inflatable airbeds -- best on a budget?

[mafibisha]

Any experience with different brands? What's good, what isn't?

Looking for either or full or queen size -- if they make queens?

Where's the best place to buy them? Anyone know of any deals lately?

TIA.

 

[robinb]

The best inflatable bed I have is an Aerobed. They are very sturdy and come with a built-in inflation pump so you never lose it. The bad news is that they are NOT budget friendly. A queen sized Aerobed at Costco is $130. I think if you're looking for a standard inflatable mattress the rest are all pretty much all the same. You should be able to get a queen sized one from Target for $30 - $40. You will also have to purchase an air pump and batteries.

 

[snoopy5386]

I have found sharing an air mattress with another person to be a miserable experience. I'd much rather have my own twin vs sharing a Queen or King with my husband or kids. As far as brands go, I've slept on everything from aerobed to target brand and they are all the same as far as comfort goes IMO.

 

[wendow]

I have found sharing an air mattress with another person to be a miserable experience. I'd much rather have my own twin vs sharing a Queen or King with my husband or kids. As far as brands go, I've slept on everything from aerobed to target brand and they are all the same as far as comfort goes IMO.

I agree with this in terms of the sharing an air mattress. It is awful! I'd buy two twins for two people rather than a queen (and they do make a queen).

We own five twin mattresses...one Aerobed with the built-in pump and four Intex that do not contain a pump. The Aerobed cost about $65 when we bought it 4 years ago. It is very comfortable and has held up well. It gets a lot of use. The Intex ones are fairly new to us. They were $13 each and I bought a Coleman pump for $22 to blow them up. It's very easy to blow them up and the pump just plugs into the wall so no batteries needed. I use the Intex ones mainly for sleepovers and they are definitely fine for kids. I would not put an out-of-town guest on the Intex unless it was a child.

Also, wanted to add that I have slept on the nicer Intex mattress and it was very comfortable. As comfy as our Aerobed. I think that twin with the built in pump is around $40.

 

[ksh1111]

We also prefer to go with twins over queens. The comfort of not being moved around every time the other person moves is much better. We have a 10+ year old Aerobed we use for guests, but for our camping use we went with Coleman. The double high twin wrap and roll to be specific. We bought them at Target for.about $40, have had to return one of 4 for a hole, but otherwise work.fine for our 10 days a month of camping.

 

[mafibisha]

WOW! Thanks for the great feedback everyone!

I would NEVER have thought of two twins vs a queen (or double!) but makes total sense!

I LOVE the DIS!!

 

[JandJ]

The only comfy one I've slept on with someone else is our Aerobed in Queen that we got at Costco for ~$99 but that was several years ago. When you inflate it, it has it's own headboard, which is great for the pillows not falling off! We put a big fluffy quilt under the fitted sheet, otherwise you feel the "bumps" in the mattress. We also have a twin Aerobed, which our young nephew sleeps on when he visits. It doesn't have the headboard, and honestly, it's just not as comfortable as the Queen, IMO.

 

[pookybean]

In June I bought a Sound Asleep air mattress from Amazon. It is a queen with a built in pump, $120 with free shipping. I have been sleeping on it exclusively for the 2 1/2 months and it is AMAZING! This is the 3rd air mattress i have owned and it is definitely the best. I put a bit of air back into it once, maybe twice a week and every other week I deflate it and then blow it back up before bed.

It is firm (which I like, but im sure less air would make it softer) and I have slept on it a couple times with my wiggly six year old and slept fine. I think it is big enough that if I slept with another adult we would get a good nights sleep. The only think I could say is wrong is the grooves on the top that every air mattress seems to have. But as another poster said they put the quilt under the sheet to smooth them out. They don't bother me enough to have done anything about it.

All the reviews on Amazon are stellar. The few that are not good Sound Asleep customer service has contacted them and made the situation right. I believe Amazon is the only place to but the bed.

If you need it to be a decent bed for more than just a night or two, I dont think you could go wrong with this bed

 

[2girlsmomma]

I have a Coleman that I LOVE. It's the only one I've taken camping a lot that didn't get a pinhole.

 

[pjlla]

We have a twin Coleman brand that is at least 6 years old (probably used 10-15 times in 1-2 night spurts) and a queen Coleman brand that is about 4 years old and has probably been used about 5-6 times (often for 4-5 nights in a row).

I really like that the pump is separate because we can use the same pump for each mattress.... less to store and less cost. Plus we use the pump for other things like pool floats. And if one of the mattresses were to fail, we wouldn't have to replace the entire thing (pump and mattress), just the mattress.

I've slept on our twin many times, our queen many times (usually sharing it with one of the kids, a few times with my DH) and they are both equally comfortable and as comfortable as the Aerobed that my parents have.

The only drawback I will share is that I tend to get cold(er) on the air mattress than I do on my regular bed. I think that the it being on the ground and nothing but air between me and the ground, it can really wick the heat away from me. If I put a good mattress pad or even a quilt under my bottom sheet it helps. And if I use a sleeping bag instead of sheets and blankets it is better.

HTH......................P

 

[MKMomma]

We have a queen Aerobed.

 

[jenniy122]

We have a twin Coleman from Target that we got for like $20 + the pump ($10?), my mom has slept on it for extended periods of time, like 2-3 months at a time, and other than over that time period occasionally needing to add air has never had a complaint about it's comfort.