UPDATE! As of October, 2023, all new orders of the Platform Camper, Platform RTT, and all those currently in production now ship with our new Turbo-Nap Sleep System mattress included. We spent more than a year developing the Turbo-Nap mattress and we think it’s hands-down the most comfortable mattress on the truck camper market.
This post was edited above to include updated and relevant information for new customers.
Hey all! Just placed an order for a SL, and am now researching mattress options. I read through the great thread with all the options from paco pads to Hest Duallys on the forum, but there is not much in there which is specific to the SL, particularly around closing it up with the various options and overall fit.
I would love to avoid a mattress which inflates, just for ease of setup and takedown, which has me leaning toward the hest - but I am not sure if I will be able to close the tent with the hest in there, and if on top of that i would be able to keep bedding and pillows up top. Optimal for me would be foam mattress, store all bedding in the tent for ease of setup and breakdown.
Can anyone share experience specific to the SL when it comes to mattresses, bedding, and storage up top?
I just ordered mine as well and I’m looking at the Hest you mentioned. I’d be curious to know/try the Hest Dually Long. It’s 50" wide which is the same as the Superlite exterior. I’m wondering if you can compress the mattress sides in enough to make it fit. I imagine it would with the tent open, but might be a struggle zipping it up to close it. So then I’m curious if you flip the dually into storage mode if it’ll compress down enough when closing the tent. I image it can based on the videos I’m watching of it compressing. Then you could fold the mattress and put it on one side, while putting your bedding on the other side when closing.
I may be incorrect in the exterior dimensions. The product page says the tent is 50x90in, which I assume is the exterior, but it also says the puff pad mattress is 50x90in which leads me to believe that’s the interior dimensions. So maybe the Hest Dually will fit perfects into the tent. Perhaps someone who already owns the tent can confirm for us.
It’s self-inflating which takes about 15 minutes, which can be sped up with a pump or blowing into it. It will deflate to about an inch and a half thick people are saying. Which should leave plenty of room for bedding. May even be able to just leave it inflated at the 3" thick size and adjust the SL straps accordingly.
I got V1 Camper(with the OG 3" pad) so can’t speak for the Superlite.
I was at the local off-road shop and demoed the Hest Dually in their Alu-Cab RTT. It truly is wonderful and feels comparable to my Leesa mattress at home. Currently, I’m using an Exped Duo 10M and its night and day better than the stock pad, but the Hest is just luxurious. My concern is the 4" thickness of the Hest not compressing easily and/or not allowing the sides to fold in easily. My 3" stock GFC pad was sometimes a pain to fold in; I’m assuming now GFC uses 2" pads on the campers and RTT, it’s not an issue. The off-road shop offered to test fit it in my rig, but I ran short on time. If I get a chance to demo the Hest in my rig, I’ll report back.
If your considering an inflatable pad. Can’t be said enough, the Exped Duo is a awesome setup. I like to leave the bedding in mine when packing down the tent so it required deflating the pad. I’m all about fast setup and tear down, so I bought a rechargeable air pump for inflating and deflating.The air pump I got works phenomenally! Less than 2 minutes to inflate and 3 minutes to deflate to as thin as I could do it manually. Highly recommended if you want to consider inflatable options.
FLEXTAILGEAR Portable Air Pump… https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09FT7RJFG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
Superlite owner here (since June 2021) with over 60+ nights in it. We have the PuffPad with a 1.5 inch memory foam topper (Bed Bath and Beyond, hah) and that’s been a stellar set-up for us.
Re: space
We don’t deflate the pad when we’re on the road (though we store it deflated/let the air out) and keep an Aeronaut Outdoor blanket up there with a t-shirt or two. We can’t fit our pillows (the awesome Hest ones, but those aren’t inflatable and super comfortable) though. The Superlite will expand a decent amount if needed which is pretty great, but has a limit. Unlike my friend’s GFC RTT, we can keep more in it and not deflate (he uses an Exped).
Re: footprint
Once inflated, the PuffPad sits within the footprint of the Superlite with about 1-2" of space around it. I think when it’s completely flat/out of the package, it’s the exact footprint, but when inflated, tucks up.
Due to some leakage in our PuffPad, we temporarily used an Exped Megamat Duo LW, which was nice, but my wife and I found it a bit too bouncy or jiggly (?). It also definitely pushes the sides of the Superlite out since it has a wider width footprint, so you have to push the sides in more, and it doesn’t look as squared away with the slight bulge in the sides. If you deflate it completely and fold it like some do in the hard RTT, you may be able to get away with a cleaner look, but that’s work of course.
In general, the PuffPad has been the best fit and with the memory foam topper, is a great combo that we don’t have to fuss with when moving between locations. Just fold up the Hest pillows, and if we have any extra blankets or such, take those down in the morning, and we’re good to go.
I ended up getting the Amazon one I linked too and it’s really comfortable. My tent comes in on Tuesday and will be able to report on the fit once it does. It takes a few minutes to inflate, which can be sped up with a pump or blowing into it. I also got some Kammok blankets and a sleeping bag. I’ll let you know how it all fits and how much the SL needs to be extended to do so.
So the one I linked to above fits in the Superlite perfectly. It couldn’t be a better fit. With it close to fully deflated the Superlite closes to about 6" without really cinching it down much. It a partial deflate it closes to 7". Really just depends on how much other stuff you want to put in there and how long you want to spend inflating it next time. Pulling into my garage I still have about five inches of clearance, so I’ll probably do a partial deflate going forward as I have the height to spare. Super happy with this mattress though. It’s like it was made for this tent.
Literally posting from camp, and after one night with the HEST in the Superlite. Fits easy, and is super comfortable. Worth it. This trip will be six nights so I can also report back at the end.
Not at all. It does compress if you lean into a spot with an elbow or such, but it doesn’t touch the floor (for reference, I’m 140 lbs, my wife is 120lbs).
Night two in the wild, and it’s definitely in game changer territory. (We did sleep on it at home during some random bouts of jet lag from an international long haul flight and that was a soft test, haha).
I think I might have found out a cheaper option than Hest. They use open cell foam which seems to be temperature resistant. Got a 3 inch topper coming to test. Asked to just buy the foam directly from Hest but unfortunately they couldn’t. Not cutting up a $400 mattress when all I need is the foam.