Inflatable sleeping mats
 

what should i be looking at getting? It's for one person and want it to be as cheap as possible

I use a Thermarest. Packs small, light and really tough. Theyçre expensive at over 100 dollars, but you get what you pay for. Highly recomended.

I'm a wuss and much prefer an inflateable over the the camping pads. The only downside I've experienced is that they aren't good in cold weather.
My suggestion is to buy a cheapie at Wally World (or similar) with a patch kit and learn whether it suits you.
Also, there are now insulated fancy inflating camping pads available.

Hi,
I think there are 3 main types but there could be more. I 've used all of those 3 over the years:

1. "foam" mats which are light, cheap but relatively hard when on the ground and they don't fold/roll up very small at all. IMO you will not get a full night's sleep with one of these.

2. Airbeds that blow up - these are avail for single size and they provide better comfort, fold up smaller and are usually more expensive; also light for packing on the bike.

3. "Therm a rest" type of sleeping mat which is a bit like the two above combined but a bit cleverer - when opened out these self inflate but you can add more air by blowing it up as well. Most expensive usually.


However, none of these are expensive when you bear in mind that you will spend, say, 7-8 hours stretched out on the ground each and every day. I would say don't skimp on your comfort in this area or you will be tired!

Take a look on ebay or any good camping shop.

Therma Rest...its where you'll be spending your resting hours. A good nights sleep makes the next day's ride a lot more enjoyable...you won't regret it...
Get a toasty sleeping bag as well...
If you're heading to the US, buy there..its a heckuva lot cheaper...
Try places like Campmor.com or backcountry.com You'll get last years model at half the price.
HTH

I have 2 of the self inflating mats. 1 is a 3/4 length therma-rest which I use with the seat kit. This means you can comfortably sit up in your tent which is wonderful. It folds up to nothing. It's comfortable to sleep on too but it's only 52 cm wide. My main sleeping mat is 63 cm wide and 190 cm long, that makes a lot of difference if you like to spread out when you sleep. It's made by Metzler but there are lots on the market. Aldi / Lidl also sell them for £10 when they have their camping gear in which should be anytime now.

The Exped Downmats are inflatable air mattresses with down insulation in the tubes. They use the stuff sack as a pump and only take a dozen or so pump strokes (i.e. sacks full of air) to inflate. The insulation makes them warm and comfortable. They are warmer, more comfortable and pack smaller and lighter than Thermarest. They do cost more, but as another poster mentioned, you get what you pay for.

Thermarest. Recommended by me, Chris Scott and Ray Mears. They do actually vary greatly in price and I think I got mine from Cotswold Outdoors for around £35.

We just received the REI anniversary catalogue in the mail yesterday. Their anniversary sale starts this Friday, May 4th and the Thermarest Prolite 4 sleeping pads are on sale for $64.99 (regular $94.99). Not sure if the 3 is going to be on sale also, I hope so!

Hi,
Thermarest are the original and some say the best. Mine's been going strong for years now.

A cheaper option might be Alpkit (see Alpkit.com) which sell for half the price. Alpkit do sometimes have quality control issues as I found out (my 'Slim Airic mat has a leak) but they are very cheap and have excellent customer service, so any problems are quickly sorted.

Matt

Another vote for the Thermarest. Shop around on the net for the best prices.

Watch out for zip pulls!!
 

I have both a Artiach self inflating 3/4 pad and a Gelert 'Reed Airbed'. On it's own the self inflating pad is not sufficient to pad the 'bony' bits of shoulder, hip and knee, but the airbed gets cold. So I put my pad on my airbed:thumbup1:

The Gelert is the smallest packing airbed I've seen, about the size of a 1" thick house brick. Cost about £10, whereas the Artiach cost over £50:( and doesn't pack much smaller. Having an electric air pump helps:cool4:

One thing also to check, and thats the zip pulls on your sleeping bag. My Aztec zips have square corners, and I am a restless sleeper. I'm pretty sure that is what has put a leak into the Artiach pad. I shall sleeve the zip pulls with a bit of neoprene tubing to stop it happening again.

Alpkit outdoor gear for alpine activities including climbing, mountaineering and trekking

Copy thermarest for half the price. Read the various reviews going about. Alpkit can't do alot wrong at the moment.Check them out!

im with lone rider,
i sleep on my side so a mat just doesnt do anything for me. i use a cheap blow up from the local chainstore, one of those box construction rubberised canvas things, you know what i mean. came with a patch kit and spare bungs etc, but in several biggish trips and many small weekenders its never let me down (no pun intended sorry)

cold has never bothered me but if it did i would get one of those silver foil emergency blankets to lay on, cheap and virtually weightless

I've tried every thing, I've found Big Agnes inflatable pad to work well 2 1/2" thick and fold up to about 1/4 the size of Thermarest.

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.

What about in a double?
 

Hiya Folks...

Does anyone know if anyone does any of these air ones in a double matress size...

We have 2 therma-rests and a joining kit at the moment but if I can convince my better half away from camp beds I think she'll insist on a blow up bed and one that doesn't need a 240v/12v pump and packs up to take up a whole boot would be nice...

Suggestions...

Tony.

