That’s why we’ve pulled together this list of key factors for Hi-Gear Dream 5 Sleeping Mat below, to help you choose if it’s the right product for you and your budget. As with all ‘self-inflating’ designs, you will need to give it a couple of top-up blows to fully inflate it, even if you have left for a while to expand, but it’s not a big issue. The valves appear well made, the seams all feel secure, and the plush brushed-top finish is quiet and comfortable with a nice amount of grip for your sleeping bag. We’d be happy to use it as a put-me-up bed at home too. There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Hi-Gear Dream 5 Sleeping Mat. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for. We’re really pleased to have scored Hi-Gear Dream 5 Double Self-Inflating Mattress so highly, givimg it 8.1 out of 10, making it well above the average for all Self Inflating Mats. The downside to buying online is that you can’t actually get hold of the product to try it out first.

The best air mattress will make sure you sleep well outdoors, and if you’re planning on camping regularly, it’s the single most important piece of kit, aside from your tent. After all, a holiday isn’t much fun if you’re not getting proper rest, especially if you’re spending a week running around with free-ranging kids. Self-inflating designs still need time to work and almost always require a few big breaths, or pumps, to completely inflate. Larger options may require a foot pump. Or you can buy an automatic pump that either plugs into your car’s power, if you are camping near the car, or has its own battery supply, like this excellent model from Flextail. How we test air mattressesWhen buying Self Inflating Mats, the quality of the product is going to be one of the factors that you really scrutinise before you commit to buying.

To give that price some context we then looked at all of the products available from Go Outdoors in the Self Inflating Mats category. We found 13 items in total. What’s the price of Self Inflating Mats? READ NEXT: The best inflatable tents to buy The best air mattresses and sleeping pads you can buy in 2023 1. Snugpak Air Mat with Built-in Foot Pump: Best lightweight easy inflation air mattress Consider whether you want a single or a double – there are also some great ones for kids – as a standard single air mattress is just 60cm wide, which is much smaller than a normal single bed. So, if you want to spread out, or snuggle up with someone, a double may be far more comfortable.There’s so much information available online when we’re shopping now, that it’s easy to find lots of detail about products like Hi-Gear Dream 5 Double Self-Inflating Mattress. This is of course really helpful, but there’s almost too much information available, so it’s important to know exactly what you’re looking for.

That got us thinking though, that we’re looking at every possible item from Hi-Gear so it would be good to narrow our search down even further and only look at Hi-Gear branded products within the Self Inflating Mats category. The cost of Hi-Gear Self Inflating Mats There are however some methods that you can use to determine a product’s quality without needing to physically have it. Price – as you’d expect the price of a product can be an instantly recognisable factor on what sort of quality you can expect. Whoever came up with the phrase “you get what you pay for” pretty much hit the nail on the head. Whilst it’s not always the case and there are many bargains to be had, you can as a general rule, expect the higher priced products to offer better quality than a the cheapest option. We’ll dive into the price of Hi-Gear Dream 5 Sleeping Mat in more detail in a moment.Supplied in a carry bag that’s around the size of a pillow, this camping mat has two valves to make inflating and (importantly) deflating super simple. If you wait for an hour, air will naturally be drawn inside and it will just need a few big breaths to top it up to the firmness you like – or, if time is tight, it doesn’t take more than a couple of minutes to inflate manually. It can also be clipped to a second mattress to make a double, which is a well thought out bonus. Air mattresses are usually either self-inflatable or need blowing up manually. Usually, only the thinnest camping mats can be inflated with just lung power; larger air mattresses usually require a pump and can take some time to fill. What often sets good mattresses and cheap mattresses apart is the use of one-way valves. These make blowing them up much easier as no air can escape during the process and they are also much less likely to leak. When inflating our air beds, we’ve used our lungs, supplied inflation bags, built-in pumps, and, when more effort was required, we relied on the Quechua hand pump. Another factor that can be a great indication of product quality is the brand. Brands like Hi-Gear are of course extremely well known, especially for Self Inflating Mats.