bestbackpackingtentsguide.com

Choosing the best Camping Mattress

The camping mattress buyers guide to help you choose the best camp mattresses by considering the advantages and disadvantages of using a camping air mattress, foam camping mattress or self inflating camping mattress.

There’s nothing like a good sleep system to get a great nights sleep on a camp trip. However, there are some important camp mattress considerations to note before parting with your cash.

If your family camping or car camping you may be looking for a double or king size camping air mattress because weight and portability is not an issue.

Backpacking and hiking trips require a camping mattress or as most of us call them sleeping pads, made from a couple of foam variations and air camp mattresses.

Best Air Mattress for camping

Wow, the best air mattress for camping will be the most comfortable of all. These are made to be as close to a household bed as possible. However, close is quite far, as the companies that produce a camping mattress have a challenge to provide the comfort of your own bed.

I’m afraid you may need to lower your expectations for what an air camping mattress can do.

When buying an inflatable camp mattress you have the option of manual pumping, using a foot pump or electric pumps.

Electric pumps are the most convenient but will increase the cost overall if you have to buy separately. You will either need an electric hook up, or your car close to the tent if access into your tent is tight and the electric pump runs from the car battery power.

Rechargeable pumps are a good option and plenty of campgrounds have an electricity point to recharge when needed.

Manual pumps will either be a kind of foot pump or a hand pump fitted to the camping mattress that takes some pumping to fully inflate. The hand inflating camping air mattress is not fun to pump after pitching a tent on a hot day, although they are cheap and need no form of power, apart from arm power.

The downside of a camping air bed, includes slight deflating during a nights sleep, punctures and/or air leaks causing the air bed to completely deflate.

Reviews are all 50/50 for the performance. Some consumers say they had no deflating problems others say it went completely flat overnight. Using the instructions for inflating is advisable, and buying from a trusted retailer that has a good returns policy is smart.

Various sizes are available, from single to twin, double and king size. Also, if you have problems with getting up from close to the floor you have the option of buying a camp mattress that is the size of two camping mattresses to provide the height needed.

• Popular Air Camp Mattress Brands
• Coleman
• Wenzel
• Aero bed
• Intex air mattress
• Other top brands for buying camping gear will sell a camping air mattress, although with limited reviews for performance.

Cheaper options are available but be warned, you have a good chance of waking up deflated.

Self Inflating Camping Mattress And Foam Camping Mattresses

The self-inflating camping mattress or a foam camping mattress is what is better known as sleeping pads.

These are the option for backpacking or hiking trips. The foam camping mattress is the most versatile and will never leak or become punctured.

If car camping and no one has major comfort issues we would advise you to look more into using these types for reliability.

The self-inflating camping mattress is a great lightweight option that also provides comfort.

For more information about the self-inflating camping mattress and foam camping mattress visit the camping sleeping pad guide.

Find the best camping stove for backpacking, hiking or car camping.

When buying a camping stove we want to get the right type for the trip planned. The stove is an important piece of camping equipment to get right without wasting money that can last many years.

Stoves vary for fuels used, size and weight. Various types include the propane camping stove, backpack stoves, coleman camp stoves, wood camp stoves, duel fuel camping stoves and many other variations and choices.

This guide will provide useful information for those considering a new camping stove or renewing the old clapped out stove.

Some stoves measure their efficiency in BTU, or British Thermal Units. Hotter stoves produce more BTU’s than more cooler stoves. However, the best way to gauge a stove efficiency is boiling time. Most camp stove manufacturers advertise their product’s boiling time in the stove information guide. The quicker a stove boils water, the more efficient it is.

Camping Stoves and Fuel Types

Camping stoves run on a variety of fuels. The type of fuel used will play an important factor in your decision making.

Kerosene camping stoves: kerosene products have been around for over a century and are safe to use with the usual precautions required for anything that generates heat. This fuel is a dirty fuel, leaving you a need to clean up the stove. It is best to use kerosene in well ventilated areas , only if no other fuel is available. You must also frequently pump-up kerosene stoves because this is a liquid fuel to be kept pressurized to produce enough flame to be practical.

White gas camping stoves: Very popular and avaliable from camping stores that sell coleman camping equipment, sporting goods stores, maybe even Wal-Mart. Slower burning and great for cold weather camping. Cleanliness is also an advantage.

Propane/Gas camping stoves: Propane camp stoves run on gas and are the most popular stove used for family camping or car camping. Coleman camp stoves and many other stoves are made with two burners to suit trips for more than one person camping. Most propane stoves have push button ignitions attached that are definitely convenient, but over time the mechanism can break, so make sure you have matches or a lighter to get your stove up and running just in case. Having a windscreen attached to your camp stove can be very helpful on windy days. However many stoves have sufficient windscreens at the side of the stove. These are the easiest to use and clean, out of all fuel types. Just plug the cannister in and cook. Not the best fuel at low temperatures, below zero degrees.

Unleaded gasoline camping stoves: Widely available and cheap. Many people would not recommend using unleaded fuel. Others are very happy to use it. This fuel also means more time spent cleaning the stove compared to white fuel.

Various Camp Stoves

Duel fuel: Duel fuel camp stoves are great for those needing different fuel options. Many will run on white gas and unleaded fuel, others will also burn kerosene. However, follow the manufacturer’s guidelines. I would use white gas above unleaded unless circumstances required unleaded.

Alcohol camping stoves: Alcohol burns well in a non-pressurized burner compared to other solid fuels.alcohol does take much longer to produce heat.

Backpack stoves: For the single burner backpacking stoves. These are not made for preparing an entire family meal. However, they can come in handy as an extra burner, or to carry with you for a picnic lunch away from your base camp. Most of these stoves will be the white gas type. This is because weight is very important when backpacking lightweight or hiking, and white gas provides the most heat for a given weight of fuel.

Wood Stoves: Wood camp stoves are a great option if you would like to have a home made stove or the increasingly popular wood gas burning systems that effectively burn the fuel twice. Wood gas stoves work like this. In the first stage, combustion air is driven into the fuel to create some smoke (or wood gas). In the second stage, more combustion air is driven into the chamber to burn the gas from the first stage. The electric fan provides the combustion air in just the right amounts to produce the gas and burns it completely. A good option for environmental friendly folk.