Air Mattress

Review by bixodoido:

When I’m going on a family camping trip where there is no packing involved and all I have to do is set up the tent and gear, I always take along this Coleman flocked Queen size bed for my wife and I. It is pretty easy to inflate (especially with the Quickpump), and is so comfortable I sometimes almost forget I’m sleeping on the ground. We also use this mattress a lot at home when we have lots of company and don’t have enough beds to go around.My one complaint with this bed, and one which I have heard others share, is that it is not big enough. It is supposed to be a queen size bed, but it just doesn’t seem as large as our queen size bed at home. Aside from this minor complaint, however, the Coleman flocked mattress has served me well. In fact, I slept on one for the first month I was away from home at college, and was still satisfied with its comfort after sleeping on it for over four weeks.

Review by L. Giffin:

I originally bought this air mattress for camping. I got it after having a problem with another brand that did not thave the double air lock. I have never had a problem with deflation while I was using it. I recently had a change in my marital status and in my “bedding” and I am now using this air mattress every night, and find it as comfortable as a regular bed. I am glad I made this purchase.

Review by Gary:

After researching many of the other more expensive, self-inflating air beds, I decided to purchase the Coleman 4-in-1 Quickbed for overnight guests. It’s less than half the price of an average twin size Aero Bed and much more versatile as it can be configured as two twins, one king, or one double-height twin. You do need to buy a separate pump, but the Coleman pump is inexpensive and can be used for other inflating/deflating purposes (e.g., pool toys, vaccuum storage bags, etc.). Each mattress inflates and deflates in just a couple minutes, and it’s quite easy to roll it up for storage. It’s comfortable both as a single matress or double height. I ended up buying a second 4-in-1 Quickbed, so now I can accommodate up to 4 overnight guests for less than 0. I can’t vouch for how long it will last, but even if it sprung a leak after a couple years of periodic use, it would still be worth it at this low price.

Review by K V:

I don’t normally review things, but this was such a good purchase that I can’t resist…

I recently moved about 400 miles and into a big city apartment. I didn’t have a lot of furniture, so it seemed kind of silly to rent a moving van just for a bed. Finally, after looking at a million different styles, I decided I’d try this inflatable bed. It’s compact, so I could just squeeze it into the car with the rest of the luggage. I wouldn’t have to fight to get a bed frame and mattress up the apartment stairs. Plus, I figured if I hated it, I could find a ‘real’ bed at some point.

I LOVE this bed. I’ve been sleeping on it every night for over 6 weeks and have never (yet) had to refill the air in it. Separating the twin beds is easy, and comes in handy when guests come visit.

One tiny tiny con… The very first time you lay on this bed, it is awkward and uncomfortable. I’m not gonna lie. However, after about 30 minutes, you get used to the ‘water bed’ feeling, and the whole bed feels insanely comfortable. It’s like it takes the bed (or the PVC material) 30 minutes or so to ‘relax’… Also, it did not come with a pump, so I had to buy one for 15.99. *shrugs*

I would never go back to a ‘regular’ bed. This bed can be an elevated twin bed, a king size, two twins, compacts down to about a 10 pound parcel with a carrying strap, is as comfortable as a spring mattress and cost me forty bucks.

Highly recommended.

*EDIT*- June 11th 2008. Still sleeping on the bed nightly, *still* working wonderfully! The ‘top’ mattress (when stacked) does need an occasional bit of air every few weeks, but no big deal.

Review by Valorie Spencer:

I bought a pair of these mattresses at the last minute on price alone because we needed a pair of twins in a hurry. They held their air through four full days/nights of camping by two teenage boys. They boys like to flop down and bounce around - goofing off as kids do.

We used standard twin sheets which stayed tucked in. The mattresses did not get cold in the night (the flocking helps) and never lost a bit of air. They were very quick to inflate, quick to deflate, and easy to roll up to pack for the next trip. Winners… who knew? Now YOU do.

Update. The review above was written during the summer. The mattresses were since stored in a covered tub in our hot Florida attic for many months until being pulled out for a Thanksgiving camping trip. Once again these mattresses held up to the teenager test. They were just as supple and fresh as the first day out of the box. I’m really happy with these and plan to use them again in another few months.

Review by rocky mt lady:

I like it better than the coleman air mattresses I purchased, for comfort. I find the tube design better that the the mock coils, you don’t drift toward middle on this one. But duration seems to be lacking in all the brands I have tried. They last about 10 to 14 days fully aired up and then they begin the wilt process nightly. Doesn’t totally deflate, just gets to the squishy point, which is annoying come morning. I found the locking cap a bit tricky to operate as well. Need to revamp the design.

Review by J. Beck:

We’ve got three of these air mattresses for our kids (my wife and I have a queen size for us) when we’re car camping and also to make the mattresses in our RV more comfortable.

They’re not heavy, they inflate quickly and easily (I recommend the 4D inflator) and deflate and store away just as easily. I leave them a little bit “mushy” so that the kids don’t feel like they’re sleeping on a board. They’re far and away more comfortable than the thin little sleeping pads (even the self-inflators) that we use for canoe camping and backpacking.

I did puncture one on the sharp corner of our RV door, but that’s the only problem I’ve ever had with them.

I was initially using a 12v inflator to pump them up, but learned quickly that the smaller 4D inflator is far superior and more convenient.

For the price and the comfort they give you for that price, I recommend them to anyone. You can get better, but it will certainly cost you.

Review by Craig I. Hagan:

Lived on it for a month while moving and then driving across

country.

This mattress is certainly not as good as the higher end alternatives,

however for the price it isn’t bad and is better than the lightweight

backpacking pads that I normally sleep on when camping. Note that it doesn’t come with an air pump so you’ll need to decide what type

you’ll get for it.

