Now when it comes to camping, I'm as hardy as they come...
...as long as I can take my airbed, duvet, camping stove and coffee, etc etc!!
Seriously though, I'm interested in a self inflating airbed but don't know much about them - can anyone recommend one?
It would need to inflate inside the tent - I want to avoid standing by the car whilst it inflates and I definitely don't want a footpump one (are you getting a good image of the type of camper I am !!!)
Whilst I'm on a roll - any advice on 12v coolboxes and 2 or 3 season sleeping bags is also very welcome, as I'm planning a complete overhaul of our camping equipment this year (except the tent which we're still very happy with!)
The self inflating ones, you literally just open the valve and it inflates. Its not an immediate high powered inflate like you see in those inflatable boats on some films. Just take them inside the tent, open the valve and leave them there for about 1 minute with the valve open. After that, if it isn't quite firm enough for you, just blow a couple of breathes into the valve and then close the valve. Job done. To deflate them, just open the valve, roll it up and then close the valve.
Campingaz do a good 12v Coolbox. They come in about 3 sizes. They do NOT keep the food ( or drink ) ice cold, they merely chill it. Really you need to put it in cold and they just let it stay cold for a bit longer than it would if it wasn't in there. The coolboxes can also heat as well ( not piping hot, but it is fine for keeping the fish and chips warm ). They plug into a standard car cigar lighter. They are quite bulky though, but no where near as bulky as the portable fridges.
Vango do some good 3 season sleeping bags. I only really use 2 season. When it is extra cold I take a heater with me.
i have a therma rest prolite 4 which is excellent but very expensive. i only use it for wild camping.i also have a robens 183 x 50 x 4cm which cost 22 pounds from gooutdoors and a robens 196 x 63 x 5cm which is very luxurious and could only be used for car camping. alpkit.com do a fat airic mat which is 7cm thick.my wife is getting one this year.we also have the blow up air beds but after trying the self inflating mats we are changing to self inflaters because we fell they are far better.oh yes the fat airic from is only 35 pounds from alpkit and that includes free delivery.
has for the sleeping bags we have vango bags too and i also have a snugpak sleeper extreme for winter use.you are best looking at lots of websites and comparin prices.heres some good sites i have brought from. alpkit.com, gooutdoors.co.uk, gearzone.co.uk, wildday.co.uk, outdoormegastore.co.uk . hope this helps
Please be aware that the self inflating mattresses are fairly thin not like pump up inflatable ones. Also many 12 volt coolboxes will only run while the car engine is being run! We have a campinggaz supericetime TE36 that we are trying to sell because of this as we now have a gas fridge.
Have tried many many sleeping arrangements, the cots were ok but limited moving room, the self-inflating ones we found the most uncomfortable, in-fact we just felt we were sleeping on the floor ( we had the Vango 5cm ones ). We tried a few airbeds and the best we have had by far have been the coleman comfort beds.
We went from the 12v coolbox to a Waeco Combicool Fridge. The fridges do turn off when you turn the engine off, plus we never found the kept anything really cold for long. Our one used to stay on for a little while after turning the engine off, but as soon as the voltage drops below a certain level, the coolbox turns off. This is to stop it draining the battery. We used to use them manily on 240v with the adpater.
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Topic: Airbeds
