Sevylor makes a nice rubberized cotton mattress.It is heavy but packs down pretty small and will last a long time. Mine is 7 years old now and is still great.

Cabela's in the US sells them for about $30.

Cabela's -- Sevylor Cotton/Rubber Inflatable Bed

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/co...513723sq01.jpg

yes, thats just the kind of thing i use, it does weigh a couple kilos i suppose but it packs down flat, or rolls up, to a couple of teeshirts volume i guess.

i also use mine uninflated as a waterproof groundsheet to sit on. its so cheap i dont really bother about it, but its taken it all very well.

Life long waranty
 

Let's not forget that the original Thermarest comes with life-long-waranty and dealers all over the planet.
That is worth the extra bucks.

About the down-filled mattress: It is the air inside the down that insulates, not the down itself. So filling a air-filled space with down is useless (in my humble opinion).

Maarten:mchappy:

hi Maarten,
i would glady pay extra for a good nights sleep, its important. but im one of those people who simply cant sleep on their backs, so i have a problem with any kind of mat and mummy bags.

as the old saying goes, "get a comfortable bed and comfortable shoes, if youre not in one, youre in the other"

as a bit of trivia, the US army ran a sleep deprivation experiment in the 50's or 60's, and they kept some poor volunteer(idiot) awake for 100 days!! they only stopped because he died.

Hi Martin,
For me its the cheepest inflatable matress with a thermarest on top.

Comfy and insulated.

I have an Airmat 7.5 and find it more comfortable than a Thermarest. As a bonus it is more compact as well. I am concerned it may not last as long, e.g. it may leak, but so far it works very well.

i too have the exped airmat. i've slept on everything over the past 20 years and this is the most comfortable. no kidding, you could roll this up and put it into your pocket. however it offers no thermal insulation, so i place a karrimat on top of it. warm and comfortable.

i found that even on a thermarest i was turning quite a lot in the night as my hips got sore due to lying on my side. not anymore!

you do have to inflate thses by mouth, i find about 15 deep breaths does the job. it deflates in seconds (no foam inside to try and compress) i roll my air mat, karriamt and sleeping bag up all together like an aussie swag and place them in an exped side compresion dry bag. all up it measures about 50cm (karrimat width) by about 20 cms (down filled sleeping bay, a synthetic bag would produce a fatter roll).

I'm with JoeSheffer and the AlpKit self-inflating mattress.
I hated camping for years because it was so uncomfortable but now with my AlpKit Fat Airic, a Campus Adventure 300 XL sleeping bag and a little memory foam pillow I'm bloomin' sorted!

The AlpKit equipment is reasonably priced. i went for the Fat Airic because of its width and length but in practice I could have got away with shorter...you don't really need it under your legs. However, if you can make room then go full sized. Just make sure it will fit in your tent.

Take a look at the exped sleeping mat range.
As already mentioned they do a down filled version a synthetic one and an empty one that folds down very small.
Dave.

I use the Exped 7.5 Deluxe as it has the pump built in. I have a Thermarest but found it wasn't thick enough to give total comfort. The Exped is much thicker and folds down as small as the Thermarest so packs away easily. I have tried several cheap airmats but they have always got punctures and let me down when I needed it. Pay more and get something proper that will last.

Some interesting stuff mentioned above.

After trying several self-inflating doo-daas, which all leaked air, I now use a backpackers air mattress with 6 quills (or air chambers). You are in Kent UK so you can get them at Argos; costs about £8 I think. They roll up small, theyre not heavy, but you can get dizzy blowing them up....(or is that a different type of blow up item???)


I like this type of mattress because they inflate fat enough to let you sleep well on stony ground.....

Hello all!

This I would not recommend to everyone. It'll very probably create back problems in a medium or longer term for those who don't have them yet. Those who already have a back problems, they'll probably get worse...

Too soft bed is never healthy for your back.

We just swopped from regular mats to therm-a-rests. Both are relatively stiff, but exacly comfty enough. Big pro for therm-a-rest is a good isolaton - much warmer sleep compared to regular mats also felt a bit more comfty.

Simply superb is the chair-conversion kit for thermarest mats, IMHO. Easy to use and probably the comftiest camping chair you can find per how small the roll goes in packed size together with mat. So I'd recommend buying the chair kit too for long distance travellers who need to take the time off the bike more often, more comfort and less hassle.

There's a universal couple kit too, you can tie two mats together to make a "big bed". Useful for 2 uppers.

So I'd give my vote for therm-a-rest too. You can get them with different price levels. Don't count out fleaBay too, some go out with bargain prices there.

Wriggler
 

Hi Guys,
I have had a few thermarest over the years and they are not bad.
However I got an Ortlib airbed. It was said to be puncture proof and so far. India&back/ Round Europe/Iberian peninsula, trips later (2003-7) it still works. Now travelling around the Scottish Islands.
One side has a non slip surface & is waterproof so as I wriggle in the night, I don't wake up on the cold floor in the morning. Just my 10p worth.

When doing my Duke of Edinburgh i could never get comfortable on those sponge mats, and they always took up too much space. A 3/4 length thermarest sorted that out. Is very comfy, is light, packs small, is warm etc etc. As everyone says if you shop around you can find them cheaper, and to get a good nights sleep when you on the :scooter: the next morning is always worth a few more £££

100% agreement. We have two Exped Downmat 9 deluxe sleeping pads and they are the best I have ever used in over 30 years of this sort of stuff.