There was a time (early on in my camping career) when I’d deal with uncomfortable nights at the campground, tossing and turning in my sleep. But those days are long gone, and yours can be too — if you find the right sleeping pad.
For a comfortable night’s sleep under the stars, it’s necessary to invest in a camping mattress that keeps you off the ground, well-insulated and supported even in cold weather or on rocky and root-filled terrain. It’s time to ditch your inch-thick foam pad, or dare we say, yoga mat, for a mattress that makes sleeping outdoors almost as comfortable as your bed at home.
We put the Nemo Roamer Double, a popular self-inflating air mattress that promises luxury comfort at the campground, to the test. It’s wide enough to sleep two, rated for warmth even in freezing temperatures and cushy enough to make you forget you’re sleeping in the middle of the woods. Does it live up to the hype? We find out.
Nemo’s Roamer Double self-inflating mattress is perfect for car campers who don’t want to sacrifice comfort while sleeping outdoors. This 4-inch luxury sleeping pad sleeps two and keeps car campers elevated, level and warm while sleeping on bumpy surfaces.
With the Nemo Roamer Double self-inflating mattress, you can forget having to rough it while camping. This super-comfortable, super-packable sleeping pad for two is one of the most luxurious sleeping pads you’ll find on the market. Perfect for comfort car campers or families who want a bed-like mattress for backyard adventures, the Roamer is known for its supportive and insulated cushion that keeps campers off the cold hard ground. It sleeps up to two and is compact enough to fit into your trunk with plenty of space to fit all the other gear on your camping checklist.
What we liked about it
Close to at-home comfort
I wouldn’t go as far as to say the Roamer Double is as comfortable as my bed at home, but it’s pretty close. As a side sleeper, I’m used to waking up with sore hips and tight shoulders in the morning while camping. With the Roamer, I woke up completely ache- and pain-free. The 4-inch insulated mattress was thick enough to keep me elevated the entire night. When laying on my back or side, I felt nothing but cushion underneath me, which is every camper’s dream. It also didn’t deflate at all overnight (unlike most other sleeping pads I’ve used).
On top of its comfort, I absolutely loved the fact that you don’t have to huff and puff into the Roamer to inflate it. And its inflation level is completely customizable, so you can tailor it to be as firm or soft as you want. The Roamer Double comes with three valves: an inflation valve (left), an adjustment to customize firmness (middle), and a one-way dump valve for quick deflation (right). I loved that I didn’t have to bring an electric air pump with me to inflate this pad since it self-inflates and comes with Nemo’s Vortex pump sack to add any additional air needed. The pump sack also helps to reduce the amount of moisture blown into the pad, which improves the product’s lifespan and ability to insulate on cold nights.
Easy setup and super packable
It takes around 20 minutes to fully inflate the Roamer, but thankfully, you won’t be huffing and puffing to blow it up yourself. The beauty of this pad is its ability to self-inflate. To activate self-inflation, unravel the pad so it’s laying flat, open the left and right valves and watch as the Roamer starts to fill with air. The pad will inflate to about two-thirds full by the 10- to 15-minute mark. You’ll need to inflate the pad to its full capacity using the Vortex pump sack. I found it took an extra 6 to 7 pump sacks full of air to reach its full inflation. I was also able to easily fine-tune how much air was in the sleeping pad using the micro-adjust tab (the pad’s middle valve) to deflate to my desired comfort level.
Deflating the Roamer takes all of two minutes. To deflate, fully open all of the valves (including the inflation valve), fold the pad in half and roll the pad up starting from the end opposite of the valves. As you roll the pad, this will force the air out of the valves at the other end of the pad.
For a luxury double sleeping pad, this mattress is very compact and packable. Fully deflated and rolled, this pad is about the size of two standard-sized synthetic sleeping bags or two rolled-up throw blankets. No need to fold this pad up like an origami crane, either. It fits easily into the duffel bag it comes with. Just fold the pad “hot dog style,” roll it up and place it in the duffle — no bag wrestling necessary.
Soft, non-slippery fabric
One of my pet peeves while camping is sliding off my sleeping pad during the night. The perfect recipe for this unwanted scenario is the combination of synthetic sleeping bag material on top of synthetic sleeping pad material. The slickness of both materials leads to slipping and sliding — especially if you’re someone prone to tossing and turning in the night.
