Camping matress or bed - please help!

[Needanewname]

We've just spent our first night in our new tent (in the garden) tent is bloody marvellous, everything I thought it would be, however yet another matress was shit!

This one was an air matress that had 2 sides to it, my side leaked throughout the night and is now completely flat (refuse to use it again!) Weve had other types of shit air matresses in the past (which is why we tried the one with 2 parts to it) and an outwell self inflating matress (too hard and took up too m uch space when packed up)

So all you lovely mnetter campers, which would be the last matressif I would ever need to buy if I got it? Am happy to spend a bit of money but within reason. Of and I have to order today as we#'re doing proper camping next weekend!

TIA

our first trip we used the blow up double variety, bloody nightmare, it was like the little & large show, one person moves the other one does too, but involuntarily. No sleep, flat mattress , crick in neck , threatened never to go again despite very expensive tent husband bought(the biggest one of course never the reasonable sized one).
SO, bought 4 single beds(kaliedescope type) with inflatable mattresses, BLISS!!!! Do your marriage a favour and buy them, slept well and loved lying in it listening to all friends next morning complaining about crap sleep.
We paid $100 a bed (sorry in oz) but Uk has better deals so scout about and treat yourself.
happy camping.....

Well we used the other air matress last night - it is also shit! And nothing to do withlittle and large (though I know what you mean ciansha!) more to do with all the bloody air leaking. Mayhave something to do with the children treating it like a trampoline!

Have looked around on the net and seen that the fat airics (now dozers) and thermarests seem to be both highly recommended. Can't afford the thermarests, may be able to persuade DH on the dozers.

The plan now is to get a couple of camp beds for the DCs and then next weekend we'll have the outwell self inflating. Will see how that goes and if no good will look at getting the dozer.

Would really appreciate some feedback though as to how good they are as I don;t want to throw away perfectly good money of its no better than the outwell one!

There is a brand called aero bed. They do an outdoor version (tougher fabric?!)
I don't have it but I do have their indoor version and it has never let me down.
Argos stock them

thanks maydaychild, will have a look, trouble is we've had so many problems with air beds that I'm a bot loathed to fork out more money on another one!

The Dozer is very comfortable. People trying mine out have a tendency to fall asleep for 2 hours. It doesn't pack up that small, but then what's the rest of your sleeping kit, are you taking duvets etc or sleeping bags that go into stuff sacks?

If you sleep on your side (like me) a good pillow is worth taking too.

How thick is your Outwell mat? It doesn't need to be inflated rock hard. If you have one of the 7cm ones a Dozer may not be much different. Thinner self inflating mats are OK but really better for hardcore ground-sleepers or kids IMO.

thats what i'm worried about wednesday. I've had a look at the aerobed and will give it a go, am assuming I'll be able to send it back if no good as am buying it online and will try it out before we go away - also has a 2 year guarantee.

Thanks all

i just bought outwell self-inflating mats, only 2.5cm. i haven't used them yet but i did a pre-camp in a friend's garden on friday and tested them out on her lawn and they seemed... ... awesomely comfortable, even without a sleeping bag on top.

Well self inflating mats are all about thickness - is your Outwell mat a thick one do you know, because they make several different ones? The thicker, the more comfortable. As far as I can see, higher cost just buys you smaller pack-down size or better build quality.

Hate to say this but we have two Aerobeds as guest beds and one of those has a slow leak , no inflatable is immune it seems. They are OK beds
according to the guests, although I personally don't sleep too well on airbeds. But yes, keep the guarantee in a safe place.

are you talking to me? 2.5 is not thick at all, some of them are 7 cm but tbh the pack size is ludicrous. afaic (and i have not spent the night on them yet) i cannot feel the ground through the mat, either wooden floor or lumpy grass, so am hopeful that it will be okay. will report back, obv.

Sorry Aitch I was talking to the OP. I am not following this conversation very well. Hope you get a good sleep. I only got my Dozer last year after 20 years of camping on foam mats and my trusty (thin) Thermarest so I'm still luxuriating. I don't think it rolls up too badly though when you look at all the other camping clobber you have to take.

i also totally cannot afford to spend more that £20 per mat.

Well there was an error with my card yesterday and no bloody phone number to ring so I've meailed them and hope they'll get back to me but I'm off Friday morning first thing!

I got an aerobed from argos - the active dual one with separate chambers.

OMG. I've never slept so well on a camping trip. Didn;t tell DH how much it cost til we were there, he was not all that pleased but the next morning, told me I could spend as much as I want on a bed as it was fab.

A couple of others had a lie down on it and I think they are ordering theirs soon.

After a long series of leaky airbeds, the cumulative cost of which would probably have bought us a new tent, we have settled on a Vango 7cm double Self inflating mattress. I think it's great and very comfortable, certainly in every way superior to an airbed. I can't remember how much it cost - £60 or £70 I think, but definitely worth it. Having had Fat Airics before, we wanted something similar but double and they no longer seem to go the double SIM they used to (the Wide Airic I think it was). I have to say the Vango does not pack down small and does require a bit of time to get rolled up but it is worth it in my opinion and the bag is quite big so if you have a reasonable-sized car it should be fine.

Any updates on these mattresses? We're finally getting around to thinking about camping, in 2 weeks time. Aerobed didn't have great reviews on amazon; how is the Vango getting on?

We just got back from our first camping trip today. Double aerobed was bloody hellish - as soon as DH got in, I appeared to catapult towards the ceiling. The kids both had HiGear 5cm self inflating mattresses and both slept like logs.

We got sick of air beds. Now have folding camp beds. Not as comfy as our bed at home but MUCH better!
Air beds puncture, deflate at night etc. An extra bed roll under it or blanket between it and sleeping bag can help.
PLEASE someone invent a proper size, memory foam bed that folds down to the size of a postage stamp. That's not asking for much is it?

Hmm. not as promising as I'd hoped, but thank you both for your replies!