What do we sleep on?

Hey all,

My wife and I sleep in a Big Agnes Dream Island.  We are looking for a pad that is comfortable, reliable, compact, and affordable.  Is such a thing possible?  We've tried two single pads together...that sucks.  We've done the air mattress thing...okay for car camping, but by the morning we are sleeping on the floor.  Our most recent solution is the memory foam topper for our bed.  We stumbled upon this solution as I was traveling with it along with other stuff as I moved across the country.  Sleeping on this thing is amazing, but it doesn't really pack down; I break a sweat each time I fight the thing into my car.  Also, it isn't really convenient to pull the thing off our bed each time we want to go camping.

Thoughts?

Seam (Tommy)

What about 2 thermarest dream times?  They aren't cheap but very comfortable and easy to move around...

That does look luxurious, but that would be costly...especially for two.  I found this beast, the Mega Mat Duo 10, but again...is that the price of comfort?

TommyWiggins wrote:

We've done the air mattress thing...okay for car camping, but by the morning we are sleeping on the floor.

Maybe try a less crappy air mattress? I've had the same Thermarest for almost a decade at this point and I've never ended up on the ground. Just this past weekend I slept on it two nights in a row without reinflating it in between.

Thermarest Dream time is what my husband and I use. Yes, they are costly (mine was a gift), but I've been using mine for 7 years now, and it's as good as new. Keep in mind though that they are BIG. We have a 3person tent, and the two of these just barely fit inside the tent with no width to spare.

oh, and the air mattress shouldn't deflate this fast. It probably has a hole in it. I brought an air mattress on a recent trip where I was planning to camp in the same place for two weeks. I only had to re inflate it once in that time. 

TommyWiggins wrote:

That does look luxurious, but that would be costly...especially for two.  I found this beast, the Mega Mat Duo 10, but again...is that the price of comfort?

My Girlfriend and I have an Xped Synmat Duo. It is pretty sweet. I get great sleep. Honestly it has been some of my favorite sleeping in the last year. It is a bit cheaper than the mega mat (although that looks sweet too). 

i have a Purple mattress.  i highly recommend it. 

I have the REI 3.5" thick mattress, I call it my granny camper. https://www.rei.com/product/870757/rei-co-op-camp-bed-35-self-inflating-sleeping-pad  . It's so luxurious that even when I popped several good holes in it mid trip, there was still enough foam to be comfy. You could get two of those and get a coupling kit or make your own. My hubby and i also have a dream island, the problem is he's 6'3" and sticks out quite a bit. Plus, I'm always cold, he's always hot...so we ended up switching back to single bags!

No idea how good the first suggestion is but I saw it onsale yesterday:

http://www.nemoequipment.com/product/?p=Cosmo%20Insulated%2050L%202016

Second suggestion is a staple of the white water world, these things are bullet proof:

https://www.riversports.com/rs/product_detail/1123/Jacks-Plastic-Welding-Paco-Pad-Pickup-Camping-Rafting

TommyWiggins wrote:

That does look luxurious, but that would be costly...especially for two.  I found this beast, the Mega Mat Duo 10, but again...is that the price of comfort?

It totally is worth it. Although try and find it on sale. My friend has the Duo and I have the single Mega Mat 10 LXW version from this year which gives you significant width to toss, turn, and splay out on. We both sleep just as well as on our beds at home on these pads. It's luxurious! You don't wake up sore and tired from an uncomfortable bed. And you have insulation from the ground (R value of 9.5) that an air mattress can't give you. I also understand that starting with this years model they changed it to feel more foam like than air mattress like with the older models. It is though strictly car camping material. It packs down surprisingly small for it's inflated size and with little effort and time, but you wouldn't want to hike with it, especially the Duo. 

If you're a couple that likes to sleep together in one big sleeping bag, the Duo is better than putting two single pads together that will probably separate and create a gap. Matter of fact, I believe Exped discontinued the system they used to have to connect two single Mega Mat 10's together, and replaced it with the Duo model. I assume because it probably didn't work well. My Mega Mat 10 LXW does not have that connecting setup.

Edit: The Duo is not as wide as two Mega Mat 10 LXW mats side by side, but my friend and I didn't notice a lack of room on the Duo.

Costco had some self inflating pads that I bought for $35 each.   I found them comparable to the $130 pad I bought at REI.    I think they are called Litespeed or something like that.  The Costco online price was more than the in store price.   For car camping I haven found a better pad for the price.    I just found the same Litespeed pad on Amazon for $37

Thanks for all the feedback!  It looks like we might start saving for a Mega Mat.

The REI camp bed is heavy but amazing... It's almost as comfortable as my memory foam mattress at home.