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How to Select the Best Mattress for your TrunkMate Kit
Overview
There’s a good reason there are so many different mattresses on the market. People’s mattress preferences vary wildly and comfort is a highly subjective matter.
But with so many mattresses to choose from, how do you go about selecting the best one for sleeping in your car?
We’ve tested a ton of mattresses in lots of different vehicles, so before you try to squish your favorite mattress from home into the back of your car, let’s take a look at what makes a mattress ideal for car camping in the first place.
What makes a good car camping mattress?
Selecting a good mattress for sleeping in your car boils down to the following four factors:
- Fits your sleeping platform
- Packs down small
- Is comfortable
- Fits your budget
Fits your Sleeping Platform
Selecting the right size mattress for your car can be a bit tricky with all the different sizes out there. Thankfully, we’ve tested dozens of mattresses and narrowed down the best-fitting mattresses for your car camping SUV bed platform.
The main dimensions to look at are the mattress width, length, and thickness.
Width
Choosing the correct mattress width for sleeping in your car is crucial.
Obviously you aren’t going to be stuffing a queen size mattress into your little Toyota RAV-4, but there are some standard sizes that fit great.
As a general rule of thumb, full-size mattresses fit minivans while twin-size mattresses fit SUV’s. And if you are a solo traveller who plans to sleep on only one side of your vehicle, single sized mattress or sleeping pads will fit the bill nicely.
A common question I receive is “can I fit a full size mattress in my SUV?” So I gave it a shot to see for myself. Here it is stuffed into a Subaru Outback…
Besides the difficulty of getting it into the car, you can see that the mattress corners are squished and the edges ride up over the wheel wells.
Sleeping on it is much like sleeping inside a giant taco. Not recommended.
However, having a mattress that is just slightly wider than your sleeping platform shouldn’t be a deal breaker.
As a rule of thumb, try to stick with no more than 4″ of overhang on either side of the bed. So if your sleeping platform is 24″ wide, look for a mattress no wider than 32″ wide.
That being said, there is a bit of fluctuation in even the standard mattress sizes, so it’s best to check the exact measurements on the product website to ensure a proper fit in your vehicle.
Thickness
Choosing the correct mattress thickness for sleeping in your car can be confusing.
You want enough thickness where you don’t feel the sleeping platform beneath you, but not too much that your face is smooshed up against the ceiling of your car.
We’ve found that 2-4″ is a good compromise of comfort to headroom.
You can also place a thin yoga mat or closed cell foam pad as an underlayment for thinner mattresses.
Length
Choosing the correct mattress length for sleeping in your car is the least important dimension to consider.
Yes, you want the mattress to be long enough for your outstretched body, but it’s not a big deal if it’s a tad too long.
We’ve found that a mattress that is too long for the space in your car is usually not an issue since you can generally roll/fold up the excess and tuck it out of the way.
Packs down small
Having a packable mattress is critical when car camping. Sure, you could stick your guest bed in your car but then you’d be stuck with a permanent bed in your car. At TrunkMate, we believe your car should function both as a bed for sleeping and as a car for carrying passengers. So our sleeping platforms all fold up into the trunk when you aren’t using the bed.
The packability of a mattress mostly depends on what type of mattress it is. Generally speaking, car camping mattresses are either foam mattresses or air mattresses. Both have different properties that affect their packability.
Air Mattresses
The glowing benefit of air mattresses are their compactness and lightweight-ness. Most air mattresses pack down to the size of a small duffel bag, and some as small as a water bottle.
There are some trade offs though.
- Air isn’t a good insulator, so they aren’t great for keeping you warm on cold nights.
- Air mattresses are prone to springing leaks. While most companies include patch kits with their products, it’s simple to do a field test, but it’s definitely not fun to wake up in the middle of the night to a deflated bed.
- Some air mattresses can be quite crinkly and make for a difficult night’s rest if you are an active sleeper.
- Inflating and deflating the mattress can become a chore, especially if you are on a week long roadtrip or longer.
Foam Mattresses
Sleeping on a memory foam mattress in your car makes car camping feel less like camping and more like sleeping on your bed at home.
The downside however is that foam mattresses tend to be heavier and less compact than air mattresses.
However, compact foam mattresses do exist. A quick search for “tri-folding mattresses” or “roll-up mattresses” will give you an idea for the many options available.
Blended Mattresses
Some mattresses use a combination of air and foam for padding. This makes for a slightly more comfortable sleeping experience that also packs down small.
Is Comfortable
When you think of camping, it’s hard not to remember that time you slept on that old inflatable mattress that sprung a leak in the middle of the night.
But air mattresses have come a long way in durability and comfort, and many people even prefer sleeping on air.
Comfort is highly subjective topic and not at all intuitive. A mattress that is super comfortable for one person may be very uncomfortable for another.
The most surefire way to test a mattresses comfort is to try it out for yourself.
If this isn’t possible, look online at the ratings and reviews left by customers. It is often possible to deduce whether or not a mattress will suit your needs based on the stories left by others.
Mattresses are usually categorized as firm, soft, or somewhere in between.
Firm Mattresses
Soft Mattresses
Fits Your Budget
The most critical factor is that your mattresses fit your car’s usable space. But after that’s taken care of, price is probably the next biggest factor to consider.
Car camping mattresses can range anywhere from sub-$100 to well over $500.
What’s worth it to you isn’t always worth it to others, so it’s best to ask yourself good questions when prioritizing the cost:
Are you a finicky sleeper or do you sleep like a log through natural disasters?
Is getting a good night’s rest your number 1 priority for sleeping in your car, or do you just need a rudimentary bed to catch a few hours of shuteye for your pre-dawn hike up Half Dome?
Knowing yourself and your needs will make selecting a mattresses that fits your budget super straightforward.
Where to store your packed mattress
There are 3 places to store you portable car camping mattress when you’re not sleeping on it.
- The space on top of your folded-up sleeping platform
- The drawer or cubby space underneath your sleeping platform
- On top of your car inside a roof box (if you have one)
