I'm DONE with air mattresses!

[Bigdog57]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

I personally have had far worse luck (BAD luck!!) trying to suffer through using "Self-Deflator Pads" than with a good quality air mattress. I used a cot early in life, but Dad had a big cabin tent, which I have not used in adulthood. One thing I did learn is to NEVER get onto an air mattress (or SDP) wearing a belt - the buckle WILL cause a puncture.
Since I have a bad back, the air mattress gives me much better ability to adjust the firmness for comfort. I put a thin closed-cell foam pad under it to protect from ground punctures and cold seepage. This has worked fro me for decades.

[astrowolf67]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

We gave up on air matresses a few years ago, after getting holes in even the more expensive ones we had. Ground pads worked good, until my wife's knees started going bad, so, we ended up with a quick cot double cot from Dick's, with a memory foam topper on top of that. It has worked great for us so far. As for the kids, they should be fine with some decent ground pads.

David

[saraz95]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

Iam guessing you bought one of those air matresses that could be puncutured. You could buy SoundAsleep Dream Matress that has a puncture-resistant material From Amazon after reading this review https://soundasleepmattressreview.wordpress.com/. I hope you like it.

[sixty7flh]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

maybe off topic?
have you ever seen those camping hammocks? I want to try one! I too. just had bad experience with air mattresses. I saw it inflated for like 6 months, never got put away after relatives. I finally deflated it and folded it up. upon camping it was flat 1/2 way through the night.. tried ANOTHER night. maybe we didn't seal it right? so TWO bad night.. went into town and bought a new one. it went flat, tried IT a second night. still flat. I THEN slept night 5 on hard ground and it was better than the mattress fiasco nights!dammit!

[tplife]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

Thanks saraz95. You might have noticed in our experiences on these threads, we got decades of hard use (SoCal is a 365-day/year camping environment) out of our Cascade Designs ThermaRest products before any leakage, and that was either quickly fixed with SuperGlue, or handled under Lifetime Warranty conditions...and we never suffered a bad night's rest because we had less than 5.0 R-value sleeping gear! Hollow-tube air mattresses are GREAT as long as it never gets colder than 50-degrees F, colder than that you'd better have a few shots (or a short memory) to take the pain away!

[Bigdog57]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

Iam guessing you bought one of those air matresses that could be puncutured. You could buy SoundAsleep Dream Matress that has a puncture-resistant material From Amazon after reading this review https://soundasleepmattressreview.wordpress.com/. I hope you like it.

Unfortunately that site has been deleted by the author. :-(

[gmann]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

Just a follow up to one of my earlier posts.

I have two Exped MegaMat 10 sleeping pads. I have camped with them 18 times this season. They are awesome when it's cool outside and they are awesome when it's hot outside. I have even slept on them at home and they are the real deal. Very comfortable and I highly recommend them especially for car camping.

[wiiawiwb]

Re: I'm DONE with air mattresses!

Sleeping on the ground or on a cot in cold weather can make for a long night. You can have a -60F sleeping bag and you'll be really cold if you do not have appropriate pads/mattresses underneath.

People who are into hammocking use what's known as an underquilt. That is the equivalent of taking a sleeping bag, cutting it along the two sides, and putting elastic across the top of the bottom layer. The underquilt would go below your cot and keep you warm.

I use a down-filled air mattress, an ExPed DownMat 9, in cold weather. It really helps to keep you toasty in cold weather. If it gets frigid (0-10F), I'll put a ThermaRest Solar Ridgerest beneath the ExPed.