UKC

Evening all

Now that the camping season is almost upon us, what matt and pillow do you use?

I’m currently using an old piece of karrimat and a 20 year old 3/4 Thermarest with clothes in a stuffsac for a pillow.

Ive seen all these nice air mattresses and think that they could be a good upgrade for the winter.

For those that have used karrimatts etc, are they a good upgrade?

The Thermarest neo air therm thingy is expensive. Is it any better than an arctic multimatt for £25?

cheers

dave

Yes considerably

I've always managed with a fertiliser bag and whatever roadkill I come across for the pillow.  The pillow is disposable and the fertiliser bag easily wiped clean in the morning.

For a pillow I use a Trekology Aluft inflatable number. It's not bad as pillows go.

Pillow is a dry bag with clothes in it, better than a blow up and warmer.

Cheers.

Why change what works eh?

I may just get a multmatt to put under the tent and use the old Thermarest on top inside.The collie would only upgrade to an airbed anyway. 

Ta

dave

Used an old Karrimat with Alpkit's Cloudbase for some years as an insurance policy for inflatable mat failure. Two years ago I acquired a Thermarest NeoAir Xtherm and suffice to say it's a gamechanger. Couldn't quite figure out why I'd paid £200 for an inflatable plastic bag but then I slept on it. Very, very comfortable and exceptionally warm. So much so that when you go outside for nature's call it's still warm. Seems robust, not noisy to sleep on and well worth the money.

No matter where I sleep, if my head an neck are not at the correct level I get a really bad neck in the morning and a crap night's sleep so I bought one of these and it's transformed my bivvy sleeping.
Packs up smaller than a fag packet and weighs nothing.

https://www.decathlon.fr/p/oreiller-de-trekking-gonflable-aero-premium-regu...

E

I use a sea2summit inflatable pillow and its been amazing, no more waking up with a bad back/neck, and it packs down so tiny I can't imagine a situation I wouldn't bring it with me.

Airbeds though, I've never found one truly comfortable for a side sleeper, I still wake with a sore hip no matter what I try 🤣

For family camping, we've got 2x Outwell Reel double airbeds - ~10cm thick and generously wide, so very comfy.

Used to use a Vango Comfort 5 Double self-inflating mat - also very comfy and warmer than the Reel, but a bit of a pain to deflate (the Cyclone valves on the newer models are much better for this) and pack size is >2x the Reels.

Going camping with the Cubs next weekend and for that I've got my Thermarest ProLight and the kids will be on Vango Trek 3/Berghaus Peak* SIMs.

Pillows - family camping, we just take them off the beds.

I've got an old Thermarest pillowcase that is intended to just be stuffed with spare clothes. Works really well and less sweaty than a dry bag. After looking around at inflatable pillows, I discovered that the Mountain Warehouse Easy Inflate pillow is a near-perfect fit inside that - winner. Otherwise, I would probably have bought one of the Aeros ones Enty linked.

* - A bit narrow at the bottom, but got it very cheap in Millet's sale, so can't complain.

I combine whatever weight thermorest I'm using with a section of memory foam mattress topper. 

Really warm and luxurious if car camping, it dampens the bounciness of air systems - but gets dropped if I have to walk more than 200m

Unless bivvying as light as possible, A decent pillow is nonnegotiable for me so if I’m not car camping I use a Thermarest Compressible Pillow which is filled with the foam offcuts from making their self inflating mats. Combined with whatever clothing you have to hand it’s great. 
 

As far as mats are concerned you probably can’t beat the thermarest neoairs for weight v warmth. But the Big Agnes Rapide SL and the Sea To Summit Comfort Plus are brilliant too. Expect to fork out £130 or more though. The S2S pads mitigate puncture risk by being dual chambered, with an upper and lower chamber.

Def worth the pounds for the comfort, though if it's really cold I'll probably take a length of closed-cell mat as well to put under my Exped blow-up. The modern air mats are so much more comfy than the old Thermarests.

I have a tiny wee Montbell blow-up pillow which I find a lot more comfy than clothes in a stuffsack.

Thanks Kate and all.

I think I’m going to give a Thermarest xtherm a go. The worst that could happen is that I may be more comfortable than I am now over the winter months, and if not the Mrs or kids will benefit from it.

With regards to the pillow, I’m just going to get a really light one.

Camping last year up on Creag Meagaidh, I ran out of clothes to make a pillow as they were being worn due to my sleeping bag being too light and the dog wearing my spare pile jacket.

It was not a comfortable night

Thanks a lot

Dave

I find a dead raven very comfy.

350g, R 1.7 (that's the insulation), £46.99

https://alpkit.com/products/numo?variant=40691728056425

*And* underneath it, winter and or sharp ground

245g, R 1.3, £24.99

https://alpkit.com/products/ez-sleeper-folding-foam-sleeping-mat?variant=39...

Be aware that modern lightweight mats sound like sleeping on a load old crisp packets, how loud is very variable between mats and something to avoid as best you can, unless your middle name is Russell? then just roll with it.