B Mat Strong vs Lululemon The (Big) Mat: Which One Should You Buy?

The B Mat Strong is 6 mm of Spanish rubber that grabs your hands the second you unroll it, at 5 pounds and $144. Lululemon’s (Big) Mat is 84″ × 28″, the largest mainstream mat sold, at 7.1 pounds and $128.

The cheaper one is the bigger one, which is unusual, and the more expensive one is the lighter one, which is also unusual. Neither oddity is a mistake: you’re paying b, halfmoon for a surface and Lululemon for floor space.

GearLab reviewed the 4 mm B Mat Everyday, which carries the identical rubber, scored its grip 9 out of 10, and reported traction surviving everything from a light sprinkle to standing water, with no waiting period before it worked. It named the mat a favorite for hot yoga on that basis.

The Lululemon build measured 6.5 dry and 4.5 wet on the same publisher’s chart, even though its prose lists “sticky when wet” among the mat’s strengths and gave it a top pick award. Both readings appear in the same review; our take is that the polyurethane top handles a normally damp class and gives ground once sweat genuinely pools.

For a heated room the B Mat is the specialist. For everything else, both are fine.

Thirteen inches of extra length and two of width isn’t a spec adjustment. A six-foot-four practitioner lies flat in savasana with room left, hands stay on rubber in down dog, and wide stances fit inside the mat instead of straddling it.

What it costs: an 84 inch roll that no standard strap will close around, a mat that pokes out of normal bags, and more than one person’s share of floor in a packed class. b, halfmoon does sell an 85 inch Strong Long if length alone is the problem, and it keeps the grip while adding weight. For the same B Mat against Lululemon at a normal size, see our The Mat vs B Mat Strong comparison.

The B Mat is 5 pounds against 7.1, and its 71 inch roll fits a normal strap. For a mat that commutes several times a week, that’s a bigger day-to-day difference than any grip score on this page.

On cushion the B Mat also has the extra millimeter, 6 mm against 5, which shows up under knees on tile or concrete. GearLab gave the Lululemon build a perfect 10 for comfort and support, though, which is higher than anything it has said about b, halfmoon’s mats. Read that as two comfortable mats rather than a gap, and expect the difference to disappear on wood or carpet.

Tacky rubber has a personality. GearLab’s testers found the B Mat’s surface held hands and feet firmly enough that they gave up sliding into position and began picking their feet up instead, and flagged it as a poor fit for gliding-heavy styles. If you drag a foot forward in a fast flow, you’ll feel the mat argue back.

It also collects dirt, hair and lint constantly, to the point the review recommends keeping it in a bag rather than a car trunk. The Lululemon’s smooth face does neither of those things, and it flips over to a textured rubber side if you want a drier surface for slow practice.

Both wear at the surface and neither is a long-term purchase. GearLab noticed water staining on its B Mat test sample and found owners commonly reporting the top layer lifting where hands and feet land. The Lululemon loses grip gradually from the top down, with a realistic lifespan of four to six years, and its absorbent face stains, though black hides it.

The paperwork favors b, halfmoon: a written one-year warranty and an OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certification, against Lululemon’s Quality Promise, which commits to standing behind gear that fails to perform as designed without naming a period. At these prices we’d rather hold the written year.

Both sit on natural rubber, so neither is safe with a genuine latex allergy; GearLab lists latex content among the Lululemon’s drawbacks for exactly that reason. The B Mat is mostly natural rubber with some synthetic, made in Spain; Lululemon’s base rubber is FSC certified.

Colors are lopsided: seven B Mat colorways at last count against black. Both are direct purchases, the B Mat from b, halfmoon and the (Big) Mat from lululemon.com, and neither discounts often, so the list prices are realistically what you pay.

Get the B Mat Strong if sliding is what you’re trying to fix, or if the mat travels. It grips harder than anything Lululemon makes, carries two pounds lighter, gives you an extra millimeter under your knees, and comes with a certification and a written year.

Get the (Big) Mat if running out of mat is the problem. Thirteen inches of extra length and two of width changes how poses feel, it costs $16 less, and it flips over to a second surface. If you want the biggest grippy rubber mat instead, our GRP Adapt 2.0 vs B Mat Strong comparison covers the two best hot-yoga surfaces at a normal size.