Deflation: Each bed is inflated to its firmest setting, weighted down with heavy benches and left for 18 hours overnight. While I thought the bed was relaxing to sleep on, I did find that it needed a bit of topping up in the morning to bring it back up to a comfortable pressure. Sign up here to receive marketing communications from GO Outdoors Retail Limited (t/a Fishing Republic). Then within 3 hours there was barely any air left in it, we could feel the floor beneath us, this happened two nights running. The soft velour cover of this mat feels comfy to lie on and the bed holds you well off the floor, with no midnight sagging on test.

It’s worth noting that while air chambers that run side to side look more comfortable, they can sag when you lie down. The outer casing can be made from vinyl, PVC or rubber and the base should be tough,’ says Jessica Alexander. But more than that, if you invest in a decent air bed, you'd expect it to be easy to set up and tidy away, for it not to make an irritating squeaking noise when someone turns on it and not to have an unpleasant odour. The bed also did well to retain its firmness in the night, needing only a little topping up after the kids had a play on it. It’s constructed with 42 air coils for comfort, but I found the grooves on the top layer a little less inviting than some of the more streamlined designs.Inflation time: It’s worth noting how long it takes the air bed to inflate – it’ll usually be a couple of minutes. A five-minute bounce from Bethany and William certainly didn’t help matters, but luckily there were no punctures to report. While this double is not as long as the king size air beds in our test, the width gave me room to move about and get comfortable. While I found it a challenge to fold the bed up after use, the bag was big enough to allow for my clumsy folding.

It uses ‘Tritech’ I-beam construction, which Daniel appreciated as the grooves helped align his spine while sleeping. It is really comfy, it took a few minutes to pump up but I didn't need to do it again for the rest of the trip. Team that with the vertical lines spanning the bed’s length, and the Intex looks and feels very enticing to sleep on.

It’s usual for a PVC air bed to stretch a little, and the air inside contracts at night as the temperature drops, but this normally settles after the first few uses. The flocked outer fabric is soft, warm and provides grip to prevent your sleeping bag sliding off the bed with you inside it. ReadyBed reckon it takes a minute to inflate their design but we’d give it more like 10-15 with a foot pump. While it was a little trickier to get in and out of, the bed makes for a surprisingly comfortable and warm sleep, and has a nice pressure-relieving squish to it. One of the most common worries for would-be campers is whether they’ll be able to get a good night’s sleep in a tent – after all, a family holiday or a festival weekend isn’t much fun if you’re not getting proper rest.

Camping mats are thin, inflatable mattresses that roll down small and are designed for backpacking, wild camping and adventures where portability and weight are key factors.The designs we’ve mentioned here come with a storage bags, but they can be flimsy so it may be worth holding onto the box. The flocked surface is soft and keeps a sheet from slipping about, and we found this mat stayed inflated effectively when on test. We also asses how easy it is to achieve the desired firmness setting and how easy it is to fit a standard fitted sheet to the bed.

I may not have my priorities right, but the first thing I wanted to do when inflating the Intex was to give it a stroke. We also test a few manual blow-up beds to investigate whether these are just as good or perhaps even better than inflatable beds with built-in pumps. Outwell’s excellent king is super roomy, and any tall or plus-size sleepers who find double mats a bit restrictive will love stretching out.A very cheap air bed can be a false economy – they’re prone to slowly deflating in the night, and can be plasticky and uncomfortable to sleep on. The raised sides, to stop you rolling out at night, are quite thin compared to other air beds I tried, but this does give you more surface area to sleep on – something my 6ft partner Daniel, who also tested the bed, appreciated. Need to know Carry bag, built-in headboard, raised edges around the side to stop you rolling off, flocked cover material.