For folks thinking about camping in cold weather, realize that it doesn’t

insulate very well (nor do most pure air mattresses) so you’ll want to think about warmth. For summer/warm weather camping or as an extra mattress for kids, it is fine. Do be careful about not placing it on/near

something which will puncture it. I never had a leak, but I’ve been very

careful with both it and my backpacking pads.

Review by CheeryToes:

My daughter has been sleeping on this in the guest room for 3 months, it must be nice and comfy because she’s still here! :) Seriously, she hasn’t had to reinflate it at all and says it’s quite comfortable. I’m adding a mattress pad and that should make it almost as high-end as a Select Comfort! At the price it is now, you should get one!

Review by L. Sanchez:

We got these for extra guest beds (bought 2). Our girls already had a sleep over and these were big enough for 2 tweens on each mattress. Set up took a couple of minutes. As suggested in another review I didn’t fill it completly as it give them a “stiff” feel. The material seems sturdy, so far it’s survived a sleep over party party of 6 and an indoor camp out. We’re even taking them to a family reunion next March. Great buy for the price.

Review by Clair Divino:

I bought this product and Coleman’s. Coleman’s is better in my opinion; it has much better pattern, which allows one to sleep better, and user friendly system of letting the air out. It took me 1 minute to let the air out of Coleman, and 20 minutes of hard work to get it out of this. They are both somewhat uncomfortable, but this one a lot more so due to highly anti ergonomic pattern. The positive side of it is a better air pump.

Review by Akama:

This mattress + 3 inches of cheap, low density memory foam = bliss

If you put a cheap, low density memory foam pad on a normal mattress, it does not support you and you end up lying on the hard, uncomfortable mattress beneath. But this mattress, because it’s filled with air, behaves more like a waterbed, allowing you to sink into it and thus be more throughly surrounded by the memory foam on top. This mattress is not hard if you don’t overfill it. I think the combination of this with memory foam is a great idea. I cannot speak for how comfortable it is without memory foam.

The pump that came with this is useful. It’s made of strong and durable plastic. It filled the mattress pretty quickly. It comes with 3 ends for fitting different sized air input valves.

Review by Benjamin:

Correction To The Description

The description lists the dimensions of this as 29″ wide. That is the FLAT width. The inflated width is the standard 20 inches.

The description also does not say how thick it is inflated. It’s about 3 inches inflated.

It weighs 21ozs.

California Prop 65 Warning

The box contains a warning about the product containing lead. When I asked a Stansport rep about this, they explained that due to a litigious environment in California involving a law known as “prop 65″, they have placed warnings on all their products whether they contain one of the carcinogenic chemicals or not, in order to make themselves immune to the litigation games being played with the law. The rep assured me none of their products contain lead.

A trip to wikipedia regarding prop 65, as well as a google search on the topic, verified that such problems are well known and documented(apparently I’ve been living under a rock), so I personally don’t give any credibility to this warning. I’m putting this here for any other people who might be unaware of this problem as I was.

Initial Impression

Out of the box, I was very pleased with the weight(21 ozs) and the reasonable pack size. The quality appears to be pretty good, with no detectable sloppiness in the workmanship that I could find.

I was shocked that each chamber had it’s own air valve to inflate individually, only because I didn’t read the description closer. But shock aside, I think this is a good design choice in this price range. If you do spring a leak, you’ll have 5 more chambers to rely on.

This comes with a straightforward repair kit with two patches. Adequate.

SETUP

This was a bit harder to inflate than I thought it would be. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t hard, it was just more work than others I’ve worked with. I clocked 9 minutes working at a non-racing pace to avoid light headedness. Obviously if you have a pump, you could get this done a lot faster. But I personally don’t pack a pump when I go out on a trail, and I don’t know many who do.

I’ve used other mattresses that seemed like they just blew right up with a few breaths in comparison. They also cost several times what this did.

COMFORT

This is a comfortable air mattress. On my back, on my sides, on my belly, in every position, it is a comfortable mattress. It won’t compete with a good “real” bed, but for a small trail mattress, it’s plenty comfortable. By playing with the inflation of the various chambers a little, you can get a custom sleep fit to get that right combination of give and support. I give the comfort 5 stars for a trail mattress at this price.

As this is not insulated, this is considered a summer or warm-weather pad. This pad used alone will not be good for ground sleeping in temps below 35F.

TEAR DOWN

Tear down is definetly more difficult than other mattresses I’ve used. The 6 individual chambers won’t give up their air unless you are pinching the valves open, which you can only do one at a time, at the base of the valves, which are all located on one of the ends of the mattress.

The best way I found is to open all the valves, then begin folding the mattress in half as you squeeze open each valve, one at a time till you get a lot of the air out of each one. Then begin rolling it up from the opposite end of the valves, starting with a two - four inch fold up the length of it, with your hands positioned in the center, then squeezing it out as you slide your hands out to the edge.

Then fold again, and repeat. When you can’t fold again because of too much air in the chambers, then go and squeeze open the valves one at a time till you can begin folding it up again.

This takes me about 10 minutes at a non-rushed, but focused on the task at hand pace.

Overall Opinion

If I wanted to equip myself for speed, I would spend more money on one of the faster-to-setup mattresses. If I wanted to do 3 or 4 season camping, I would probably spend more money on an insulated mattress, though this would do for 3 season when paired with a decent closed cell pad.

However, I was just looking for a decent summer backpacking mattress at a good price and that’s what this is. It’s comfortable, it has held it’s air well in my testing and use so far, and at 25 bucks I can’t help but feel like I got a good deal, especially when it’s nearest competitor that I can find costs almost twice as much.

4 stars overall and if this continues to hold up well, I might up it to 5 stars at the end of the season.