Word of caution for sleeping mats
 

I've burnt mine on the last camping trip; we decided on an open fire to cook the sausages etc - went OK and I pulled up the sleeping mat to sit on around the fire.
Then it lost its air just as it got dark and I could not see what the problem was. In the light of day, I thought I could see a bunch of tiny thorns stuck in the fabric (but there were no sources of thorns around!).
On getting the thing checked properly at home (immersed in the bath), it turned out that there were 4 tiny burns in the material and 3 of them were leaking air; a drop of bostic type glue on each one and it is holding air again!! :rolleyes2:

I have a Gelert Trail DLX Self Inflating sleeping Mathttp://pics.ebaystatic.com/aw/pics/uk/s.gif, it's really easy to use and it folds up to bugger all. Cost me £20 (GBP)

The great thing is that it has seperatly inflatable sides (& pillow), that come up quite high, so if like me, you roll a bit in the night, you stay on your mat. All my other mats I used to roll off.:sleep1:

Tony, check out eBay, plenty of inflatable doubles on there, from proper camping shops too.:thumbup1:

hi tony, i bought my box matress in argos, and they do a double size

ExPed experience - Great
 

We bought the ExPed Deluxe 9 sleeping pads in Portland, OR, USA in June to replace the Thermarests we had been using. Grant had said they were more comfortable, and we found that they are. We use the Thermarest double mattress straps to hold them side by side, the straps fit fine.

In Ireland in August we were trapped inside the tent by a rainstorm for an entire day. We pumped up the matresses and both sat on one mattress and leaned against the other. Not long after that one of them started leaking slowly (we don't remember which we one we sat on). The interior dividers had pulled away from the cover and there were small leaks along the welded seams at each end. We contacted ExPed by email (they're in Zurich) and said we were going to be passing by and could they look at it. They said yes, and we stopped in to see them. The man who we had emailed back and forth about it looked at them and immediately replaced both of them with new ones. We told him this whole story too. Great customer service! We are very pleased with the mattresses and with the company. My advice is only pump them enough to hold your whole body off the ground, not a concentrated area like your butt, especially two butts!

Bob Eggett
Welcome to the travels of the White Dragon

[QUOTE=-Ali-;133176]what should i be looking at

Theyre all wrong, Ali.

Get an inflatable backpackers mattress...the one I have has 6 or & quills or tubes which you blow up by mouth - no extra machines needed. Its compact, light and cheap. It's great for sleeping on stony ground, for you float above the stones. In the UK this costs about £7 or 10 euros for the cheapest. (Argos) Dont over inflate, thats all.

These other things that people recommend are heavy, big, expensive and they soon leak air. I had 2 of them and they were no good at all. They are maybe OK for kids to use camping in the garden.

No doubt someone will say how his lasted for years.....I still say dont get one!

Caimando -

Have you used this mat a lot? any problems?

I like the idea it looks fairly thick and will pack up very small and has 6 chambers so if 1 goes flat..

The self inflating mats seem to have a much thicker construction so I guess are less likely to leak?

I have used a number of double size inflating airbeds from argos (the bix box type ones) but they last about 3-5 uses then puncture which leaves you sleeping on the floor (or rethar not sleeping...)

Does the construction of the backpacker feel like it will last and/or take a bit of abuse?

Does anyone know of a similar thing but a bit heavier duty since the combination of thickness light weight and small size are very good but it would be a miserable night(s) if it punctured though I guess it has at least 6 air chambers.

Around Australia we have throns that puncture air matreses ... so I have one of those cheap foam matreses .. then a thermarest self inflating matress .. The foam matress takes the thorns (make certain you only use it one way up, and after a while pick out the thorns) and the thremarest provide the comfort.

why not a folding camp bed as seenher :=

outdoor uk Furniture,camping uk Chairs,stools uk,camping tables, folding tables,

the 10.95 one with four legs is teh most comfy. no need to worry about punctures.
when camping i take a bag and a double bed sized thin fleece. that way i can in hot weather lie onit all, or have one or two layers of fleexce or the bag plus one or twolayers of fleece. ( warmest is to lieon one layer of fleece with the oyther half overthe bag and my head. most of teh heat you lose is through your head and by warming the air you breathe, having a mini tent over your head reduces heat loss considerably... also gives you a second line of defence if any insects get in your tent.

Comfort
 

I use to have one of those folding beds. It was pretty comfy for a cot but it didn't fold up that small and I can only imagine if you had a full load, the trouble it would be to pack it some where on the bike. I can't remember the model but I also had a therma-rest back in the day. It was very nice. It had two layers. The bottom was foam and then a top layer that you were able to blow up and put in a bit of air for extra comfort. The good thing about it was if you did get a thorn or something in the bottom it was only in the foam and since these were differnt compartments, it would not lose air. Also it squeezed and rolled up into a nice compact size and would fit on the bottom of my pack when I would go camping. I haven't looked into it but I'm sure there are still pads like this.

Alpkit
 

I just got 2 alpkit mats in the Uk, they are a thermarest type mat but way cheaper and like thermarest can be joined up for 2. both mats were less than £30 delivered and this Alpkit seems like quality stuff.

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