of the lowest results in the test, and warned that its dye can rub off, so wipe a new one down hard with a towel before practicing in light clothes. Some owners report the coated top peeling away from the layer underneath.

Gaiam publishes no terms for its lifetime guarantee, so we’d treat it as protection against manufacturing faults rather than wear. Gaiam only accepts returns of unopened, unused mats bought on gaiam.com.

Amazon tells you to let the Basics breathe somewhere ventilated for 48 hours or more. Gaiam wants two or three days for the Dry-Grip and describes its smell as very strong but harmless.

Both are latex-free, a real plus since many of the grippiest mats are natural rubber. Amazon lists the Basics as free of latex, heavy metals and eight named phthalates. Gaiam lists the Dry-Grip as rubber, latex and 6P free. A damp cloth cleans either.

Amazon Basics colors (Aqua, Black and Rose in the 1 inch) are often priced separately, so look at the Amazon Basics 1 Inch listing and the Dry-Grip listing before deciding.

Each has a sibling worth a look. The same foam comes half as thick for $22.48, steadier and far easier to store; our half inch vs Dry-Grip page covers it. Gaiam’s Dry-Grip Long & Wide runs 78 inches, four more than the Amazon Basics, for $74.98.

Get the Amazon Basics 1 Inch for kneeling, sitting and lying down, especially on tile or concrete, or if you are buying for rehab. It is far more comfortable to lie on, and cheaper.

Get the Dry-Grip if you mean to do yoga with standing poses. It is firm where the foam is soft, it scored well for comfort in the only independent test either mat has had, and it rolls small. Plan on a towel once class gets sweaty, whatever the label says.