REI Co-op Kingdom Insulated Air Review

It is important to know what you are looking for in a camping mattress before you buy. If you are looking for the highest level of comfort, you may want to look at a foam mattress, which can be as comfortable as the mattress you sleep on at home. If you only sleep out a few nights a summer, and also need something for unexpected guests, an air mattress might be a good fit. The REI Kingdom is an air mattress that delivers a higher level of insulation than many other air mattresses, which can make the difference between sleeping and shivering all night.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

REI's Kingdom is an insulated air mattress that blows up to be 6 inches thick across the surface of the mat. Like all air mattresses, it has a certain amount of bounce to it, especially with two people sleeping on it. If it is fully inflated, there is less bounce, but it may be too firm for comfort. By letting out some air, we found that it felt more cushioned, but also more springy. Two people who move a lot at night may not find this to be the best sleeping situation.

The Kingdom is considerably warmer than the average air mattress, and the fabric exterior is both quiet and soft to the touch.

Ease of Use

The Kingdom comes with a rather large manual hand pump for inflation. The valve has two parts to unscrew — the top cap reveals the one-way inflation valve, which ensures that air doesn't come out after it's been pumped in. The pump nozzle pushes into this valve for relatively easy inflation. The hand pump is actually quite noisy, though it is dual-action so it inflates on both the pull and push motions. It is fairly low to the ground, as well, making it a bit awkward for taller people to operate.

The hand pump has a setting for deflate, but using it requires opening the deflation valve, where the air dumps out quickly, so we didn't see any reason to use that side of the pump. For micro-adjusting the level of air in the mattress, we slightly opened the deflation valve until enough air was out to make the bed as soft as we wanted.

Warmth

While most air mattresses lack insulation to protect you from the air below your body, making them really cold to sleep on, the Kingdom is equipped with some synthetic insulation for warmth. The R-value of 2.6 is enough to take the edge off of cool nights, especially in the summer months. If you are camping at higher altitudes, where nighttime temps can dip into the 30s, or in the early spring, late fall, or winter, you might want to consider a mattress with a higher R-value.

Our testers were pleasantly surprised at the insulating properties of this mattress, however, and for casual campers who primarily sleep out on warmer nights, the Kingdom is worth a look.

Versatility

The Kingdom is described as a queen-size mattress, 79 x 56 inches, making it large enough for two people and a dog, but too large to fit in many two- or even three-person tents. It is also too wide to fit in a standard pickup truck bed and lacks the insulation to make it comfortable for colder nights out. It is also much too bulky and heavy to carry for a backpacking trip. In other words, this is not the most versatile mattress. On the plus side, it makes a great guest bed and is durable enough for sleeping right on the ground.

Packed Size

Considering the size of the hand pump, which tucks into the rolled-up mattress, the overall packed size of the Kingdom is pretty acceptable for a two-person sleeping setup. It is much too large for backpacking, but it won't take up much room in the back of the car or in the gear closet at home. It is also notably lighter than many of the other two-person mattresses in our test.

Should You Buy the REI Co-op Kingdom Insulated Air?

While theKingdom costs more than a typical air mattress, it is much warmer and more comfortable than the average air mat. And it sleeps two people. If you want a big camping mattress that can double as a reasonably comfortable guest bed, this is an excellent choice and a good value.

Conclusion