Should You Purchase a Cot or Air Mattress? When you are camping in the woods, it is important that you take every step possible to ensure you get a good night’s sleep. When you are able to get a good night’s rest, you will be able to better enjoy your time in the woods on your camping trip. While just using a sleeping bag when sleeping is an option, it is not the best one when trying to get a great night’s sleep. Using a cot or air mattress in addition to a sleeping bag is the best way to sleep well while camping. But how to do you know whether you should purchase a cot or air mattress?
Reasons to Purchase a Cot Sturdy – A cot is much sturdier than an air mattress, especially if your air mattress is known to lose air at night. Since a cot is propped up by legs, you can be assured that it will remain sturdy throughout the night and provide you with ample support to get a good night’s rest.
Durable – Cots are also more durable than air mattresses, enabling you to get more for your money. If you are not careful with an air mattress and happen to place it on some roots, sticks or rocks, it can easily spring a leak and become useless. However, a well built cot will last years and provide you with countless nights of sound sleep while camping in the woods.
Reasons to Not Purchase a Cot More Expensive – If you are trying to accumulate camping gear on a budget, you may want to hold off on purchasing a cot. A sturdy, well-built cot will be more expensive than a low budget air mattress. Until you have the money to afford a nice cot, you should hold off on buying a lower quality one.
Takes Up More Space – Since a cot has legs, it can take up more space than an air mattress. If your tent is already tight on space, you may find that you do not have room for a cot. Measuring your tent before buying a cot will help you to see whether or not you can actually fit a cot in your tent or not.
Reasons to Purchase an Air Mattress More Comfortable – While cots are more comfortable than sleeping on the ground, an air mattress provides the most comfort of all three options. With a properly inflated air mattress, it will feel almost as if you are sleeping on your bed at home while you are camping under the stars.
Share With Others – If you are sharing your sleeping space with others, an air mattress is big enough to accommodate everyone. Cots are typically built for one person, so there is not much room for anyone else in your tent. However, with an air mattress, you can easily fit another one or two people on the mattress in your tent.
Reasons to Not Purchase an Air Mattress Need to Blow it Up – Finding a way to blow up an air mattress once you are at your campsite can be a challenge. If you do not have a portable air compressor or some type of pump to help fill your air mattress, you may it is very inconvenient to use this type of sleeping device.
Can Spring a Leak – Another downside to using an air mattress for sleeping comfort in the woods is that they can easily spring a leak. If your mattress does spring a leak, you will be left with nothing comfortable to sleep on. Since cots cannot spring a leak, you can be assured of a comfortable night’s sleep when using this device.
While there are plenty of reasons to use a cot or air mattress while camping, the option you ultimately decide on is up to you and your camping needs. As long as you purchase camping accessories that you can afford and will truly enjoy using, you cannot go wrong with the item that you select.
For more information about the best air mattress or sleeping bag – CLICK HERE