I travel a lot, both for business and pleasure. While the sleeping arrangements for the work-related stuff usually mean I stay at hotels, the pleasure trips (camping, hiking, and fishing) usually mean that I have to choose an air mattress that would be a good fit.
Over the years, I’ve gone through about a dozen of air mattress – in all shapes, sizes and “flavors” they come in. I never really felt the urge to report back and share my impressions on the air beds, they were just a means to an end – getting some form of comfort on the trip.
This is the first time in years that I actually think that I believe I have something worth sharing.
For two reasons:
- I used enough air mattresses over the years and I have some accumulated knowledge that I feel is worth sharing
- I finally stumbled upon an air bed that’s worth talking about
My old air mattress
Towards the end of last year’s camping season, an inflatable bed that I used to own, my trusted old Coleman that I used to love (and kind of still do with all the fond memories attached to it) was finally ready for retirement.
If I’m being honest, it was probably ready last season but the sentimental attachment got the best of me and I kept patching the thing.
This spring, it got too much, it was leaking air all over the place and it just wasn’t reliable enough.
Shopping around for a new air bed
If you’re in Europe, getting your hands on a good inflatable bed is not simple.
What you can find locally is, in my opinion, not worth the money. And I’m not just saying that – over the past few years, I gave some of the locally available Intex models a go and one of these lived up my expectations – they got punctured to easily or started leaking air from pinholes.
Getting it to Europe
There are hoops you have to jump through. Most of the better air bed models are not shipped overseas and that include the SoundAsleep – you can see their policies on the PAQ page here.
So, you have to improvise, either by sending it to a fiend in the US and have them send it over or use some of the dedicated postal service that do just that.
Even when you’re done, you have to think about the power options, because most of the air mattresses are made for the US market and will require a power converter.
For me, it’s not such a big deal because my camping trips are usually to campsites with access to power.
My original intention was to get the same Coleman blow up mattress (SupportRest in Queen Size) that I used to own, but 5 minutes into researching the new stuff on the market it was clear that’s not going to happen.
There was too much new stuff out there
Five minutes into it and one of the new products caught my eye – it was the SoundAsleep Dream Series air mattress.
It was the only product that had over 10K reviews and the strangest part was, when I filtered the reviews by date, they only go back to 2013.
This was a shocker – this new air bed (I never even heard of the brand before) accumulated more reviews in the past few years than some of the brands I know (like Coleman, Serta, Insta, Aerobed).
I had to see what the fuss is all about
The more reviews of the SoundAsleep Dream Series I read, the more surprised I was. I went a step beyond just the reviews I read and looked at some testing results on websites who tested the air bed – the decision point was reading this review of the SoundAsleep Dream Series on TheSleepStudies website.
I just had to get my hand on one.
And I did. I sent it to a friend in the US and he sent the parcel. The shipping cost ended up being about the same as the cost of the airbed itself, but 5 months of use and I can confidently say it was worth it.
A great summer
When the thing finally arrived, about a month after I sent it to my fiend in the US, it was already time to put it to test.
The first time I used it was mid May on a 4-day trip to my friend’s cabin.
The result – it was the talk of the trip and I ended up sharing. Not only did I sleep on the bed but most of my fiends wanted a “taste”, even if it’s just for a nap.
5 months in and zero issues
If you ever bought an air bed you know that you’re never quite sure what you’re getting.
The SoundAsleep Dream Series was all that and a bag of chips and I don’t regret a single dime of the extra money I spent on shipping costs.
- In terms of comfort it was unlike any other air bed I ever used – the weight distribution is solid and if it was covered by a sheet, you can hardly tell you’re sleeping on air mattress
- Zero leaks – when I say leaks I mean both zero punctures that require patching and zero “mysterious” mysterious leaks
- In this 5 months, the Dream Series was slept on at least 40 times, either on the trips or when I had guest and used it as an extra bed
Final thoughts
The SoundAsleep Dream Series air mattress is unlike any air bed I ever slept on and it feels like it’s build to last.
I did say the same thing about the durability and “how it feels” for a 2 or 3 other models I owned over the years, so we’ll see how it stand the test of time.
Bottom line – so far so good, this one feels like a winner.
