This is excellent!! Seriously!! Never using an air mattress again!!!
So I went on a 10 day camping trip for a college class when I had only ever camped maybe 2 nights at a time before this. I had always used an air mattress to do this, but because we were going to be so remote, I was horribly worried about the logistics of inflating it. My aunts showed me a version of this like 20x more expensive, lol, so I did my own searching and found this product. Let me just say that I have NEVER in my life used a product that comes in a bag and been able to fit it back into said bag with any amount of ease (or at all, sometimes) before this. I’m still blown away by it. But first: you unroll the whole thing and make sure the plug in the back of the pillow is closed, then open the plug in the foot pad. Because my tent was so short, I found it much easier to just use my hand to pump it, sort of cupping it so the plug isn’t completely covered. Sounds semi complicated but I promise that filling this up is incredibly easy and quick- seems to take more than the 100 pumps I think it claims but these are pretty much effortless to do. Close the foot plug when it’s filled- if you pinch the sides it’s deceivingly squishy, but trust me, when you’re laying on it, it doesn’t squish down like that. I’m 5’2 so I may be biased, but this thing is long!! I read a complaint about it being too short but that was definitely not my experience- it barely fit in my tent lol, which was small, but still. I read complaints about the pillow, but if you’re camping for as long as I was, you don’t want a fabric pillow. The fact that it was built in was amazing. I just covered it with a hoodie of mine and slept amazing on this thing (with a yoga mat type of insulator cover underneath it). The sleeping bag slid around on its plastic-y surface a bit which is possibly my only complaint! I bet a blanket underneath that would have solved it. Seriously, I was completely comfortable for 10 days on this thing. It never deflated except for ONE night where the temperature dipped quite a bit, then it’s like 20 pumps to get it right back to where it was. It’s stupid easy to use continually. Ok- now my favorite part!!!!! Deflating it and storing it!! When you unplug the one behind the pillow, 80% of the air poofs out all on its own instantly!! Then I folded both sides into the middle and started rolling- at first, when I tested this in my living room, I did this painstakingly- can you imagine my surprise when there was ample room in the bag for it??? You seriously don’t have to pay much attention when rolling this back up because it fits, with a bit of extra space even, back into the bag. Incredible. FYI I learned not to roll a sleeping bag (like 6 nights in unfortunately) but to just to stuff that mf straight into its bag- seems weird but it contorts to the space around it and is MUCH easier than wrestling it. Every air mattress I’ve ever used had to be reinflated every night to keep it firm, and I’ve had more than one spring a leak and refuse to stay inflated, during significantly shorter outings, leaving me sleeping on the ground, and they’re super loud when you move. This was SO easy to fill, use, and pack!!! It was surprisingly comfortable despite seeming sort of thin, I personally loved the built in pillow, and it was very durable! It’s in perfect shape after using it for 10 consecutive days and I’ll never use an air mattress for camping again because of it! I honestly cannot rave about this enough. I’m SO impressed by it! I did use a pad underneath it but I did it mostly for warmth as I was in the high desert where it gets like 35° at night. Plus it came with patches in case it did spring a leak! Best $40ish you’ll ever spend on a camping accessory, I promise. And it’s incredibly light weight once packed away, if you’re backpacking. Read more
