And so, as we have said, a healthy sleep the tourist key – a successful hike. After backpacking tired and irritated tourist, like the princess on the pea, feels under any bumps and stones, even in a sleeping bag. To protect his sleep and is designed hiking mats!
There are now several types of mats on the travel market:
- classic foam, it is sometimes called a karemat,
- grooved foam,
- self-inflating mats,
- and mattresses that have to be inflated.
Buy air mattresses and mats of European quality in the online store SportsTerritory!
The main disadvantage of karemat, polyurethane mat – large size when rolled up: you have to carry a roll of 15-20 centimeters thick and at least half a meter high outside your backpack.
Along with the size, the main disadvantage of foam is its low thermal insulation coefficient. The karemat is best used in the summer. In addition, the foam does not smooth out the irregularities of the ground, and sleeping on it is relatively hard.
Ribbed foam is an upgraded standard foam: having a grooved surface and a cellular structure. Due to what creates an additional layer of air between the body and the ground. These mats have better insulation and softer than conventional karemats. But in the folded form still have large dimensions.
Advantages of inflatable camping mats
Therefore, recently inflatable travel mats and mattresses are rapidly gaining popularity. This miracle object can easily transform from a folded rubber rag into a double bed, beach topchanka or watercraft. It is only worth breathing life into it, that is, literally inflate!
An air mattress or mat is the best thing to lie on in a tent and even without a tent:
- Due to its thickness, it can even out all the irregularities and flaws of the surface.
- Comparing sleeping on a mat and foam is like describing sleeping on the floor to sleeping on a featherbed. They are much softer, with them you can forget about the bumps, stones, knots and really sleep better.
- It protects from the cold, damp, does not crumple, easy to transport – inflated, slept, deflated, put in a backpack and went on.
Self-inflating
These mats are filled with a porous material that spreads out, gaining air when you open the valve, which is why they are called that. In fact, such a mat still has to be inflated, and in a winter hike, when the material hardens, and at all inflate yourself. But it takes about 2-3 minutes, again depending on the volume of the mat.
Inflatable mats
These mats are relatively new, and they are inflated with air, like a mattress. To prevent heat loss through air circulation inside a thick mat, Exped, for example, uses goose down or synthetic fillers. Therm-A-Rest constructs dividers and cells inside the mat for this purpose. Inflatable mats are lighter than self-inflating mats, smaller in transportable size, and yet much warmer and almost twice as thick and therefore softer than the latter.

Buy air mattresses and mats of European quality in the online store SportsTerritory!
Nuances about sleeping tourist mattresses
- Typically, mattresses for sleeping come in one- and two-bedroom mattresses. The choice may depend on the estimated number, lying down, or on the size of the tent.
- Orthopedic mattresses are suitable for people with spinal disorders or for anyone who takes care of their back. It has a wavy shape and distributes the weight of the person over the entire area of the mattress.
- A mattress-bed is a wide mattress with a bunch of additional design details (pads, legs, orthopedic layer, etc.).
- There are also different types of attachment: the more durable continuous attachment (with longitudinal strips) and less durable point attachment (with dimples like on the good old mattresses).
- Sleep mattresses, made of PVC or vinyl, only here also with the addition of textiles for a velvety surface. There are also coatings of viscose and jacquard.
A mattress is like a watercraft. And its features
If you have not gone far into the woods or mountains, and arranged a campsite near a body of water. The air mattress is a triple benefit! You sleep on it, sunbathe on it, and swim on it. True, only if the mattress is universal.
Still, it is believed that it is better not to swim on a mattress-bed, and it is better not to sleep on a mattress-swimmer. How to tell them apart:
- The swim mattress must have at least two sections, each of which is inflated separately. So in the case of a puncture, only one part will deflate, and the rest will stay afloat.
- The material used to make the mattress must be very durable. Advanced vinyl is considered the most durable
- Choosing a color it is better to be guided by safety: in case of something bright opaque mattresses are easier to see in the water.
- The best are considered to be mattresses for swimming, which have a lower part that plunges into the water smooth and slippery, and the top, where a person – tenacious velvety.
- Choose a mattress should be sized so that your feet do not hang down. Single bed mattresses are not considered the safest, a mattress with a higher density holds up better on the water.
- You should also pay attention to how the valve closes for inflation. The most reliable ones are the ones that screw on.
- Simple swim mattresses are usually inflated by your own lungs. But, of course, the most comfortable when the mattress itself and inflates with a special self-inflatable pump, or, in the extreme case, a hand or foot pump.
Do you have a mattress? We need a pump, too!
Sleeping mattress options are bulkier and denser, so there aren’t enough lungs for them. Therefore, it is worth buying a pump with them or separately. The electric one is built right into the mattress and inflates it by itself, you only need to scroll it. Powered by a wall outlet or battery. Everyone is probably familiar with a hand or foot pump, so arm yourself with patience and pump your mattress and your arm and leg muscles.
Buy air mattresses and mats of European quality in the online store SportsTerritory!
Feel free to buy air mattresses and sleep well in any environment!



























