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Our UK Camping forum has all the information you need on finding the right equipment for your tent or caravan.

Original poster

Fat airics- are they good and where can i get them?

41 replies

spikemomma · 23/05/2010 22:08

Got the camping bed dilemma and heard about fat airics. Are they any good? If so, where is the cheapest place i can buy them from?

OP posts:
MisSalLaneous · 23/05/2010 22:19

They're fab.

The Fat Airics are not produced (or sold new) anymore - they seem to be replaced by these.

Alpkit a great company to deal with - we bought our Fat Airics there earlier this year.

Mung · 23/05/2010 22:24

Oh no...I had just decided to invest in 2 Fat Airics. Are the replacement 'Dozers' as good? Has anyone tested them?

poppyboo · 24/05/2010 09:44

gutted, we were planning on getting our Fat Airics this year!
How to know if these new ones are any good?

Slubberdegullion · 24/05/2010 10:03

Gosh those dozers are more expensive than the airics are they not Sal?

For that price I'd get a thermarest instead.

poppyboo · 24/05/2010 10:49

do you have any idea how much the termarests are?

Slubberdegullion · 24/05/2010 11:37

They vary in cost enormously dependig on what you need them for. see here. We have the basecamps and have been very pleased with them.

Fat airics have always been popular on mn over thermarests because they were cheaper and seemed better value for money. If I was spending £60 on an inflating mat I would give my money to thermarest everytime. Their reputation is extremely good.

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:21

Yes Slubber, ours worked out £45 each (£10 discount if you bought 2), so quite an increase for something which seems very similar! I think you're right, if the price difference is not too bad, I'd probably go for Thermarests, as they have a longer (lifetime?) guarantee. And I'm saying this as a huge FA fan.

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:24

Hmm, saying that, quick scan gives me this as closest to the Fat Airic, and that costs around £120. Perhaps their production costs rose considerably (Alpkit and Thermarest).

Slubberdegullion · 24/05/2010 12:25

When and why did they stop making them?

Or have they just rebranded and hoiked up the prices by 40%

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:26

I think they stopped selling them late April. I remember being a little annoyed, as I have just bought ours just to see it was to be replaced. However, for that kind of price increase, I'm very relieved we did!

Slubberdegullion · 24/05/2010 12:27

x post sorry.

The basecamps we have are £62 and 5cm deep. How deep are your airics?

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:37

They're 7cm, so 0.6 cm less than the Thermarest one. 5cm would probably be just as comfortable to be honest, but can't say I have personal experience.

seeker · 24/05/2010 12:38

We love our Fat "Erics"

It's not so much the thickness as the width that we like - more room to spread out. But we do like to camp in comfort!

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:49

Yes, width great. We put a double fitted sheet over the two, and the three of us slept on it for most of the evening (myself, dh and 2yo). Ds had a Wee Airic, but got a bit cold during the night as he refused to wear his hat, so we were all able to snuggle up.

This is most definitely a car camping mat though, it's too big for public transport imo.

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 12:51

Silly point (if I'm even making one!), but I don't really like the new names. Wonder if it's just because I'm used to the old ones though.

Original poster
spikemomma · 24/05/2010 13:20

Ah cursors, i'm always so slow of the mark I can't believe they've been canned! The dozer ones look quite a good alternative -do you think? The others are just so expensive!

OP posts:
ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 24/05/2010 13:28

I think it's just a bit of tweaking and rebranding and bumping the price up (although sounds as though Thermarest may have also bumped theirs up, so maybe it's the global camping mat market in general...)

Don't know what was wrong with the Airic name, though.

ebayaddict · 24/05/2010 14:44

If any of you have a Costco card they are selling similar to the Fat Airics for around £17 each (inc vat). They're 7.5cm thick and really comfortable. I fond them much better than the cheapo Aldi one bought last year and comparable to the £0 outwell that I tried in a camping shop.

This guy is selling the excact ones on ebay at at bit of a mark up here

AlpJim · 24/05/2010 15:01

Hi there, I thought I'd just post a quick message on what we have done to our mats to give you a better understanding.

We have found a new factory who can give us an overall better product... the downside is they are more expensive, this combined with the strong dollar has pushed our prices up higher than we would have liked but feel the product is now an equal to anyone manufacturer.

Loads more about the factory change here.

We now offer 3 sleeping mats that can be used for Fat Mat camping, as you have mentioned the Dozer, 7cm thick is now joined by the Dirtbag, 5cm thick and the Wedge 5cm at the head, 2.5cm at the feet. All of our sleeping mats are covered by our Alpine Bond, a lifetime guarantee as comprehensive as any.

We are putting together a lot more pages on the sleeping mats to highlight all the differences which will be ready in June.

Hope this helps a little.

Cheers, Alpjim.

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 15:15

Hi AlpJim, thanks for info, I'm sure OP will appreciate it! Apologies, it was me saying you had a shorter guarantee - have no idea why I thought you didn't offer a lifetime one. As a Fat Airic owner, I am obviously happy to be corrected.

Original poster
spikemomma · 24/05/2010 18:33

Thanks AlpJim, it's nice to get an understanding of the reasoning behind the costs, rather than maintaining an assumption of a huge profit margin. It makes me feel better!

Cos i started the thread (promotion-promotion) and need four do i get a discount?!! . Now Jim looks like this: .

Ah! No time to be cheeky - kids have hold of the hose pipe and aiming it at the grumpies next door...

OP posts:
poppyboo · 24/05/2010 18:55

Thanks Alpjim for the info!

I rang up Alpkit this morning for a chat about their camping mats, the lady was very helpful to me and didn't mind having a chat about all the different options even though I could have found the info on the Alpkit website! It seems like they have very good customer service which is always a massive plus in my books.

I'll check out thermrest but I imagine i'll probably go with aplkit, now i just have to decide between the dozer an the wedge.....

does anyone own the camping mat they do for children? it is 2.5 cm and i was wondering how comfy it was for them?
I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old.

MisSalLaneous · 24/05/2010 19:06

Poppyboo, we've got the Wee Airic, but except for thickness, I don't know how that compares to their new children's mat. Perhaps Alpjim kan help out here.

For what it's worth, the Wee Airic is great. It's comfortable (less so than Fat Airic, but then for lighter bodies I don't think they'd notice), and packs up a lot smaller. I've read reviews of backpacking people using those out of choice for adults.

ProfessorLaytonIsMyLoveSlave · 24/05/2010 19:18

We have a Wee Airic and DS (5) has been quite happy with it. We've just ordered the new children's mat so will be able to report back after trying it out this weekend (assuming I actually get confirmation of my pitch booking).

poppyboo · 24/05/2010 19:30

Thanks for your reply MisSa! do you think it would be safe to use for 2 year 2 month old toddler to use? Are they an age thing on them (like not for under 3's for example!)

Would love to hear back from you Professor with your opinion after its been used!

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