Self inflating mattresses

I personally hate the things,i suggest you go into Rays and give them a real go,and see what you think then !


Cheers

We do exactly the same. Normal sheets, and a thick 4" mattress inside a double swag. Won't back to the thinner self-inflating mattresses.

I agree Regan.

We use Thermarest mattresses on stretchers. One is about 2cm thick inflated; the other about 4cms.

We don't find rolling them up any problem ( about a minute each) and they are not bulky and are light and easy to wedge into unused spaces when re-packing.

When arriving at camp, just pull out the plug and leave them for 30 minutes or so. They're then about 60% inflated and don't need more than about 10 lungfulls.

Too easy and almost too comfortable. I'll be using them at least till I'm eighty at last.

One downside - they are a bit pricey.

www.thermarest.com/

John.

Yip, John. Pricey but you get what you pay for.....that is why Thermarest are simply the finest you can get.

Totally agree. Tried a number of others but went back to Thermarest.

Agreed x 3.

I have used self inflating matresses for over 20 years, specifically the lightweight ones when bushwalking and for that purpose they're great.

For car camping, you cannot go past the THERMAREST brand. These are the ones you want:

THERMAREST LUXURY CAMP SERIES

You will pay nearly twice (or more) money for one of these, but they are incomparable to the cheaper brands. Don't listen to those who have the rubbish ones who tell you they are cr@p....they haven't used one of these. I reckon they're more comfy than my bed at home.

They do take a little effort to roll up, but IMHO it is worth the extra $$ and they DO roll up to a reasonable size for packing in the car...again MUCH smaller than the el-cheapos. Don't even bother with the cheap ones as you will end up chucking it away and eventually getting one (or more) of these for your camping comfort and the initial purchase will be wasted dollars.

I'm not always about spending big on camping gear, but in one's bedding I think it's worth it. Another point about the cheaper ones is they don't last anywhere near as long. I still have a Thermarest that I used for bushwalking whilst teaching outdoor ed and it is over 18 years old now and apart from one minor repair from a stray thorn, it is still as good as the day I bought it....not bad value for about a hundred bucks at the time!

I'm sure there will be others who disagree and reckon the cheapos are fine, but if you intend to do a lot of camping and want it to last, you will be most happy with the Thermarest.

Cheers,

Mark

Ps ......and take good pillows. This will also make you sleep much better along with a good quality mat.

Cheers...(again)...

Mark

x 4 Highly recommend Thermarest, they roll up real small and are very comfy.
My wife and I always had the blue & red blow up Primus mattress's.
they take much longer to air down and fold than the Thermarest.

We bought the base camps for the kids and the luxury for us, one of the best bits of camping gear weve bought....wish we did it years ago!

Drawback with the Exped Synmat is that if you sit up your b*m hits the ground/floor.

A prob when the ground is cold, eg. when camping on snow.

Otherwise it's compact and insulates well.

You do realise the Exped SynMat (the one you are talking about) and the Exped SIM Light are two entirely different models with two entirely different target users?

Yep.

The orig post doesn't give any guidance as to intended application to the replies are casting the net wide.

The therma rest is about 20 years old and had been stabbed by cactus spines and gnawed by bush rats.

Repaired both times and still working.