What do you sleep on?

[anchovies]

Dh and I have just spent 4 nights on 10cm hi gear SIMs. Was our first camping trip with the dcs and we had a fab time but the sleep issue was a deal breaker for us both. The mat was two narrow and I've come away feeling as though my ribs are actually bruised (and my back possibly broken!) So before we can try again I was just wondering if it can get better than this?!

Oh, I'll be watching this with interest. I have just ordered a 10cm outwell SIM after reading the recommendations on here. My old inflatable double mattress gave up the ghost last week & was soooo cold to sleep on.
I'm a side sleeper so really need some padding too. Will be gutted if the SIM is uncomfortable.
Am off to Bestival next week & was planning on using the SIM with a lovely thick sleeping bag.
Scared now

Air bed- single... slightly underinflated to give some give... with two normal pillows... otherwise my hips 'go' and I am in agony for the week!! Can't get on with SIMs just not enough depth for me.
I have never found it cold with a proper sleeping bag and thermals. In fact this last week in the Lakes I was too hot in bed (a first!)

I prefer an air bed over a SIM too. I don't find them cold either, though I do put a fleece blanket over them to insulate slightly.

Definitely agree about needed proper pillows too.

I have been looking at the outwell caress sleep system, looks perfect to me!

I am also put off SIMs by how huge they roll up (the 10cm ones)

We are just on our journey home from 2 weeks in France - I invested in the Coleman comfort double air bed for this trip. We found it really comfy. With other air beds every time dh or I move it's like being on a water bed and we just needed a decent nights kip. I would highly recommend it

I'd buy www.gooutdoors.co.uk/hi-gear-4-leg-camping-bed-p143629 I hate airbeds for the motion sickness rolling over and the fact that most seem flat in the morning. We have one of these (for me) and two smaller ones from Argos for the kids. My other half, who is 6'2", will happily sleep on this for a few nights, but his legs disappear off the end so we'll be finding something longer for him soon. If you put a fleece blanket over it for cold nights it's very toasty too.

We have room in our bell tent for a superking airbed from Intex (their king size) and it is fab for two. (or 3 with DD). We have an open sleeping bag covered by a sheet and a thick duvet. Bliss.

Even if you can't fit a superkong in your tent the extra space on a king is worth going for (150cm rather than 135cm). The SK is 180cm wide.

I second the Coleman comfort - with a fleece blanket under a sheet to stop cold coming from underneath in the night. We just did ten days in France and swapped our double sleeping bag for a duvet which I managed to squeeze into the sleeping bag case so took up no more boot space than normal. Both slept really well - although warmer weather probably helped!

On the fitting in a duvet front, DH has just bought some vacuum bags from Wilkos and managed to fit in our king-size duvet with cover and squeeze all the air out of it with a hand pump from Go Outdoors. This has revolutionised our packing as we will now be able to vacuum pack clothes, cushions, blankets etc and then vacuum pack them again to get them home again (not much point doing it with a hoover at home, if you then have to leave half the stuff at the campsite in order to get home )

Another vote for Coleman Comfort (double) here. It's really nothing like a bog standard airbed at all and vastly improved my camping experience.

We've got cheapo Argos readybeds. We've had them for years, although they were only supposed to be a stop-gap we've had no reason to want to replace them (we have double, kids both have singles). When we were packing them up last week we agreed they were a very good buy! They are not too much if the weather turns hot as the bag part is quite thin, but we find they are warm enough in cold weather with the addition of fleece liners for the kids (and a fleece underneath) and dh and I have a duvet underneath and a fleece on top. The duvet is the last thing we pack, it goes on top of everything else in the trailer and then we can squash it in with the hard top.
They are comfier if not over-inflated so usually better after the first night .

Ooh thanks for all the ideas. Have actually got a kingsize intex (I think that's what it is, has a plug attached to it, am I thinking of the right thing?) but it won't fit in the tent. Plus really struggle with wriggly dh bouncing me all over the place on it!

So is it normal to prefer an airbed over a SIM? I thought they are the DBs of camping sleeping?! Off to explore the Coleman Comfort!

an outwell kingsize airbed. I have a bad back and dh an arm that has limited use. So far so good, the only difficulty that we've found is getting off the thing to stand up. For the past four nights we've been pitched on very bumpy lumpy moorland and we've not felt a bit of it.

Just a thought, is your sim overinflated? I have to play with getting the fit amount of air into mine, I then cover with a quilt for a little extra softness.

fit right