Hiking Forward
  • Home
  • Blog
    • AT Daily
  • Contact
  • About
    • Press
    • Partner With Us
    • Adventures >
      • Hell Hike & Raft 2015
      • Hell Hike & Raft 2014
      • Photos
  • TearDrop'n Forward
    • TearDrop'n Forward Blog
    • TearDrop Links
    • Our Rig

So, You Don't Want to Sleep on the Ground Anymore?

7/24/2016

1 Comment

 
Picture
It's okay to admit it, your done. You are tired of getting up off the ground in the morning when camping and it takes a cocktail of three Vitamin I's, two cups of coffee and a hot shower to make you feel human again by noon. You are finished with the tin man persona and being called "grumpy" "old" and friends continuing to ask "are you okay" as you grunt towards your second cup of coffee. 

Let me introduce you to the Sound Asleep Dream Series Air Mattress. Now, I know what you are thinking, "Scott, really? An air mattress!" You might be saying "Heck I will end up on the ground anyway!" I know, I know...but this is not the air mattress of old. This is the air mattress of now that is comfortable, durable and will keep you almost 20 inches off the cold and hard ground ALL night.

Hiking Forward was asked to review this model a few months ago from the good people at www.3beds.com. 3Beds.com sole mission is “Protecting Good People from Bad Air Mattresses.” and we here at Hiking Forward are happy to be helping them fulfill their very noble mission (because we have all woken up on the ground after falling a sleep on a bad air mattress.

We began at home testing the product to ensure proper usage, fit and pack-ability while at home prior to our family summer trip to southeastern Missouri. The first thing we noted was that the product inflated quickly for as large of a mattress that it is. The unit comes installed with an electric pump with a storage area for the cord. This may sound like a small feature, but I found it to be quite smart, given the potential for the plug to potential puncture the mattress. 

Oh by the way... AN ELECTRIC PUMP! No more hand pumps, foot pumps now or 4 D battery pumps that NEVER come close to inflating the normal camping air mattress to a comfortable level. Plug the unit in, turn the knob to inflate and stand back and watch at your new comfortable bed comes to life. 
Picture
Once inflated the bed is very comfortable and spacious for two people. On our trip, we kept it simple and used sleeping bags instead of creating a full proper bed. When the mattress fully inflates it creates a nice outer ridge to keep you on the bed. This is helpful when laying in the bed as well as creates a significant air ridge for sitting on the edge when needing to get dressed or put on your shoes in the morning. 

In addition both me and my wife testing out this air mattress we did a side by side comparison. As we used the Dream Series our girls slept on a other camping style air mattress in the tent near us. We had the same environmental conditions and both were inflated with their separate on-board inflating motors. While our mattress was 19 inches theirs was approximately only 8 inches tall. After a night of sleep each we woke up comfortable, rested and still with easily 90% of the air and firmness left in the air mattress.

Our girls weren't so lucky! Visible air voids were noticeable in their air mattress as they moved about in the morning. They would struggle to get off the mattress due to the loss of air. Their mattress looked more like a waterbed then an air mattress. Both girls asked up to put their air mattress out of its and their misery and get them one like ours. 
Picture
Pros:
  • Comfortable and firm for both sleeping and sitting to get dressed or put on shoes.
  • Automatic deflation capability - This is a great option especially at the end of a camping trip and you want to break camp quickly and hit the road. Surprisingly the automatic deflates gets the unit fully void of air and ready to roll up. 
  • Rolling the unit up and placing in the bag is a breeze. This has always been a hassle right? Not so with the Dream Series. Once rolled the mattress fits easily into the bag for safe storage away other camping gear that could potentially harm the mattress.
  • With any air mattress with temperature fluctuation overnight there is some air loss. One of the benefits of this unit is that as the day would warm, the amount of air loss would diminish, requiring less re-inflation before bed.

Cons:
  • The motor is loud for the outdoors. Be mindful of this depending on your campsite, time of day and closeness to other campers. The loud motor is also a benefit in some respects as previously mentioned, it inflates the mattress quite quickly. 

Overall the mattress gets high marks from Hiking Forward for comfort, being durable and being a great value. Think about all the old camping style air mattresses you have bought over the years from your local department stores. This mattress is probably a fraction of what you have spent on all those that left you on the cold ground every morning.

Keep Hiking Forward!

Scott
1 Comment
Rovi link
3/16/2018 03:26:13 am

This is really helpful...Thank you for the tips! If you want to go light backpacking,you can cut down on weight with your sleeping bag requirements. You need to lower your sleeping bag requirements by looking for other alternatives, Just check the link to know the list https://outdoorislife.com/5-sleeping-bag-alternatives-ultra-light-backpacking/ . Thank you

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Hiking Forward Stickers

    Picture
    I Want A Sticker!

    Archives

    July 2018
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012

    Categories

    All
    Ambassadorships
    At
    Camping
    Cooking
    Corn Desert
    Denise Archetto
    Dogs
    First Aid
    Gear
    General
    Giveaways
    #givebackendeavor
    Goldielocks
    Graces Adventures
    Guest Post
    HellHikeandRaft
    HF Correspondents
    HIker Radio
    Hiking
    Hiking Forward Family Adventure
    Illinois
    Jeremy LaCorte
    John Muir
    Jr. Correspondent
    Mike & Melanie
    Navigation
    News
    Nkrumah Frazier
    Peter Dargatz
    Potable Aqua
    Prepping
    Press
    Props
    Recipes
    Reviews
    Teton Sports
    Tom Ceparski
    Trip Report
    Tyke Hike
    Video
    Wag Of Finger
    Water
    Where In The World

"get busy living, or get busy dying"

(C) HikingForward 2018 All Rights Reserved
  • Home
  • Blog
    • AT Daily
  • Contact
  • About
    • Press
    • Partner With Us
    • Adventures >
      • Hell Hike & Raft 2015
      • Hell Hike & Raft 2014
      • Photos
  • TearDrop'n Forward
    • TearDrop'n Forward Blog
    • TearDrop Links
    • Our Rig