foam camping mats vs airbeds?

[fillyjonk]

Any point to foam mats?

have had to come home after BOTH airbeds turned out to be punctured beyond repair-god knows how)

dp is talking about glory days of youth and foam camping mats

is he talking bllx or shall i get some? need to get them TODAY (more camping imminent)

bump

Foam mats are a lot warmer (more trappered air and all that). If you intend to use just them (and not on a camp bed) you will need to shell out a reasonable amount of money on them. Unelss you are 'well hard' that is and can cope with sleeping on the floor

THose in the know say Thermarest are the best. My DB has one and thinks it is great.

this is as i thought

i cannot be shelling out large amounts of money, aaargh. thermarest are £50 for a single

so i need a self inflating one?

If you want to slleep! IMHO.

I don't think that I could sleep on the simple foam crash mats on the floor. I manage well with them on top of my camp bed, but I think I would be too uncomfortable on the floor, IYSWIM

I use mine for insulation rather than comfort.

The thermarests are expensive, db swears by his though, and has used it for many years.

other advantage of them is that they save a lot of room/weight.

I have wondered about getting them, as at present we use aluminium camp beds, with foam mats on top (hated air beds, so got rid of them). This lets us sleep in reasonable comfort, but doesn't half take up room in the boot of the car.

I keep thinking that thermarest might be the way to go. But I am put off by the cost and the nagging doubt that I might not find them confortable enough to use on the floor.

the thing is, i have just experienced 2 freak airbed disasters

i am very worried about shelling out around £200 for a repeat incident. (am STILL not sure how this happened, must have caught on something when rolling them up)

[insatiable curiosity emoticon] Freak air bed disaster?

our airbeds leaked all the time, and we had got gelerts to start with, which should have been ok. I also found them too soft.

our approx 15yr old thermarests (the childrens ones are younger) are still going strong. We've never had a puncture, but I think they had a lifetime guarantee. They also do pack down small which is handy, but I like an extra foam pad as well if I'm honest.

am so bloody tempted

but its been a crappy month £££ wise

Snorkle - are they comfortable?

We have really cheapo air beds - they are a nightmare to inflate/deflate.

They're not really uncomfortable, but I wouldn't say they're that comfortable either. They are harder than I'm used to so I tend to feel quite stiff in the mornings. Dh and the kids don't ever complain, so it might just be me. If we have room I take an extra foam pad for me.

we have an OUtwell self inflating mattress, use that and nothing else and no problems - is one that (supposedly) inflates to 5cm thick - rather than 3.5 cm, I owuldn't be happy with the 3.5 ones. Ours is a double, and cost £40 from Go OUtdoors on a special offer. They may still have them at the same price.

forgot ot say, I find the self inflating much betterthan an airbed - found that too wobbly!

i do LIKE the coleman's and would deffo recommend

I think the BIG problem is that the bag is too small, actually

I think I might just end up getting another (they are £25, which is enticing), and also a nice bag to put it in.

5cm think version sounds like a good idea.

Decathlon do a 5cm thick version I think....

As a kid we used air-beds which were cold, damp and uncomfortable, and then moved to foam "karrimats" which were warm but still rather uncomfortable.

Now I use a thermarest which is pretty good and far preferable to either air-bed or karrimat.

We just bought two thermarest base camp
regulars for £42 each for the DC.
www.theoutdoorshop.com. These come up to 5cm thick but roll down to a reasonable size small.

Have punctured thermarests before with crampons and you can patch them up OK.

But hands down winner for comfort would be our lovely new Hypnos orthopedic mattress, sadly the transportation would be tricky and I would fear ridicule on the campsite!

Ok, we've tried foam mats, thinnish "self-inflating" mats, and the fully inflatable mattresses. For sheer comfort the fully inflatables are the best. Try putting one on top of a foam mat to protect it from anything sharpish on the ground.
Kids seem to manage on thin mats of any sort, but as a "mature lady", (over 40), take it from me, the more air the better lol.

Carole