Gaiam Premium 6mm vs Yoga Design Lab Combo 3.5mm: Which One Should You Buy?

The Gaiam Premium 6mm is $29.98 of soft PVC foam and the mat OutdoorGearLab named the best first yoga mat in a 19-mat test. The Yoga Design Lab Combo is $110 and does something unusual: it bonds a recycled microfiber towel to a natural rubber base so the towel can never slide out from under you, prints it, and lets the whole thing go in the wash.

The Combo is aimed at people who already practice on a mat with a towel over it. Whether it is worth nearly four times the Gaiam depends almost entirely on whether that describes you, because the test scores do not make the case on their own.

GearLab scored the Gaiam Premium 62 out of 100, eleventh of 19, with a Best Buy award: comfort and support 6.5, materials 6, care and cleaning 8, dry grip 6, wet grip 4. That reads as a mat that does everything adequately and nothing well, which is a reasonable thing to be at thirty dollars.

The Combo landed 17th of 19 in the same field, with 4 out of 10 for grip both wet and dry, comfort 6 and materials 5, and the testers wrote that it was more slippery than they hoped during practice. Yoga Design Lab’s own listings carry thousands of reviews averaging close to five stars, many from hot yoga practitioners describing genuine experience. Both things are true; they describe different rooms.

The Gaiam’s sticky PVC finish holds a dry palm well enough that you will not think about it. Add sweat and the moisture sits on a closed surface with nowhere to go, which is what its 4 out of 10 wet score reflects. One tester described the foam turning slippery as moisture built up, enough to lose confidence in a wide-legged forward fold.

The Combo works the other way around. Dry microfiber slides; saturated microfiber grabs. That is the design, and it is why practitioners in heated rooms rate it highly and why a lab testing it in a normal room did not. If you sweat lightly or practice unheated, the Combo is the surface more likely to disappoint you.

The Gaiam is the more forgiving mat for kneeling, seated stretches and long floor sequences, and GearLab praised exactly that padding. The cost is stability: soft foam compresses unevenly under a loaded foot, and the same testers found it goes squishy and gives up steadiness in balance poses.

The Combo is 3.5 mm, thin by any standard, so on tile or concrete you feel the floor through it and kneeling is uncomfortable. Its rubber base is firmer underfoot than the Gaiam’s foam, so standing work is steadier. Yoga Design Lab sells the same Combo in 5.5 mm at $121 if thickness is the sticking point.

Yoga Design Lab prefers hand washing to extend the mat’s life but allows a gentle machine cycle in a machine without a center agitator, using mild soap. For a heavy sweater that solves a real hygiene problem, and it is the Combo’s strongest argument on this page.

The Gaiam cannot be machine washed and does not need to be. GearLab gave it 8 out of 10 for care and cleaning, its best category, because a closed foam surface wipes down and dries immediately. Gaiam does ask you to unroll and air a new mat for two to three days before the first session.

The Combo is two inches longer at 70″ against 68″, and both are 24 inches wide, which GearLab listed among the Combo’s drawbacks. Above about five foot eight, neither is generous, and neither model comes in a longer version.

The Gaiam is lighter at 3.3 pounds against 4.9, and GearLab called it one of the easiest mats to carry in its test. The Combo ships with a carry strap; the Gaiam does not.

The Gaiam wears by compression. GearLab found it showing scuffs and visible indentations under regular use and listed shorter lifespan among its downsides, so a year or two of steady practice flattens the spots under your hands and heels. Gaiam backs it with a lifetime guarantee anyway, which is unusual at this price and which addresses defects rather than foam that has gone soft.

The Combo is a textile bonded to rubber, so it pills, fades and loses loft with washing, and it collects lint along the way; GearLab rated its materials 5 out of 10. Yoga Design Lab takes back unused mats within 30 days and offers no warranty, so once you have practiced on it, it is yours.

The Gaiam is latex-free PVC, which makes it the safe choice for anyone who reacts to natural rubber, and PVC is also the material most environmental criticism of yoga mats is aimed at. The Combo prints recycled PET microfiber with water-based inks over a natural rubber base, a better materials story and not latex safe.

On looks the Combo wins easily, with 19 printed designs in the 3.5 mm at last check against four reversible color combinations from Gaiam. Plenty of Combo owners bought theirs for the print first and the towel top second, which is a legitimate reason at this price.

Buy the Gaiam Premium if you are starting out, practicing in a cool room, or want padding for gentle and floor-heavy sessions. Check the current price at Amazon; it frequently sits below list by colorway. It is the better value and the better-tested mat, and its limits are documented rather than hidden.

Buy the Combo if you already practice on a towel over a mat and want one object instead of two, or if being able to launder the thing solves a problem for you. Check the Combo at Amazon before paying list, and go in knowing testers found it slippery when dry. If sweat is the whole reason you are shopping, our GRP Adapt 2.0 vs Combo page covers the mat built specifically for heated rooms.