IUGA PU Mat vs Yoga Design Lab Combo: Which One Should You Buy?

A lot of mats have a sealed surface, so sweat beads up and sits there. These two are built the other way. The IUGA puts a polyurethane skin that soaks up moisture over a natural rubber base, for $66.99. Yoga Design Lab’s Combo is a printed, recycled PET microfiber towel fused to a natural tree rubber base, for $117.

Both were in GearLab’s 19 mat roundup. The IUGA finished eighth with 75 points and the Best Value Upgrade award; the Combo finished 17th with 52. The cheaper mat is also the bigger and lighter one, so the Combo needs a specific reason to cost $50.01 more. It has two.

For its wet grip numbers, GearLab saturates each mat with a liter of water, which it reckons is roughly what a hot yoga class wrings out of most people, and its testers then move through poses to see what holds. The IUGA came out at 7 wet and 8 dry, and GearLab’s grip section names it as a mat sweaty yogis like, one that stays grippy when wet.

The Combo managed 4 on both. Its dry figure beat only the Primasole Foldable, and GearLab’s review says the towel was slicker, wet or dry, than its testers hoped from a hot yoga mat. That contradicts Yoga Design Lab’s pitch of moisture-activated grip that improves as you sweat.

Microfiber has to be damp before it grips, so a dry test catches it at its worst. The wet number came from the soak, though, and the Combo still finished three points behind.

Amazon owners are warmer about the Combo than GearLab was, up to a point. Its functionality comments, 20 positive to 4 negative, say the mat works well in hot classes, and one owner in a heated vinyasa flow says it grips well. The grip tally itself is closer, 38 positive to 25 negative, and some owners find it losing traction a few minutes into use.

The IUGA’s owners mostly agree with the lab: 604 of 703 grip mentions in its summary are positive, and so are 106 of the 119 that talk about hot yoga.

The IUGA measures 72″ × 26″ and the Combo 70″ × 24″. GearLab counted the IUGA’s size as a pro and the Combo’s narrowness as a con. The extra width shows up in wide stances, where a hand or foot on a 24 inch mat can end up on the floor.

One Combo owner on Amazon wanted 72 inches rather than 70. Yoga Design Lab also sells the Combo at 1.5 mm and 5.5 mm, but every thickness is the same 70″ × 24″.

The IUGA weighs 2.1 pounds, and GearLab’s scale agreed. Yoga Design Lab lists the Combo at 4.9 pounds, and GearLab measured 4.6. Weight is the one aspect in the Combo’s Amazon summary that leans negative, 14 complaints to 7 compliments.

Both include a strap, an adjustable one on the IUGA. GearLab reaches for the IUGA when it practices outside, because of how much cushion it carries for its weight. Its one complaint about that low weight is a slight wrinkle in the middle when someone is heavy on their feet.

GearLab scored comfort and support 8 for the IUGA and 6 for the Combo. It found the IUGA’s 5 mm thick enough to protect knees on a hard floor and firm enough for strength and balance poses.

The Combo is 3.5 mm, though owners rate its cushioning better than that number suggests, 28 of 29 mentions positive on Amazon. For more padding, Yoga Design Lab makes a 5.5 mm Combo at $131 and 7.1 pounds, which pushes the gap over the IUGA to $64.01.

This is the Combo’s first real advantage. Yoga Design Lab recommends hand washing to make it last, but allows a gentle machine cycle with mild soap in a washer without a center agitator, then hanging it to dry out of direct sun. GearLab says its sample needed no scrubbing or hosing and came out smelling fresh every time.

Cleaning the IUGA means a cloth and some mild detergent, and GearLab rated its care 8 against the Combo’s 6. Its open-cell top holds on to sweat, though, so a long dry time is among its cons. The Combo’s own chore is lint, which GearLab lists against it, and one Amazon owner found it tricky to dry after a machine wash.

Both have natural rubber underneath, which rules both out for a latex allergy. IUGA calls its mat odorless, but GearLab lists a strong smell at first among its cons, and 108 of 189 odor mentions on Amazon are negative. One Combo owner noted theirs didn’t smell like some new mats do.

GearLab rated materials 7 for the IUGA and 5 for the Combo, though the IUGA still carries a short lifespan con and some Amazon owners report its top eroding in the middle. Neither brand offers a warranty. IUGA gives you 45 days to return the mat, and you pay the return shipping. Yoga Design Lab allows 30 days from receipt, only for an unused mat repacked in its original packaging.

List prices are $66.99 and $117. Check the IUGA at Amazon, which often sells below list, and the Combo at Amazon (4.6 stars, roughly 620 ratings), or buy it from yogadesignlab.com.

The prints are the Combo’s second advantage and its clearest win. It comes in 19 printed designs in the 3.5mm at last count, against five colorways at last count for the IUGA, and 53 of the 54 appearance mentions in its Amazon summary are positive.

Buy the IUGA for almost any practice where your hands get damp. It held its grip under GearLab’s soak, it is the bigger and thicker mat at less than half the weight, and it costs $50.01 less. Expect a slow dry and a few years of life rather than a decade.

Buy the Combo if being able to put the whole mat in a washing machine matters to you, or if you want one of its prints and accept a thin, narrow mat whose grip scored near the bottom of the test. If you want another sweat-absorbing top to set it against, our Lululemon The Mat vs Combo page covers the polyurethane option at the Combo’s price.