The Test

I picked 5 top brand inflatable mattresses for under $300, then slept on each for a couple of nights, picking the overall best value and returning the rest. Since I didn’t have my garage handy when I am traveling, it needed to have a portable air pump included. Also, since traveling means trucking around all our stuff along with my family, I also wanted it to be relatively portable and not take up too much of our valuable trunk space. I graded each inflatable mattress with 10 points for comfort, 5 for portability convenience, and 5 points for ease of set-up and tear-down.

Here is a summary of my findings:

• Aerobed Full Size Classic Plus $149.99
  • Points: Comfort: 8, Portability:3, Ease:3, Overall:14/20
• Coleman Queen Size Double High Quickbed (with pump) $84.99
  • Points: Comfort: 3, Portability:4, Ease:4, Overall:11/20
• Wenzel Flocked-Top Insta-bed Airbed $64.89
  • Points: Comfort: 5, Portability:4, Ease:2, Overall:11/20
• Simmons Beautyrest Sky Rise Express Air Bed with Pump, $109.49
  • Points: Comfort: 8, Portability:4, Ease:4, Overall:16/20
• Home Trends Raised Air Mattress With Built-In Pump $59.82
  • Points: Comfort: 10, Portability:3, Ease:4, Overall:18/20
• AeroBed Premier Raised Queen $275.99
  • Points: Comfort: 10, Portability:2, Ease:5, Overall:18/20

Details:

Aerobed Full Size Classic Plus $149.99

Points: Comfort: 8, Portability:3, Ease:4, Overall:15/20

So I was a little nervous about sleeping on these beds and possibly sacrificing some quality sleep over the course of the experiment. But I was on a mission to avoid my parents hide-a-bed this year. To my surprise, this air mattress had a lot of promise. It inflated quickly in a matter of a minute (and consequently was even faster during deflation) with absolutely no hassles. The firmness could be controlled via the remote which made it easy to find the right support level. There was no air leakage in the morning and I felt pretty good. Getting out of it was a pain however as it only sits a few inches off the floor. Since I can hardly move in the mornings, having to get up from a low position like that provides a challenge, one in which I felt I was paying to avoid.

Being the first one I had tried, I was optimistic that I would find a good one. I thought that the price was reasonable for what I was getting, I just wished it sat a bit higher off the floor. It also didn’t store very well which encouraged a slightly lower score on portability.

Coleman Queen Size Double High Quickbed (with pump) $84.99

Comfort: 3, Portability:4, Ease:4, Overall:11/20

This is a very compact inflatable mattress and would have been very easy to transport around. Unfortunately, it quickly became apparent on my first night that my sleep was going to be sub-par.  You can buy it with or without the pump, I bought it with the pump (for an extra $15 of course) which took under five minutes to inflate. The little bag attached is pretty easy to fit the mattress back into and it deflated pretty painlessly. I just couldn’t get comfortable on it as there seemed to be support in all the wrong places. Everything was great with it, except the main thing… comfort!

Wenzel Flocked-Top Insta-bed Airbed $64.89

Comfort: 5, Portability:3, Ease:3, Overall:11/20

The air pump that it comes with is battery operated which is nice so you don’t need to find a plug in. It inflated really fast (2 minutes or so), and also had a reverse switch to deflate it.  I wondered what would happen if you forgot to pack extra D sized batteries though, and although it says it can fill and deflate up to 20 times on one set, an optional AC adapter would be nice.

The sleep itself was better than my previous night on the Coleman, but it certainly wasn’t premium. I woke up with a sore back and grumpy. The other thing is that it didn’t come with a storage bag. So I would have to get a seperate duffel bag to carry it around. That annoyed me. I would rather sleep on my parents broken hide-a-bed than this.

Simmons Beautyrest Sky Rise Express Air Bed with Pump, $109.49

Points: Comfort: 8, Portability:4, Ease:4, Overall:16/20

It’s Simmons right, so it must be a pretty decent bed, right? Well, it wasn’t bad. For the price tag, I thought it was really a good value. My sleep was similar to the Aerobed that I tried the first night and it was pretty easy to use. It comes with a duffel bag and repair kit which is a benefit since my kids will likely come and come on the bed when I’m not looking. Really easy to adjust the firmness level for finding the right support and all in all, it was the best mattress I had tried yet. Since I didn’t want to spend too much on a mattress if I could avoid it, it was certainly top of my list at this point.

