Air Mattresses for Camping?

Raining

Raining

Joined
Oct 13, 2006
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Looking for some recommendations for an air mattress (or two) for car camping. It's for a family of 2 adults and 2 children. Price is not a concern.

Mainly it's for comfort and reliability. Thanks! :D
 
I believe Aerobeds need an AC outlet to plug in the built-in pump, right?

Goto Target or Walmart and buy as many beds as you can fit in your tent comfortably. Don't get the double-height ones. That just adds time to fill it up. Don't bother with the ones with the built in pump. I got a couple air mattresses made by Coleman at Target and they were like $25 for a single. In my experience, there's no difference between the brands as far as comfort is concerned. They all feel like you're on an air bed.

Personally, I wouldn't get smaller than a queen for two adults to sleep on. Air beds don't have as much support on the sides as a regular bed, so you tend to roll off easier.

Also get a battery powered pump.

If it's going to be cold, get some blankets to put on top of the beds under your sleeping bag to insulate you from the cold air in the mattress.
 
River-8 and a couple other folks in the area have tentcots. The new version folds up pretty compact (8x8x40) and would be my ideal car-camping solution in conjunction with my regular closed cell foam pad. There are single and double versions.

I like these because there's generally no maintenance, they set up in under 5 minutes and each person has their own space/privacy.

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Good luck in your search.
 
Take a look at Therm-a-rest's camp and comfort line: the "luxury map" and/or the "dreamtime" may be ideal. They would be very tough and reliable. While expensive, Exped's DownMat series mattresses are equally luxurious, but higher performance [less bulky, lighter, and more compressible].
 
Weve used aerobeds as well.
I have a Northface Trailhead4 tent,basically 8x8
the air mattress takes up the "length" of the tent
Width will depend on what you get.
What Im sayin is there isnt much room to "move around"
once the air mattress is inflated.
comfort is great.
To inflate it at a campground with no electricity,
get one of those cheap power inverters for the car.
changes 12vdc to 110ac and lets you run the pump
(also computer chargers,tv,gameboy,etc etc... ;) )

is this a "first trip" for the family?
 
Thank you for the suggestions! I have a 2 and 4 year old and this is the first time for all of us camping together so I wanted to make it as comfortable and easy as possible.

I am assuming that air mattresses are the easiest but I will look into some of the other ideas. :D
 
Raining said:
Thank you for the suggestions! I have a 2 and 4 year old and this is the first time for all of us camping together so I wanted to make it as comfortable and easy as possible.

I am assuming that air mattresses are the easiest but I will look into some of the other ideas. :D
Click to expand...

Kids that young can sleep on anything. They're so light that they don't need their own air mattress. I'd suggest a foam sleeping pad from Walmart (like $10) with a comforter or extra sleeping bag on top of it for a bit more cushion. It'll take up less room than their own air mattress and they won't notice the difference.

Also, if you have a girl, take a portable toilet of some type to keep in the tent or just outside the tent door. That helps a lot. Trust me on that one.
 
Raining said:
Thank you for the suggestions! I have a 2 and 4 year old and this is the first time for all of us camping together so I wanted to make it as comfortable and easy as possible.

I am assuming that air mattresses are the easiest but I will look into some of the other ideas. :D
Click to expand...

The Therm-a-rests would be fine, but I'd scrap the Exped idea - 2 and 4 year olds like to jump on mattresses. A friend had a baffle blow-out on his Exped from his 1.5 year old jumping on it.
 
We have the coleman brand queen size for our monster family tent. Had it for 5+ eyars and it fine.
I got the rechargeable inflator, (Coleman) and it's handy. I've even used the inflator to turn the campfire into a blast furnace. FUN !!
 
"Thank you for the suggestions! I have a 2 and 4 year old and this is the first time for all of us camping together so I wanted to make it as comfortable and easy as possible."

Yeah, even though kids that age can sleep on anything, when they're that little, make Mama as comfortable as possible.
 
Not sure if it had been mentioned in any of the previous posts but I wanted to get my son a nice mattress that was durable as well as economically priced as we spent a small fortune for all the items needed for his Philmont trip for Boy Scouts, we got him an ALPS Lightweight Montaineering model. I seen many great reviews on it and only picked it up for $38 on amazon w/free shipping. I believe its one of their basic models with some priced up around $100 or more. Only tested it on the floor but it self infltes very quickly to nearly 2" thick, rolls up pretty fast and comes with elastic bands and a nylon sack for storage. A worthwhile consideration.
 
If weight isn't a concern give cots a look. More supportive, easier to get up from and you can store gear under them. If I had to go back to an air mattress I'd go big. The full/double sized Coleman was too easy to roll off of and was hard to get firm enough.

Frank
 
I have for camping Coleman everything and have never had a problem or have I had to use there warranty for any of there products right down to there Lamps and Mantels.! Great products and prices.!!*
 
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