We have a wonderful Tent, nice and roomy but have no luck with sleeping well in it due to poor quality air beds etc
We have had countless airbeds, and just purchased last week a £60 sleepin'bed from decathalon Quechua ... which i must say for £59.99 is poor quality for the price even though they give a 2 yr warranty, which we are taking back tomorrow after one nights sleep it struggled to stay rigid and the stitching has come away already...............
So anyone got any ideas of what to sleep on - we are open to try anything except airbeds .... tried the lot and a waste of time, Mr Camper wants to try camping bed? but Mrs Camper (me) likes to sleep next to my husband not separate!! :)
Before we moved to a trailer tent, beds being one of the main reasons, we had 2 single beds which we put a duvet over to soften. I found it more comfortable but dh didn't however when we were in a camping shop he had a like on a big camp bed and said he'd have been happy on one of those. Some people put self-inflating mattresses on top of camp beds which I expect is very comfy though bulky on the packing front.
------------- From tents to trailer tents to a tin tent to an air tent to trailer tent and back to tin tent!
I've recently just come back from my first camping trip with the OH and I found that our airbed, if inflated just before bedtime would /just/ about last until the morning, you could feel your shoulder and bum touching the floor, but with the sun coming up early anyway, we couldn't stay much longer in the tent!
I also found this problem when I go to the Reading Festival in my Rocky 4.
The airbeds don't seem to be sealed so well, maybe a waterbed would be better?
Try a Aerobed, they are one of the best air beds. I have had mine 3 years and no problems. You can get all sorts have a look at there website as they have offers on all the time. Argos sell them, also GO
I love my camp bed my DH loves his SIM. A lot of couples have 2 SIMS and then use a sheet to keep them together to make a double. You can get double SIMS but they do tend to be quite narrow where as two extra wide SIMS gives you more room. It also means you can still use a double sleeping bag if you want to. You can also get double camp beds but you will have a bar down the middle of them (making it difficult to use a double sleeping bag). If you put SIMS on them and then a sheet to hold it all together it would probably make the bar less of a problem.
I moved to camp bed + SIM combo after my trusted double airbed developed a leak mid trip over Christmas.
The new bed arrangement is very comfortable and I cannot fault it, except perhaps the effort it takes to put the camp bed together (an Outwell Laguna Hill).
It is only the second time I have used the camp bed. Hopefully, with age, the canvas will stretch a bit more, making it easier to put together.
If I were to start again spec'ing a camp bed, I would get either the Outwell Posadas or Kampa Dream in the largest size, as they have an easier to put up mechanism.
DK
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We have the big steel framed camp beds which are brilliant, easy to put together, comfy and you can store stuff underneath. Never tried them with a sim on top, just use them as they are. The downside is that they are no good in the weekend tent because of the height and the slope on the bedroom pods. They are also bulky when folded and very heavy.
We also have a couple of the low cheaper camp beds with the U shaped legs. These are also comfortable but a nightmare to put together and I just cant assemble them on my own.
For airbeds I am a fan of the old fashioned rubber red and blue airbeds which are OK for a night or two and fine for the kids. Hubby and I find they can give you backache though and I wouldnt want to sleep on them for a week.
We have just bought two of the Aerobed Pakmats for £30 each off Amazon and have yet to sleep on these properly but they seem OK. Wouldnt have wanted to pay £79.99 for them though!
And I once slept on a SIM at a friends house and hated it, kept sliding off so thats put me off.
In summary? We have camped for 20 years and I havent found the perfect solution yet that is really comfortable and fits all of our tents. The problem is that you have to buy something and sleep on it for a couple of nights to find out if its any good and then you cant take it back. Other peoples reviews arent all that helpful.
And I would rather sleep on a double bed too but find that actually two singles tend to be more comfortable. Good luck!
Sadly there is no magic answer to this problem. As others have said it is an entirely personal thing. What some people find comfortable, others will not.
However as you seem to have decided not to get another airbed then the alternatives are camp bed or SIM. I would go to a camping store and have a really good look at both options.
Can highly recommend the Outwell posadas double airbed. We put a memory foam mattress topper on ours, makes it a lillte warmer and cosier and as there is a bar down the middle it softens that so we can still snuggle up. Some people use sims on top but we found this prpbably works best on a single rather than a double.
Over the years have tried lots of different sleeping arrangements but finally feel we have it cracked.
Also as said earlier it means you can shove all your kit under the bed so your tent looks a lot tidier.
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We use campbeds with the rubberised style airbeds on top, lovely night's sleep and miss it when I go home! Plus as said above, lots of room underneath for storage.
------------- May/June - Spring Valley
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I'm another fan of aerobeds - in fact we now have a caravan but bought one the other week in the sale on aerobed website. We have 2 singles side by side and have slept much better on them than any of the others we've had.
Expensive, but have slept like the proverbial baby ever since I bought it. Having had six months of pain from a trapped nerve from sleeping awkwardly on an air bed, it was worth every single penny.
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Topic: Good nights sleep in a Tent HELP