Home Trends Raised Air Mattress With Built-In Pump $59.82

Points: Comfort: 10, Portability:4, Ease:4, Overall:18/20

When I was at Wal-Mart picking up the Simmons inflatable mattress, I happened to come across this Home Trends mattress which was super cheap. I pulled out my iPhone when I was there to see what I could find for reviews on it and low and behold, there were some very positive reviews for it. So I picked it up out of convenience and to my great surprise, this is one hell of a mattress. Comfort was comparable to my permanent latex mattress and everything from the pump to the height was spot on with what I was looking for. Ease of operation was fine once you figure out how the dial works and the portability was easy for folding up and came with a little carrying bag.

For the price, this was taking the cake hands down. I was pretty confident that this would be the one, and in the end, it won out.

AeroBed Premier Raised Queen $275.99

Points: Comfort: 10, Portability:3, Ease:5, Overall:18/20

So I had really liked the first bed I had tried, the AeroBed Classic Plus, and I thought I would give the brand another chance to see how good they actually could get. After all, I did want to find the best inflatable mattress and I really thought that this one looked promising. All I can say is wow. This bed certainly is comfortable. Similar to the Classic Plus, it had the firmness adjustment device which was easy to calibrate to support requirements. But, why does it have to be so cumbersome to set up and transport? If I was using it as a guest bed, I would probably have gone for this model. It was really easy to use and superior in comfort. The other factor was the price. For one quarter of the price, I could keep the Wal-Mart special which was also comfortable and convenient for travel.My wife really liked this AeroBed model and we debated whether the extra price was worth it.

Conclusion

In the end however, comfort, portability and price were the winners for the Home Sense inflatable mattress. We’ll see how it goes over the holiday’s. My only concern is whether the Home Sense inflatable mattress will be as durable. Mind you, I doubt I will go through four of them which would justify paying the premium for the Aerobed Premier.

I hope this helps you pick the right inflatable mattress for you!

Innerspring Adjustable Bed Mattresses

The spring system within the mattress must be designed to accommodate folding on particular intervals in order for the mattress to work properly. Therefore, not an innerspring mattress will do. There are a number of brands that provide mattresses with this in mind and most adjustable bed frames are designed with particular fold points. The primary manufacturer of the adjustable bed frames is Leggett and Platt and most mattress manufacturers will accommodate to those dimensions.

Some leading brands for this type of mattress are Sealy, Serta, and Simmons as well as sleep comfort who make a variety of mattresses suitable for adjustable beds.

Latex Adjustable Bed Mattress

Latex mattresses have really surged onto the market with many health benefits as well as typically strong warranties. The beds will last a long time and are antimicrobial which are perfect for any health related bed rest. Another benefit to the latex mattresses is that they will generally conform to any shape that they are put under. So, any latex mattress that is sized properly for the adjustable bed frame will do. It really comes down to the level of comfort you desire for the actual mattress. This is convenient for testing out mattresses because most mattress stores will have a wide selection of latex mattresses, but often a limited selection of innerspring adjustable bed frame mattresses.

Memory Foam Adjustable Bed Mattress

Since memory foam is so pliable these, like the latex mattresses can be used without concern of flat or adjustable bed frame being used. Memory foam has several advantages for comfort and has seen massive success in recent years for mattresses. However, there are a few disadvantages as well. The first is that it tends to trap moisture, which can be quite uncomfortable for some users should they be sweating much while they sleep. There are also often some offgassing of the materials for a period of time after purchase. Comfort levels are extremely versatile as the mattress has a great variance potential in firmness, based primarily on deflection, resilience, weight, and tensile strength.

Tempur-pedic is am excellent company producing quality memory foam mattresses.

Air Adjustable Bed Mattresses

There is a great benefit in these beds as they commonly have the ability to adjust the firmness level on the fly with a remote control system. This is really great for being able to find comfort no matter how you need it at particular times. The adjustable air mattresses have to be designed for the frame since not all air mattresses will work properly and are not designed to handle the pivot points. However, the air beds themselves are great for their versatility in firmness levels. Since the pressure within the air mattress remains constant throughout, pressure points are significantly reduced and thus increase circulation ensues. The bed of course must be adjusted in firmness to ensure the adequate back support is provided based on the individuals weight.

Dual adjustable air mattress beds are also common with each side being able to control the firmness for the individual sleeping on it. This is perfect for couples who each have their preference to firmness levels and also minimize the “bed shake” from getting in and out of beds by their partner.

Select Comfort specializes in the adjustable air mattresses and have a number of adjustable bed mattresses. They are famous for their “sleep number” system and have dual adjustable air mattresses.

All in all, an adjustable bed is a valuable addition to your sleep comfort. For many baby boomers, these mattresses allow for maximum comfort to help maintain health and wellness and can add value to your day to day life.