Air bed recommendations, please!

[MrsWembley]

We go through these things like water, for some reason!

Thought we'd found the perfect one, two singles zipping together, so reducing the annoying wobble from the other person, but still keeping the ability to use a double bag. Got a puncture in one, which the patch won't cure, and the other keeps deflating just enough to be uncomfortable but not so much as to suggest another puncture.

Help! What do you use and how many nights can you manage on it?

I've just ordered an outwell air flow (double) and can feed back when we test it next weekend. It's new to the market so couldn't find any reviews, but I liked that it
wasn't too deep (20cm) and looked robust. was pricey though, we paid £89.
There's a video on the outwell website.

Outwell dreamboat. It's amazing! But they're quite expensive so might not be a good idea if you're prone to puncturing them!

...partly got this one because I don't like very deep airbeds (too wobbly!), but it's deeper than the deepest SIMs available, which people seem to manage with comfortably for a week's holiday.

Get a SIM!
We had the same issue. We now sleep more comfortably on a 5cm SIM than we ever did on an airbed.

Do you not find on a SIM that when you turn into your side you wake up very quickly with painful hips?

I'm just back from a trip with my new SIM - a Vango 10 comfort grande. I don't think I've ever slept so comfortably when camping. Definitely no painful hips.

I haven't used an air bed since changing to a SIM but we did have a Coleman double blow-up that had two seperate air chambers so was better for two people.

I think SIMS depend on how you sleep, how your hips are built, what the weight to thickness ratio is. Also whether you use a sleeping bag that adds another layer of padding.

I have an Outwell SIM and it is way more comfortable than an airbed. I also have fibromyalogia and am often in pain, but find i'm less stiff and achey after sleeping on my mat than when i sleep in my regular bed. If i have a criticism it's that i do slide off of it sometimes and end up sleeping on the floor which isn't so great! Another bonus for me is that our dogs come camping with us and the SIMs seem far more resistant to claws than the airbed ever was.

We got 7.5 cm Vango SIMs for the kids this year and am very pleased with them. I got a good price, will post the link later. I was fed up with the air beds deflating - partly the cost and also the hassle of having to make an emergency trip to a camping shop halfway through the trip! We were literally buying a new air bed every year. The kids slept on them really well, and I didn't have to be constantly nagging 'don't jump on the air beds!' all day. Also the kids didn't slip off them as much as with air beds.
Last weekend we camped and I hadn't got around to replacing mine and DHs bed yet, so we still had a double air bed which lo and behold deflated on the 3rd night. So I definitely have to buy a SIM for us!
I am currently debating whether to get a double or put two singles together. From what I have read good brands are Thermarest, Outwell, Vango.

Following with interest. Looking at 10cm SIMs for my partner who is a camping novice and really felt the 2.5cm SIM

I upgraded this year to the Starry Night Lightweight Folding Inflatable double bed from Amazon. It's huge and really not for the lightweight camper but I have to say it was very very comfortable. The inside inflatable bed went down a little in the night but because of the frame you don't hit the ground. I paid £99.99 so quite expensive but I'm a convert. Also if you do puncture it you can use any double air bed on the frame.

MrsWembley I used to get hip and back pain after more than 1 night on an airbed, but have slept much better on a 5cm Vango SIM.

Thank-you all and I am still considering our options!

However, DP has now started making noises about a folding camper...

We'll still need the tent for a couple of places we go to that can't take caravans or trailers, so we'll still need to replace the bed. I didn't know that you could get different thicknesses of SIMs!

I'm watching this with interest.

Sorry to be thick....is a SIM one of those thinnish foam filled type self inflating matresses?

My kids have got them and sleep like a dream!

We had a fantastic skinny inflatable matress with a duvet that attached to it. It was so comfy and warm. It kept puncturing and we had to retire it in the end....

We replaced it with one of those tall inflatable matresses that looks like a normal height double bed. It's not too bad comfort wise, but it's so cold....like horribly freezing to camp on.

Have currently lost our camping mojo after one too many cold wet weekends. Hoping a warm, dry spell will reignite it!

I have just got back from 3 blissful nights on my new SIM, Appkit Dumo. After using an ultralight, ultrathin Thermarest for years, I decided an upgrade was due since I no longer backpack up mountains with all my kit.

Chimchar SIM = Self Inflating Mattress, the one in my link above is a particularly fat one.

Thanks Bike.
That matress looks mighty comfy!!

Will do some research!

Decathlon do a bed in a bag, about £50 but it's duvet mattress and pillows all pack down into one bag - fab!

Depends on how much you are willing to pay for an air mattress, my wife and I bought Intex Raised more than a year ago, and we are happy with the purchase now..