Air mattress?

[Tony Sade]

Too many guests coming for Christmas and I need to come up with some portable sleeping arrangements. I was thinking of an air mattress-the only type I'm even remotely familiar with is the Aerobed brand, the subject of many years of saturation advertising. Are these any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks,

[David G Baker]

I use a queen size inflatable mattress that costs around $30. It is made to be used on a floor or flat surface. The mattress isn't the greatest thing in the world but it beats the heck out of sleeping on the floor. It inflates by using a vacuum cleaner hose on the air output side.

[Tony De Masi]

I have a Coleman queen size air mattress that has been used many many times over the years. Was fairly inexpensive too. Fills via a battery operated pump which unbelievably takes less than three minutes.

Tony

[David G Baker]

My inflatable mattress is very similar to the Coleman but with out the pump.

[Roger Bell]

We have the Aerobed. Guests say it is fine. We slept on it last week when the bedroom was being painted. The control gives a fine adjustment of inflated-ness, while in the bed itself. It is very easy and quick to set up and break down.

If you want to put egg crate foam atop the mattress for a "pillow top" it makes it even better for those guests that you want to stay longer.

[Rick Huelsbeck]

I use an Ozark Trail Double high queen air mattress for camping. I've used several air mattresses and they are all about the same. Egg crate pads are a must. I think I paid about 45 for mine at Wal-mart. They have a good selection in the camping section of most stores in this area.

[Matt Meiser]

We had a Coleman until my brother's dogs walked on it. They got us a different brand at Target which looks to be made just as well. My mom and dad also have a Coleman which I've slept on and its comfortable. They also have a 110V Coleman pump which is great. We had a rechargeable battery powered one, and as you might expect the batteries went bad in storage.

[Joe Pelonio]

My inflatable mattress is very similar to the Coleman but with out the pump.

Me too, I think it was $25 and has held up well, but only used twice a year.
We put it on the shop floor so have a compressor handy to fill it up. We have two extra bedrooms now too but seem to always have more than two guests staying over.

[Tyler Howell]

Got one at the designer/boutique out door place for my new home.
Bought a platform for it too.
Works great. I even use it.
TJH

[Fred Voorhees]

For what it's worth, my wife and I have both a single sized Aerobed and also a queen size and love them both. Yes, they are a bit more money, but in the long run, they outlast all of the others and pay for themselves.

[Dave Hale]

+1 for the Aerobed. We've had one for 4-5 years. No problems. Our niece prefers it since she can set the 'hardness'.

[Charles Wiggins]

Too many guests coming for Christmas and I need to come up with some portable sleeping arrangements. I was thinking of an air mattress-the only type I'm even remotely familiar with is the Aerobed brand, the subject of many years of saturation advertising. Are these any good? Any other suggestions? Thanks,

We bought a Q size Coleman about five years back when we were staying with a friend who made us sleep on a torture device called a hide-a-bed couch. We bought a little reversible electric air pump at the same time. I think both together were $40. We've used them about twice a year every since with no problems.

[Tony Sade]

Thanks for all the tips, folks. Turns out that just as I was posting my question, my wife sent out a request for loaners to all her pals and came up with two doubles that we can use for the incoming guests. I'll probably invest in one anyway (after I've paid off all the Christmas purchases) to handle the occasional unexpected drop in. (If either of the loaners comes without a mechanical inflation device/method, I may have to buy a little sooner. I've been called a gasbag a time or two, but I don't have that much air power in me.)

Cheers,

[David G Baker]

Thanks for all the tips, folks. Turns out that just as I was posting my question, my wife sent out a request for loaners to all her pals and came up with two doubles that we can use for the incoming guests. I'll probably invest in one anyway (after I've paid off all the Christmas purchases) to handle the occasional unexpected drop in. (If either of the loaners comes without a mechanical inflation device/method, I may have to buy a little sooner. I've been called a gasbag a time or two, but I don't have that much air power in me.)

Cheers,

Tony,
As I posted earlier,"a vacuum cleaner" will inflate most of the Coleman type air mattresses and do it in less than a minute in most cases.