Amazon Basics 1 Inch Extra Thick vs Retrospec Solana 1″: Which One Should You Buy?

A full inch of NBR foam, a ribbed or textured surface on both sides, a carry strap in the box, and a price under forty dollars. Amazon Basics lists $38.4 and Retrospec lists $39.99, which is close enough that price is not going to decide this.

What separates them is two inches of length, a bit over half a pound, ten extra colorways, and how long each brand will stand behind it. None of those are large, so this page is mostly about whether an inch of foam is the right thing to buy at all.

It cushions everything you put on the floor and it destabilises everything you stand on. NBR foam compresses under a heel, so single-leg balances turn into a slow argument with the surface. Both mats share this because both are the same material at the same depth.

Where they both shine is kneeling and lying down. Table top, low lunges, anything on your back, plus floor-based physio and core work. If that describes most of your time on the mat, an inch is the right call and you are choosing between two reasonable options.

If you are doing standing sequences, look at a 6 mm mat instead. We walk through that gap on the Gaiam Premium against this Solana.

74″ against 72″, at the same 24″ width. Two inches is not much, but 74 inches clears about six foot one in savasana where 72 starts to leave heels on the floor.

Neither is wide. Both sit at the 24 inch measurement foam mats have used for decades, and it runs out in anything with the arms open. A good number of purpose-built yoga mats now come at 26 inches, and that is the spec you give up buying either of these.

4.6 pounds for the Amazon Basics and 4 for the Solana. That difference is real but small, and neither is heavy in absolute terms.

Rolled, both make a fat cylinder. An inch of foam does not compress into anything discreet, and a strap holds it closed rather than making it smaller. Storage space matters more here than shoulder weight does.

The Solana uses a ribbed pattern; the Amazon Basics uses a finer texture. Both rely on mechanical grip rather than tack, both work with dry hands on a clean floor, and both give up when your palms get damp.

GearLab does not test either brand, so there is no independent number to point at for either mat. We would rather say that than invent a winner. What owner reviews of both agree on is that slipping is not the common complaint at this thickness; denting is.

Retrospec runs 13 colorways at last count, including several muted greens and blues that do not look like gym equipment. Amazon Basics offers 3 colorways at last count.

That is a trivial spec until you are the one looking at the mat in your living room every day. It is the clearest thing the Solana wins outright.

Amazon Basics covers this mat for 1 year. Retrospec covers the Solana for 6 months against defects, with a 30 day return window on top.

Both policies cover manufacturing faults rather than the foam slowly taking a set under your knees, which is what will actually happen. Read them as a returns policy, not a lifespan estimate.

The Amazon Basics exercise mat carries more than 70,000 ratings at 4.6 stars, which is one of the largest review pools on any mat we track. Worth knowing: that pool is shared across the 1/2 inch and 1 inch versions of the listing, so it is not 70,000 people rating this exact thickness.

The Solana 1″ sits near 14,900 ratings at 4.5 stars in its own right. Both are large enough to be meaningful, and both average out to the same verdict: comfortable for floor work, soft under a standing foot, dents over time.

$38.4 and $39.99 as listed. Both move around by a couple of dollars and the Solana in particular gets discounted by colorway, so the cheaper one on any given day is not fixed. Check the Amazon Basics price and check the Solana price rather than trusting either list number.

Retrospec also sells a half inch Solana for about $25, and Amazon Basics does the same in its 1/2 inch version. If you are unsure about the inch, those are the cheaper way to find out.

Get the Amazon Basics if you are tall enough to want the two extra inches, or if the longer warranty and the enormous review pool make you more comfortable. It is the safer default and usually the cheaper one.

Get the Solana if you care what the mat looks like. Thirteen colorways against three is the honest difference between these two, and everything else is within a rounding error.