Hi everyone we're new to this forum. Just got a new tent and looking to go away with our two girls aged 13 and 9. Just started looked at bits and bobs that we need and just don't know what beds are best these day? Are the thin self inflating ones any good? Had bad experiences with air beds going down in the night before. Have even looked at some roll out memory foam toppers. Any advice would be appreciated! Thanks in advance :0)
Camp bed with a sim on top is the best nites sleep you will have in a tent!
We have a outwell posads double camp bed, with two single outwell sims on top, (singles as there is a bar in the middle of the bed)
I have a 5cm sim, the mrs has 10 cm dream catcher, she suffers with bad back as she has arthritis, and she sleeps better in the tent than she dose at home!!
Have yet to try the sims on the floor but we are planning on trying it out for weekends when we get our smaller weekend tent
Hi & welcome 😊 we have been camping for many years and have recently purchased a Intex double height queen airbed with built in electric pump, not the cheapest but the quality is excellent, been up here in North Wales now for 6 nights and not needed to be topped up once!! Will only work with EHU or car adaptor. Over many years of camping tried mats, cheaper beds but this is far superior in quality.
After decades we discovered the decathlon air 70 with a kampa bliss on top. Best sleep ever. Better and warmer than air beds. More comfortable than camp beds or fishing beds. Better than Sims. No brainer.
I'll second the camp bed with SIM on top.
We both sleep better in the tent than at home. You're off the cold floor (even with a carpet down), there's space for storage underneath, and it's a comfortable height for sitting/getting dressed/getting in and out of bed.
Works (very well) for us.
If the campsite is a nice "manicured" grass without any major bumps or stones, you can use an air mattress thats an inch thick.
If the site is a rough field with some chances of stone or clumps of mud/grass that you cant flatten down easily by stamping on them, I'd use a thicker air mattress thats 3 or 4 inches thick when inflated because you can feel the bumps and stones through the thinner air mattresses even when inflated to lung bursting pressures.
You can use a rollmat in all situations as the dense foam blunts the sharpness of stones sticking through but you will feel the undulations of a rough field.
Air mattresses tend be heavier than rollmats and a bit bulkier when deflated, and the width maybe something you want to be aware of because I find, as a bloke, these singles are just not wide enough, which then makes sliding off the air mattress at night when turning in your sleep something that then disturbs your sleep. I have the widest self inflating expedition thermarest they do and its still not wide enough for me, I feel like I'm balancing on it when lying on my back on this. So if you can fit one in, a kingsize or double air mattress like you might put up for guests at home gives you the space to turn in your sleep without falling off the sides.
A backpacking airmat is lighter and less bulky than a roll mat.
Look at the insulated ones like the vaude norrsken or the Kelty recluse. The vaude has side bumpers that help you sleep in it rather than on it. The fold down to about the size of two tins of beans
I'll be honest, I still have the rollmat from when I was in Scouts and I have given up on air mats, mainly because of the stones/rocks poking through, the roll mats dull the pain from these objects which air mats cant do so its the lessor of two evils when considering the bumps, and the fabric covering on air mats seem to make it easier to slide on when inside the sleeping bag, where as the rollmat seems to grip the sleeping bag fabric a bit better so when on an incline I'm less likely to end up waking up at the bottom of the tent.
My old rollmat only weighs 319g which is nearly half the weight of my thermarest and I see this one is 844g with no dimensions, and as I'm not getting any younger weight does become an issue.
Try them. I find my vaude norrsken perfect. Much better than a karrimat for my middle aged body and less bulky than a sim. Touch wood I haven't had a puncture but I have the repair patch which came with it. There is a you tube video where they slide down on air mats. Some survive quite well.
I abandoned karrimats in the eighties.
We use a 10cm SIM. As someone with spinal arthritis and damaged lower lumbar discs, it's a godsend. As others have said, set up on a fold out camp bed or on it's own, it'll be the best night's sleep in a tent you'll ever have. Some people don't like SIMs because they find them hard to compress back down, but there's a trick to it which makes it easy. If you open the valves and roll the mattress up from the other end, then close the valves again, you should then unroll the mattress, and repeat. After a few repeats of this exercise, they'll pack nice and tightly again, especially is you squash out all the air as best you can whilst rolling them back up.
More effort than an air bed, but air beds can be prone to puncture/leaking and frankly, are not as comfy imho as a really good SIM, especially if you have a bad back or similar.
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Topic: Which beds to get??
