8 Best Roll Mats for Camping

Seventy-eight by fifty-four inches is the argument for the Pretyw, and it is a good one. A single pad that size sleeps two adults with no seam down the middle and no gap to fall into, and it weighs 3 pounds — about what a solo foam mat costs you in weight. For couples in one tent, or one person in the back of a van, we think it is the most sensible shape in this guide.

Four inches of height and a 660-pound capacity mean it does not bottom out under two adults, and the foot pump saves hunting for a pump at bedtime. The surface is ribbed, which helps a little with movement, but you will still feel a partner turn over — that is true of every double air pad, and it is worth accepting before you buy one. It is water-resistant rather than waterproof, so keep it off a wet tent floor.

What it is not is a backpacking pad: 3 pounds and a double footprint is vehicle camping, however small the 10 by 5.9 inch bag looks. Solo trips are better served by the FUN PAC, and if you want foam rather than air, the CYMULA does that job in a size that fits one. Give yourself a few minutes of steady stepping the first time you inflate it — discovering the pump at midnight, in the dark, is nobody’s idea of a good arrival.

Anyone who has woken at 3 a.m. on a deflated air pad understands the appeal of memory foam without needing it explained. The CYMULA stacks 3 inches of memory foam over a support layer, tops it with a soft brushed cover and a non-slip waterproof base, and comes in seven sizes from a kid’s mat up to a full.

Comfort is the whole point. The foam takes the shape of a hip or a shoulder instead of bouncing you back, which is exactly where thin air pads lose side sleepers, and there is none of the clammy feel of an air mattress. The cover unzips and washes, the straps and bag are included, and it rolls up as shown — with an asterisk, because 3 inches of foam makes a parcel that wants the trunk floor rather than a corner of it.

As the middle of the foam range it is the one we recommend first: memory-foam comfort for a lot less than the premium pads here, and enough sizes that you can buy the one that fits your tent instead of the one on the shelf. The straps are long enough that you can compress it in stages rather than wrestling it into the bag, which is not something every foam mat gets right.

Nine pounds is the first thing to know about the hazli. That is several times the weight of the inflatables here, and it is the price of a foam mattress that behaves like a bed rather than a balloon.

We think it is the pick when the ground is cold and the car is close. Memory foam over a high-density base does not depend on trapped air: it cannot leak, will not go flat, and does not pull heat out of you the way an air pad does. The maker quotes an R-value of 7.5, which we treat as a claim to be proved on a genuinely freezing night, but the construction is on the right side of the argument. The 72 by 26 inch footprint suits one sleeper or a cot, and the waterproof cover zips off and washes.

What you give up is portability. Nine pounds of foam rolls into something the size of a sleeping bag, so it lives in the car and comes out at the campsite. The carry bag is generous enough to swallow a folded blanket alongside the pad. Against that: no pump, no valve, nothing to inflate at midnight, and a surface that stays quiet when you turn over.

Six pounds of open-cell foam in a canvas shell is a lot of pad, and it is exactly right for a cot. We think the Outfitter XL is the best cot mat in this group: 80 by 30 inches covers an XL cot edge to edge, and the corner loops strap it down so it stays put when you roll over.

On a tent floor it works too, as long as the floor is flat. Two inches of medium foam takes the edge off roots and stones, the canvas top does not crinkle or turn clammy the way an air pad can, and the whole shell slips off for washing — which matters more on a pad that lives on a cot than most people expect.

Morning dew is worth planning around. The canvas picks up a little condensation from the tent and the air, so it wants ten minutes in the sun before it gets rolled and stuffed in the car. Otherwise it is fuss-free: the straps stay attached, the pad rolls evenly, and the cover comes off at the end of the season for a wash.

At the bottom of the inflatable price range, the WANNTS still offers 75 by 25 inches, 3 inches of depth, 1.6 pounds, a built-in foot pump and six repair patches in the bag. On paper there is nothing here that reads as a compromise.

The compromise is air. A pad at this price can be excellent for a season and then start going soft overnight, and when it happens it is usually the valve or a seam rather than the fabric. Our advice with any budget inflatable is to inflate it at home, leave it a full night and only then trust it in a tent. The crinkle is real, too — this is not the pad to share a small tent with a light sleeper.

We think it is the right buy for a first pad, a teenager’s kit or a spare that lives in the car, and the wrong one for a long trip where a failure ends the walk. The FUN PAC is wider, slightly lighter and comes with a pillow for a little more money; if you want something that physically cannot leak, the Aehma foil mat does a different job for about the same.

At 160 grams and 0.07 inches thick, the Aehma is closer to a space blanket with foam inside than to a mattress. It unfolds to 78.7 inches, folds back into its own pack, and takes up about as much room as a paperback.

What it does is stop the ground pulling warmth out of you. Aluminum foil on both faces reflects heat back, which is why it earns its place under an air pad that has no insulation of its own, and why it works as a tent floor layer or draped over a sleeping bag in a cold snap. Foil side up under the pad, foil side down when it is doubling as a ground sheet.

It tears. The foil facing and the sealed edges are the parts that give out, especially where a boot or a cot leg catches them, and no one should expect more than a couple of seasons from a sheet this thin. Fold it rather than stuffing it, and keep it away from stove corners.

We keep one in the car as insurance, because it is an inexpensive way to make a summer air pad usable on a frosty night, and it doubles as a sit mat or a picnic sheet. Just do not buy it as a mattress: 0.07 inches is padding in name only.

Three quarters of an inch of NBR foam, 72 by 24 inches, a textured non-slip surface and an elastic strap to hold it rolled. It is the plainest thing in this guide, and the price reflects it.

It smells. New NBR foam carries a strong rubbery odor that takes days to fade, and a week in the garage before a trip is not unusual. Air it flat and in the sun first; if it is still noticeable in a closed car after that, use the return window.

The foam is dense and firm rather than plush. For a back sleeper or a child, 0.75 inches is genuinely enough to take the stones out of a tent floor; for a side sleeper’s hip it is not, and a foil mat underneath will not change that. Rolled, it is a 24 by 9 by 9 inch cylinder — fine in a trunk, not fine on a hike.

Where it earns its place is the guest room, the truck bed and the kids’ tent: places where a mat gets used hard, occasionally, and does not need to be precious. Treat it as a mat rather than a mattress and it does its job.