Gaiam Premium Reversible vs Gruper TPE 6mm: Which One Should You Buy?

Both mats are 6 mm thick and 24 inches wide, and that is most of what they share. The Gaiam Premium Reversible costs $39.98 for 68 inches of PVC printed on both faces. The Gruper costs $27.99 for 72 inches of two-layer TPE, and Gruper puts a strap and a carry bag in the box.

So the cheaper mat is longer, lighter and better equipped. The extra $12 on the Gaiam pays for artwork, a lifetime guarantee and an independent test result, though the result isn’t flattering.

GearLab’s March 2026 roundup placed the Reversible 15th of 19 with 54 points. Its best sub-score was care and cleaning at 7; comfort and support got 6 and materials 5. The grip figures conflict, a 4 in the scored category against 5 dry and 5 wet in the traction table. Testers liked the prints and the way it lies flat when unrolled, and marked it down for weak cushioning, poor wet grip and ink that can transfer to clothes.

Nobody we would cite has put the Gruper through a test, which leaves it unmeasured rather than better or worse. Its side of this page rests on Gruper’s listing and about 10,650 Amazon ratings, a pool that probably includes the 8 mm version sold alongside it.

The Reversible’s name is literal. Each face carries a different print and either one can be the practice surface, so you can flip it for a change of look or to put the less scuffed side up. About 930 of the roughly 960 Amazon reviews that mention its design are positive.

The Gruper’s two sides are a fine S-pattern top bonded to a corrugated underside meant to hold the floor, and in most colorways the layers contrast, as in Purple / Teal. It comes in eight colorways at last count, most of them two-tone. Gruper claims the double layer makes it harder-wearing than regular mats and resistant to tearing, which nobody has tested.

The Gaiam is soft PVC, and GearLab scored it half a point below the plain Gaiam Premium 6mm for comfort and support. TPE pushes back, so the Gruper sinks a little and returns, which feels lively on a hard floor and slightly bouncy in a one-legged balance. Gruper’s listing calls its TPE softer than PVC, a claim rather than a measurement.

Owner reports muddy the picture. Gruper reviewers mostly praise the cushioning under knees and back, though one found the mat extremely hard, and the Reversible’s summary calls it soft on knees despite GearLab’s verdict. Gruper also makes the mat 8 mm thick; the Reversible comes in one thickness.

Neither surface absorbs sweat, and GearLab’s poor wet grip finding for the Reversible is the only tested result here. Amazon’s review tags fill in the rest.

About 540 Reversible reviews mention grip, split almost evenly between praise and complaint. The Gruper’s grip mentions run about two to one positive, and a separate non-slip tag, around 500 reviews and nearly three quarters positive, mostly credits the mat for not shifting on the floor, which is the corrugated underside doing its job.

Treat those as impressions, not measurements. If your hands sweat, the mat in our IUGA vs Gruper comparison has an absorbent polyurethane surface.

The bag and strap go down well: about 280 of the roughly 310 Gruper reviews that mention portability are positive, though one owner says theirs arrived with neither, so check the box. Gaiam’s own page doesn’t list a strap, though the Amazon listing title now mentions one, and Gaiam suggests storing the mat in a bag it doesn’t supply.

The Gruper is also the lighter mat, 2.6 pounds against 3.3, and the longer one. Lying flat, its 72 inches cover someone about six feet tall; the Reversible’s 68 stop around five foot eight.

The care notes read almost alike: a damp cloth with cold water and mild detergent, dry flat, and no long spells in the sun, which Gaiam says fades its PVC and leaves it brittle.

Smell is where they part. Gaiam describes the odor of a newly unwrapped printed mat as very strong but harmless and suggests leaving it open for two to three days. About 550 Reversible reviews bring up the smell, some 450 of them negatively. The Gruper’s review tags don’t include odor at all, and one owner notes the absence of a nasty smell.

Gaiam attaches a lifetime guarantee to the Reversible without publishing its terms; we’d take it as protection against a faulty mat, not against foam that packs down. Returns direct to Gaiam require the mat to be unopened and unused.

Gruper offers no written warranty at all, so once Amazon’s return window closes, a failed bond between its layers is your problem. Gruper designed the mat for barefoot use and warns that shoes or a pet’s paws can tear it. GearLab rated the Reversible’s materials 5 out of 10, among the lower scores in its test.

Check the Premium Reversible at Amazon or gaiam.com, and the Gruper at Amazon. The Gaiam averages 4.6 stars over about 15,600 ratings and the Gruper 4.4 over about 10,650, and they ranked 10th and 5th in Amazon’s Yoga Mats category when we checked.

One more Gaiam sits within $2 of the Gruper: the Premium 6mm at $29.98, a 68″ × 24″ PVC mat with a solid color on each side. GearLab gave it 62 points, eight more than the Reversible, along with its award for the best first yoga mat. Our Premium 6mm vs Gruper comparison covers that pairing.

Pick the Gruper for the better-equipped mat at the lower price: four inches longer, lighter, vinyl-free, with a strap, a bag and an 8 mm option. No test or warranty stands behind it, so you are relying on Amazon’s return window and a large pool of owner reviews.

Pick the Gaiam Premium Reversible if one of the prints makes you want to practice, you’re shorter than about five foot eight, and a lifetime guarantee reassures you. Air it out first and expect it to slip once you sweat. If a thick foam pad is also on your list, see our Premium Reversible vs Solana 1/2″ page.