In the yurt, my wife and I sleep on a folding air bed, but I don’t have room for it in the modern tents so I went looking for something smaller.
The Alps Mountaineering Nimble Insulated Sleeping Pad- Double makes for a great night’s sleep. It’s also available single wide in insulated and non-insulated versions.
It’s just about the size of a full size bed at 53” wide, so it might not fit in every two person tent.
Most of the pad is about 3.5” thick, so I find it thick enough for side sleeping. There are thicker rails on the outside to keep you from rolling off the mat in the middle of the night. There’s also a thicker rail in the center which tends to keep your sweet heart on the other side.
Actually if you try to cuddle all night on an inflatable, you’re going to sleep badly because your combined weight will decrease the support under you. And the rail isn’t so high that it makes a barrier you can’t get over it for sexy time when you want to snuggle.
Alps Mountaineering claims an R- value of 3.9, which means this pad will be suitable for spring & fall trips. If you’re a winter camper, you’re going to want more insulation between you and the ground.
This sleeping pad tips the scales at more than four and a half pounds. I don’t think that’s super heavy for two insulated pads, but it’s not possible to split this pad between two packs.
In contrast our Coleman folding bed is forty two pounds. It’s queen size, has two night stands and is at a great sitting height.
The stuff sack has a fixture on the bottom which connects to the inflation valve on the pad. On the one hand, this is great as you can’t possibly forget to pack the pump. On the other hand, it takes forever to inflate the pad.
You click the sack to the pad, scoop air into the sack, and roll the top down to squeeze the air into the pad. When I’m done, it feels like I’ve skinned all eight knuckles.
I enjoy sleeping on this pad. For me it hits the sweet spot between price and performance for the camping I tend to do. I may try to source a battery powered pump that connects to the inflation valve though.
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