Pad, Cot, or Air mattress?

[Desk Jockey]

Big fan of my sea to summit ether light pad. 4” of comfort and still a reasonable backpacking weight. For car camping I like a cot but you still need a pad for insulation. Surplus military costs are cheap and last forever. If you are trying to save money, a cheap air mattress and some blankets are plenty cozy if you set it up right.

 

[swanny]

For a base camp/truck camp scenario, I'd go cot with a mat on top. EXPED introduced the DeepSleep line which is a 7.5cm thick budget series MegaMat. R-value of 8.5 so it'll be great for any season you use it in and come in size Medium (72x20) startin at $149. I'd guess you could buy a cot for $50 and be right at your $200 price point.

EXPED Basecamp Mats (excuse my EXPED dorkiness in the picture below)

 

[Ddog]

For my tent camp set-up, I have a big ass cot with a Klymit Static V Luxe pad (the 30" wide one). I'm a side sleeper and it's really comfortable, I think I sleep better in the tent than at home. Around $175 for the stuff I have, but you can definitely save money on a cheaper cot.

 

[cusecat04]

Truck camping: grabbed a couple cheap cots from cabelas, that and a pad are what we use, storage underneath, folds up for travel, sleeps better than an air mattress for me.