Camping gear.. mattress advise

[Caveman_nige]

Will be doing a bit of camping this summer so that we can get away for a few weekends now and then.

The wife needs her home comforts though. Now we have a big tent that I picked up late last year for an absolute bargain as the bloke did not advertise it correctly. We have some of the other bits for gas cooking and a mains hook up for the gadgets etc.

However the sleeping thing is not taken are of yet, mainly due to conflicting information form helpful sources.. Some have advised us to buy the self inflating foam mattresses and some have suggested we get the pump inflated mattresses..

What type gives the best sleep and is it true that the pump up mattresses will have me and the misses rolling into the middle of it? I am sure somebody has already been through this trial and error stage and knows what the best options are...

[Woody]

Unless you are a "featherweight" ? Go for the airbed. Double airbeds and single ones (of any quality) have the type of construction where triangular "pockets" are created to improve comfort, and minimise undue pressure point compression.
Get a decent 12v airbed inflator too, as it won't just help with pumping them up, it will "suck" and help deflation and re-packing.
Goes without saying that you are looking at a canvas finish style and not an all plastic construction.
A camper for over 30 years
Cheers

Woody

[david-bell]

We have the pump up ones nige and find them very comfy. I find as long as they are inflated as hard as possible we never had roll together. To pump them up we have a 12v compresser that plugs in to the car hth

[Mark-R]

when i go camping i use the double blow it up with a foot pump thing but what i did was use a 12v pump you get for a swimming pool and used my car booster pack and got the bed solid and we didnt roll into the middle.

[Mark-R]

This is what i have and if you got a converter you can plug the pump into it http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...er/6342535.htm

[plasma]

aerobed are considered one of the better makes for airbags and i always get a decent nights kip on that.

[jason johnson]

Another vote for the airbed. I find self inflating matresses too thin, it doesnt take much of a lump underneath to give you a sleepless night.
We've got cheap ones from tesco which do the job perfectly well apart from having to top up the air every couple of days, which isnt actually that hard, I've managed to blow one up by lung power alone quicker than using the electric pump

[the_wave_rider]

We don't really camp but do sleep on the side of mountains and use a thermorest self inflating 5cm. I am 94kg and I feel nothing through that and thats on rocks. I can get it pretty solid with a few added breaths. But I guess if you are camping weight is not really an issue where as trekking is a bit different.

[johnny kebab]

When we bought our tent 3 years ago the other half insisted on getting a decent air bed, I didn't realise she meant one of these bad boys;

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Coleman-Rais...oleman+Air+bed

Its rediculoulsy big, bigger than our bed at home and weighs a ton but my god it's comfy!

JK

[Caveman_nige]

thanks for all the info lads its much appreciated.. I will have a look at the various options mentioned and let the wife have a look etc