Camping Air Mattress - What You Must Know Before You Buy

The camping air mattress is more than just a nice addition to a camping trip. It is the single most important tool in determining whether you get a good night's sleep. Since failing to get a good night's sleep can ruin an otherwise great camping trip, we realize a good camping air mattress is mission critical. For this reason, we have put together a list of tips to help you find a top level air mattress:

1. Choose ones similar to your sleeping conditions at home.

One of the obstacles all campers have is learning to adjust to a new bed while camping. For this reason, it is far easier to adjust to a "camping air mattress" that closely resembles your bed at home. Look for ones that are made of the same materials. For instance, if your home bed has a pillow top covering, opt for a camping air mattress with the same feature.

2. Match the level of firmness with your bed at home.

Look for camping air mattresses that can provide you the level of firmness you are used to. For instance, if you prefer a really firm bed, check to make sure the air mattresses you are looking at can deliver that level of firmness by reading reviews and their details on the quality of fabric and its "air pumping" ability. The best piece of advice here is to choose air mattresses that can pump up very easily and are strong enough where they will not puncture easily.

3. Pick ones that are significantly raised off the ground.

If you have gone camping before and slept in a low level air mattress, you know how difficult it can be to get up in the morning or the middle of the night to use the restroom or tend to the fire. One thing you can do to make this easier on yourself is to get camping air mattresses that are at least a foot high. This makes it far easier to put on your shoes and lift yourself up.

4. Opt for a size larger than you are.

By choosing a camping air mattress that is bigger than you are, you allow yourself two advantages. One is you provide yourself more room to roll around on which can be very helpful to you if you tend to move around while you sleep and are not used to sleeping in tight quarters. The second advantage is it allows you to store other items on the bed with you. The most helpful items would be shoes, glasses and a flashlight which can come in handy if in the middle of the night you feel the call of nature.

5. Review the pump very carefully.

Camping air mattresses can vary significantly on how they are to be inflated. Some versions offer a very fast self inflating pump whereas others can only operate by being plugged into a car cigarette lighter outlet. Naturally, you should choose one that will fit your camping needs. Although faster self inflating pumps are ideal, they sometimes do not deliver the same quality results. For this reason, give this area some thought on what type will work best on your next camping trip.