sharing: have ordered my soulpad/thermarests?

[luciadilammermoor]

just to pass on the thanks really as I think I have read every single camping thread ever and at long last I have persuaded dh ordered a 5 m soulpad belltent. Am ridiculously excited for a 36 year old woman. must get out more.

Cheers to you all! I'll be searching self-inflating sleeping mats next. Are those £++++ thermarest 10cm deep ones worth the £150 each? Am sceptical but willing to listen to any experienced owners...

are you talking about the dreamtime thermarests? If you are they are extremely comfortable but i had to send mine back as it was HUGE, too big for us to squeeze into our medium sized car with all our other stuff. I chose an XL basecamp thermarest in the end.
Congrats on your bell tent, we're going off in ours tomorrow!

Last year I slept on a thermarest trail lite and that was even super comfy at about 2.5 cm thick (or possibly 3 cm thick, i can't remember) Best sleep I've had camping! Slept as deeply as I do at home!

Good for you Lucia am still pondering myself. Can I hijack the thread and ask the bell tent owners how the tent is closed? Is it a zip or some lacey thing? Can you paddlock it?

Re self inflating mats, no idea but I am also lusting after one of the Thermarest. This said I ordered a double 7 cms Vango last week and it arrived this morning...Insanely excited about trying it on too (must get out more too). It is very big though so can't imagine what the thermarest would be like!

Yes, the dreamtime thermarests link here 10cm deep, 76cm wide. Look amazing but price is obv silly so before I plump for vango 7cm ones at £40ish, just wanted to know if they really really were amazing and whether I should just max out the credit card and enjoy myself camping etc etc.

interesting re their rolled up size, hadn't thought of that, will measure. I am a side sleeper so I feel the need for mega-comfort.

re belltent closure, I don't know for sure yet but I think there are zips on door and I was planning to padlock it. Apparently bell tent will arrive early next week so I will let you know - as it will obv have its maiden hoisting in the back garden approx 27secs after its delivery!

lifeistoo, I've got a soulpad hybrid, which has a zip in/off groundsheet that starts zipping away from the door and on the inside only, so it isn't exposed. The front door closes with 3 zips - if you imagine the door as an upright triangle or capital "A" shape, then one zip goes down the middle vertically and the other two go along the bottom horizontally to meet the other in the middle.

There are 6 door zips in all on ours as the hybrid also has a doorway mosquito net which opens/shuts in the same way.

I did close it with a padlock the first time I ever used it (got a lock with a long but thin hasp that fitted through all 6 zips). However, it then occurred tome that someone really wanted to rob us, they would just slit the canvas, which would be more of a disaster to me than the robbery! So now I don't bother. Most campsites are quite secure and I wouldn't take anything that I'm not prepared to lose to a festival, if that makes any sense?

lucia, they are seriously seriously comfy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! but they are massive rolled up, when it arrived i was thinking OmG what have i bought?! Plus they are better stored flat with the valves open, so basically it would be a beast to store in your home! I bought the XL one (before i sent it back the next day!) and it would have been like storing a single mattress.... I personally wouldn't buy anything other then an thermarest but i know there are alpkit fans on here.

We have the 7cm Vango double SIM and it is HUGE when rolled up (or at least it is when we do it). As we never got on with airbeds, I can't really think what to replace it with that would be comfortable and it seems a waste not to use it having forked out for it so we shall be packing round it for the foreseeable future.

It is comfortable but we have never had a thermarest so can't compare.