Jade Level One vs Gaiam Premium Reversible: Which One Should You Buy?

The Gaiam Premium Reversible is 6 mm of PVC with a different print on each face, so you can practice on whichever side suits the day, for $39.98. The Jade Level One is 4 mm of American open-cell rubber with one practice side and two plain colors, for $66.50. Both are 68″ × 24″.

The extra $26.52 gets you a thinner mat that weighs more, which sounds like a poor deal until you read what GearLab found when it tested the Gaiam. No outlet we trust has reviewed the Level One, so for the Jade we’re working from Jade’s specs and how open-cell rubber behaves.

GearLab gave the Premium Reversible 54 points out of 100, 15th of the 19 mats in its March 2026 roundup, and summed it up as a cheap mat with striking patterns that falls short on grip and cushion for regular practice. Only two things made its pros list: the looks, and that it lies flat once unrolled. The cons are poor cushion, slippery when wet, and a surface that can stain clothing.

Underneath that total sit a 6 out of 10 on comfort and support, 5 on materials and 7 on care. For comparison, Gaiam’s plain Premium 6mm, the same size and thickness in solid colors at $29.98, scored 62 and won Best First Yoga Mat. We set that one against the Jade in our Level One vs Premium 6mm comparison.

Here the reviews and the tester part ways. Amazon’s review summary is warm about the Reversible’s padding: 434 of 513 thickness mentions are positive, and so are 226 of 258 cushioning mentions, with owners calling it soft on the knees.

GearLab still listed poor cushion as a con, and its category is comfort and support, scored together. Its guide notes that the thicker a mat gets, the more squish you have to balance on, and that a thinner, denser mat can feel more supportive than a soft one. Six millimeters of light PVC feels generous under a thumb and less so under one loaded foot.

The Level One sits at the other end. Its 4 mm of dense rubber gives you less padding for kneeling on a hard floor and more to push against in tree pose. If soft knees are the whole point, the owners are right and the Gaiam is the kinder mat.

In GearLab’s scored grip category the Reversible gets 4 out of 10, yet the roundup’s wet and dry chart puts it at 5 for both, so the two don’t quite agree. The category score is near the bottom of the 19, while the chart’s wet 5 sits mid-table. Owners are close to evenly split, with 293 positive and 251 negative grip mentions in Amazon’s summary.

PVC doesn’t absorb, so sweat sits on the print and palms start to slide. The Level One’s open-cell rubber takes a little of that moisture in and stays tacky, with no break-in period, and Jade’s own pitch for it is grip that lets you stop worrying about slipping. If your hands have already slid on a PVC mat, a prettier PVC mat will do the same.

We list the Reversible at 3.3 pounds, and GearLab weighed it at 3.2. The Level One is 4 on the same table, an approximate figure since Jade doesn’t publish one. Either way the Jade is heavier while being 2 mm thinner, because rubber is denser than PVC foam.

On a shoulder that’s a pound or two, noticeable on a long walk and irrelevant at home. Jade doesn’t list a strap. Neither does gaiam.com, although the Reversible’s Amazon title now names one.

The most common gripe in the Reversible’s reviews isn’t grip. It’s the smell: 451 of 553 odor mentions in Amazon’s summary are negative. Gaiam expects this, and its care text tells you to air a new printed mat for a couple of days before practicing on it.

Jade’s rubber smells too, rubbery rather than chemical, and it fades over a couple of weeks with the mat unrolled somewhere ventilated and out of direct sun. Give either one a few days before your first session.

GearLab’s stain warning is about your clothes, not the mat, so light leggings may pick up some color. Otherwise the Reversible is easy to look after: spot clean and dry it flat. Gaiam adds that too much sun can fade it and leave it brittle.

The Level One needs more attention. Because the rubber is porous, sweat soaks in and has to be washed out now and then with a gentle cleaner; Jade won’t cover damage from harsh products or sunlight, and says its natural rubber mats aren’t meant for outdoor practice.

The Reversible is PVC with no latex, made without the six phthalates gaiam.com calls most harmful (the Amazon bullets now claim seven). Gaiam doesn’t say where it’s made. For a latex allergy, it’s the safe choice here.

The Level One comes from tapped tree rubber, contains no PVC, and is manufactured in the USA, with one tree planted by Jade for each mat sold. Jade’s own wording is 99% latex free, and it steers anyone with a latex allergy away from its mats.

The Reversible lists at $39.98, with ten printed designs at last count; check the current Reversible price at Amazon, where it averages 4.6 stars from roughly 15,600 ratings. Gaiam doesn’t publish the terms of its lifetime guarantee, so we’d count on it for defects only.

The Level One is $66.50 at jadeyoga.com, Classic Blue or Classic Purple, with a one-year warranty. The $26.52 buys the rubber surface, US manufacturing and a steadier platform. You give up 2 mm of padding, the prints and a latex-free build.

Get the Gaiam Premium Reversible if you mostly stretch, kneel or work on the floor, if the prints are part of the appeal, or if latex is a problem. Owners love how it looks and how soft it feels, and at $39.98 that’s a fair deal.

Get the Jade Level One if your practice runs through standing poses and sun salutations and you want a surface that holds when your hands get damp. GearLab scored the Reversible lowest on grip, and that’s the thing rubber does well. For a thicker Jade against the same Gaiam, see our Harmony vs Reversible page.