self inflating mattress for swag??? are they comfortable?

Hi GN, have tried one I bought from Aldi for about $29 or $30 says 5 Cm thick (2") but still felt too thin for my bony hips, plus it was very slippery with just a sheet as it is vinyl both sides, a mattress protector seemed to fix this a bit, but was still too thin and by the time I got to Alice Springs from Brisbane via Birdsville and Simpson I was ready for a change, so bought a Bushmate single 4WD self inflating Mattress with velour on upper side(stopped the sliding around) and is quite comfortable seems to be a genuine 2" mattress,probably a denser foam, just a bit hard to roll the swag trying to expel the air.
Cheers
Rob Mac

If you want the best, don't discount self inflators until you try one of the thicker thermarests.

Camp and comfort series

or

Dreamtime series

I have one of the base camp ones and it is better than my bed at home!

They're not cheap, but worth every cent.


Cheers,

Mark

I have one im my swag. Had it for a couple of years. Therenis so many different sizes available now.

gidday

I've swagged it on the 50cm foam and now we tent it on the basecamp thermaraest also 50cm ... and as much as i hate to say it i'm not convinced the thermarest is better. Maybe the problem is you can dig a hip hole under a swag but it is a bit hard tio do it under a tent or maybe it's because I'm older..

i guess the bottom line is we are all different shapes and if you are comfortable in the swag I would stick with it, $200 does not always buy a better night's sleep.

If you can hire before you buy go for it

Cheers Rocco

The min thickness of padding you need is the difference between your hip width and waist width.

Apart from that you can vary firmness by changing the air pressure in a self-inflator.

But another function is insulation, and traditionally to get more of that you had to go for a thicker mat. (Try sleeping in sub-zero temps and you'll find that though you may have enough padding in a 1.5" thick Thermarest you'll still have an uncomfortable night).

That nexus has been broken by Exped mats that are a cross between an air-mattress and a self-inflating foam job. For insulation one model has down and another has some kind of synthetic. Both need to be blown up, no drama, and both pack down to about half the size of a 1.5" thick Thermarest.

One drawback however is that when you sit up on them your bum is on the ground.

I've camped for 30 years with a std Thermarest but recently moved to an Exped Synmat and find it very comfortable.

We have the 1.5" thick Thermarest self inflators - used them off and on for some years and they are good - bloke who sold them said the 2" thick units are meant for sleeping on ice ! He said any more than 1.5" would be overkill for campers in moderate climates. Think he was right. They are very compact of course when rolled up, though getting them as flat as they are new ex factory would be a bit of a struggle. While they look too thin to be comfortable - we were pleasantly surprised on first use. Have not used ours for years now and have moved to a van formula but we intend to be tenting on occasions while on van trips, so they still have some work to do for us.

Hi GN,

I have found the self inflating harder to roll up and work better when you allow them to rest inflated for a while. My thoughts are that people tend to get sold the wrong foam from shops. So perhaps some back ground here.

Foam is described by 2 sets of numbers. 23-130 is perhaps the most common foam found in a Clarke Rubber or camping mattress. 23 is the weight of a 1 cubic metre block of foam. That is, it would weigh 23 kilos. The higher the number, the higher the density of the foam. 36 is about the highest density foam available in stores. This has nothing to do with the hardness of the foam but is the "quality".

130 is the hardness of the foam. To be technical it is the force required to push a round dinner plate into a 40mm thick piece sitting on a solid suface, to a depth of about 25mm.

So you can have a entire range of different numbers. If you had a 36-80 mattress, it would be very comfortable but you would have to make it 100mm thick for a swag. It would be very heavy and hard to roll. Therefore not practical.

If you had a 16-400 mattress, it would be lightweight and easy to roll but very hard. You would not sleep and also therefore not practical.

You can also mix and match as well. A thin layer of hard on the bottom and a thicker layer of soft above. My mattress is 3 layers laminated together.

You can head to the local foam guy and get him to lay different foams on the floor to try. See how they feel, roll up, cost and weigh. He can also cut it to the size of your swag or you can also do it with an electric bread knife. Look at 23-130 X 75mm, 36-130 x 50mm, 35-130 x 50mm, 16-100 x 100mm.

Laminated perhaps 29-200 x 25mm and on top 16-100 x 50mm. This is low cost, lightweight and yet comfortable. If he tell you it is not suitable for a mattress he is wrong.

Hope this helps.