After the gear failure of the backseat sleeping platform I reviewed, I wasn’t putting much stock into any sleeping system for Raven The Tank’s backseat. But who am I to pass up reviewing cheap gear for you all? The truth is that nearly all hiking and camping gear comes from China. It’s often made in the same factory – the name brand and the rip-offs are on the same line.
So, I became interested when I saw an inflatable car air mattress on Shein in the $20 range after the pricy $100+ hard bed broke on first use. In terms of quality, Shein is not quite as bad as Temu. Most everything sold on the site that isn’t clothing is 3rd party sellers. And those same sellers sell on Amazon as well. You might pay less on Shein. I have found prices change constantly on Shein. It seems to depend on how much I have in my shopping cart and if I am clipping their coupons. I have placed a couple of orders, and they all showed up perfectly. It’s not as fast as Amazon, as they are shipped from China. But it still is there within a week (since we are on the West Coast), and the packages have tracking.
So let us pretend there is nothing politically or ethically wrong about buying crap on Shein, and let’s get reviewing, eh? But I’ll stick to Amazon for links because, honestly…I like seeing the prices not fluctuating all over. At least Shein inspires me to find crap gear to review. But overall, I still prefer buying on Amazon, and that is if you do have an issue, returns are far easier to get done.
I bought the black color for the bed, as Raven The Tank is black. She’s a heat box, all toasty inside, with a black interior.
And what a cold and gloomy day to check out how the bed would work. I found my favorite area to take naps in. It is state park land, along the Salish Sea on Whidbey Island. The Olympic Mountains are in the distance, across the sea. The beach is up and over the land to the left. Not long after, the wind was howling, it turned nearly dark and started dumping. That’s when having a metal tent is just awesome.
“Car Air Mattress“. So very generic….hahaha. The mattress parts come in a reusable bag.
It came with the inflator, which plugs into any port in the car (or in Raven, let’s be real; they were still cigarette lighters back then; the back seat doors each had one, and there was an ashtray to go with it).
There were 4 parts to inflate. I did the 2 pillows first.
The 3rd part is the arch. It blows up quickly. Fit the seats to it, to ensure it doesn’t move or wobble.
Inflating the main part went fast. It’s no different than blowing up an old-school air mattress for the pool, really. The upper part is flocked fabric, which was very soft to the touch.
No heavy PVC smell either, which shocked me. Even when I went to give a few puffs at the end, I didn’t have that off-gassing odor that clings.
Now, I put the bed backward. Oops. The little middle pillow thing was supposed to go towards the front of the car.
The pillows are hilariously tiny. I wouldn’t normally use them for my head, but it also occurred to me that these would work great for backpacking. They inflate with a few puffs (I used the ol’ lungs instead of the inflator because of the size).
I got in and tried it out. Having shoes you can kick off is huge, especially in the foot area by the door. And I didn’t break this bed like the other one we reviewed, so there is a win. Now, what do I really like? I could sit in the middle of the backseat and just be. It’d be great for working on my laptop in scenic areas.
To deflate, just pull all the ports open and roll up. The air goes right out quickly, and then it folds up and packs away in the bag.
I paid $21.81 for mine on Shein but used stacked coupons and some points. It’s currently priced at $40, the Amazon link has it for $28.99 with a 5% off coupon offered, so not a bad price.
It’s stashed in the car, if I need it. It pulls together in only a couple of minutes. So for what I paid for it? I’d call it a win. It’s light and takes up very little room in storage.
~Sarah