Customer Reviews

Coleman Self-Inflating Camp Pad

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I am surprised that Coleman would offer a product so poorly suited for its intended use. The inner foam is so thin that even when the pad is fully inflated the sharp parts of your body will rest solidly on the surface under the pad. I didn't know what unbonded meant when I bought the pad. What it means is that the pad is like a large balloon..the front is not fastened to the back anywhere, so when you lie down it balloons up where you aren't and crushes flat where you are. In other words, it's useless as a pad. Don't be tempted to buy this product. You will not be happy with it!

Great product & must have for any camper! Sets up quickly & provides great sleep no matter what ground your tent is on. My husband is pretty sensitive with rocks & twigs & loves these pads as he can hardly feel any discomfort.

I agree with Jim's review from 2005. This has also been marketed under the Wenzel brand name, and this no longer appears on their web site. As Jim warned, the pad balloons up wherever you are not applying weight and flattens where you are applying weight. I attempted to make it more cushy by blowing more air into it, but that made the "moon bounce" effect much worse without protecting my hips/pelvis from the pain you normally associate with sleeping with no pad.

Don't be fooled by the appearance of this pad. It is useless.
I have owned two Thermarest camp pads for more than ten years. They still work perfectly. I was travelling, needed a pad, and this was the only one carried in the local store. I purchased the Coleman pad and couldn't believe it when I added a little air - and it started to balloon. I was sure I had a defective pad - until I researched it further.
Buy something else - like a Thermarest or an ALPS.

After blowing through what seemed more than our fair share of air mattresses, I decided to take a different tack. I remembered my father's army-issue pad that inflated and was comfortable on hard surfaces. I was much lighter at the time, so that may have played some role.

I was happy when I found these, and I bought two since they seemed so similar to what I had in mind.

The product's description is right. It does self inflate. The problem is what you do after they self inflate. You can leave the valve open, but then you have no padding. Or you close out the valve, and you trap the air in. The problem is that the air rushes around to where there is no pressure on the pad, and you again have no padding, but this time you have ballooning where the air rushed to. Basically your padding becomes a foot support.

These were returned the next day. I do no recommend this product. If I were to make a recommendation to the manufacturer, I would tell them to find a way to isolate the air so that it actually creates padding where it is needed. One way would be to create chambers so that air movement would be restricted. As is, the product is useless for my purposes, and I am having trouble imagining a situation where it would not be.

I went and bought another air mattress the next day.

I purchased these items thru Amazon. The Coleman camp pads are great. Followed the instructions and these are just great for the grand kids in the tent.
They dearly love these. When they come to grandpa and grandma's the first thing they want is the tent and their Coleman pads. The price was good and the shipping
time was very quick. Thanks again to GoCampingCheap.

This has also been marketed as the Wenzel Self Inflating pad. Under either name, you get to feel the ground against your hip/pelvis and it balloons up where you are not applying weight. Moon bounce effect. AVOID.

shouldn't have bought this. hardly inflates at all and very hard to return. need all sorts of authorization numbers which i still haven't received. very sad.

I think it would be a pretty good mat to sleep on if I ever received mine.
Watch out for your provider, the one I used did not send mine out to me, but was kind enough to refund my purchase.
Kind of defeated the purpose...