While sleeping on the Roamer, I found the super-soft polyester fabric on top of the pad to have more give and stretch than other sleeping pads I’ve used in the past. The fact that the Roamer is also so cushy helped my body form to the mattress and fabric, rather than it tightening up under my body weight. This made for a super-comfortable and supported sleep.
An added bonus: The fabric used on this pad is also environmentally friendly. Both the top and bottom fabrics on the Roamer are made from Bluesign-certified 100% post-consumer recycled materials.
Impressively insulated
Sleeping pads are an important factor in staying warm during the night. Without one, your body will absorb any cold radiating off of the ground. A sleeping pad acts as both a protective cushion between you and the forest floor and a layer of insulation, trapping body heat and preventing the cold from seeping in. Sleeping pads are rated with an R-value, which indicates their insulation performance. The higher the R-value, the more likely you are to stay warm while sleeping on the mattress.
I took the Roamer camping for a long weekend in mid-October up at Kettle Moraine State Forest - Southern Unit in Wisconsin with some friends. To our surprise, it ended up being unseasonably cold while we were there — dropping into the 30s overnight. Thankfully, I brought the Roamer with me for my cousin and I to sleep on, as it turned out to be much warmer than I could’ve imagined. With my Sea to Summit Cinder quilt on top of my regular sleeping bag and the Roamer underneath me, I was warm and cozy on night one at 32 degrees Fahrenheit and sweating on night two at 36 degrees Fahrenheit. On other mattresses like my REI Co-op AirRail 1.5 and lightweight Therm-a-Rest Z Lite, I tend to feel the cool ground underneath me while sleeping in weather that dips into the mid- to low 40s.
What we didn’t like about it
It’s a big investment
I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: You get what you pay for when it comes to outdoor gear. And the Roamer sleeping pad is no small investment. With a price tag of $400, it’s one of the more expensive double sleeping pads on the market.
That said, there’s really nothing to dislike about this mattress. I honestly haven’t slept better in the outdoors than the times I’ve slept on the Roamer Double. Even with temperatures in the low 30s up in Wisconsin, I stayed warm and comfortable the entire night (also thanks to my sleeping?bag system). It’s compact, super comfortable, easy to use and high quality — not to mention its balance of size, comfort and R-value rating for the price goes unmatched.
How it compares
What sets the Roamer Double apart from other camping mattresses out there is its packability, weight, comfort and promise to keep you warmer than most other pads on the market.
While comparable to other luxury pads in its category like the Exped MegaMat Duo 10, Hest Dually Mattress and Sea to Summit Comfort Plus, the Roamer Double has one of the best weight-to-insulation ratios of the group for the price. At 8 pounds 4 ounces, the Roamer is a fraction of the weight of similar-sized competitor pads like the 9-pound Exped MegaMat Duo 10, which starts at $330, and the even-heavier 13-pound Zempire Monstamat Twin, priced at $295.
If you’re looking for a mostly comparable but more affordable sleeping pad, the Sea to Summit Comfort Plus self-inflating mattress is a close match. It’s definitely lighter at 5 pounds 13 ounces and is slightly thinner at 3.8 inches of insulation (compared to the Roamer’s 4 inches). The main difference, however, is that it falls 2 points lower on the R-value scale at 4.1, meaning it won’t keep you quite as warm as the Roamer. The Sea to Summit pad will suffice in warm weather and some cold weather situations, but when the temps unexpectedly drop like they did when I tested the Roamer, you’ll be thankful for those extra R points. What the Sea to Summit lacks in insulation, it makes up in price. The Comfort Plus is $120 cheaper than the Roamer at $279.
If you’re looking for a mattress that might give your bed at home a run for its money, you might look into the Exped MegaMat Max 15 Duo sleeping pad. You’ll just have to fork over a pretty penny for it at a take-home price of $450. It weighs 13 pounds and has a higher R-value rating at 10.6, and is thicker than any other camping mattress on the market, at 6 inches.
Bottom line
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a sleeping pad that’s as comfortable, compact, lightweight and insulated as the Nemo Roamer Double Self-Inflating Mattress. It provides all the creature comforts of your room at home in the middle of the outdoors. You won’t have to sacrifice space in your car when packing for your camping trip and you also won’t waste time setting up your tent since this pad efficiently self-inflates. Best of all, you and your camping companion can rest assured you’ll have an amazing night’s sleep when camping out on this double camping mattress.
