Quechua Ultim Comfort Double camping mattress review: Dead easy, dead comfy

The not-so snappily titled (this is Decathlon, folks) Quechua Self-Inflating Camping Mattress - Ultim Comfort Double 136cm – 2 Person is French giant’s most premium sleeping platform for two, bringing at least some home comfort to the campsite.

If it was on a first date (mattresses need love too, right?), I’m pretty sure it’d say “just call me Ultim Comfort”, so that’s what I’ll do from here on in.

The Ultim Comfort is a self-inflating mattress, which means all you have to do is open up its ‘In’ valve and it magically starts to take form. It’s an ingenious but by no means novel design: its foam interior expands, drawing air inwards, thus inflating.

There are plenty of other self-inflating camping mattresses like this on the market, though few are as competitively priced as the very reasonable £149.99 here. You’ll still need to inflate the last 20% or so by mouth to get it fully operational, but this doesn’t take long at all.

The result is a firm, supportive and blessedly comfortable sleeping platform that’s large enough for two campers. Not only this, it’s also highly insulating, with a rocket high R-Value of 8.6 that makes it suitable for extreme winter conditions. Remarkable, really, considering its price point.

It’s also straightforward to deflate and pack away thanks to two clips that hold both halves together during deflation. This makes folding it into its neat rectangular carry bag really easy and it’ll slot nicely into a car boot once done too. What’s not to love?

Well, Decathlon has nothing to say about recycled materials or sustainability, while some pads and mattresses these days come with a pump sack that makes inflation even easier. However, on balance, Decathlon has played a blinder here – a very good mattress.

I had the pleasure of testing it with my family while camping in England’s balmy southwest.

Comfort

I was extremely impressed with the Ultim Comfort when it came to the quality its name shouts about the most. Ultimately, it’s very comfortable. If you’re used to traditional air beds and the wobbly, ‘sleeping on a bubble’, sensation they provide, you’ll be immediately impressed too.

This is a firm, flat, supportive, stable and near silent sleeping platform. Sure, it’s not quite as luxurious as your mattress at home, but considering you paid £149.99 for it and you’ve just pulled it out of a bag and inflated it, it’s pretty darn close.

Rolling around, I found the same degree of firmness throughout, right up to the edges. My weight was distributed evenly, making for comfortable slumbers. When my wife moved in the night, I didn’t really feel it either.

Not only this, but the horizontal ridges that run across it are barely perceptible, unlike with the comparable but pricier Berghaus Air Double, which features much more pronounced ridges. The sleeping surface is also soft and slightly felt-like. Lovely.

Materials, shape and size

The mattresses’ outer materials are composed of a 50:50 mix of thermoplastic polyurethane and polyester, providing it with both durability and a certain degree of elasticity.

It feels rugged enough, though I wouldn’t use it as a makeshift chopping board for campsite cuisine, especially as there are no repair patches provided. The carry bag is also made from polyester, while the PV foam interior contains wheat and molasses.

As far as I can see, Decathlon make no mention of recycled materials or recyclability, which seems a shame for what is otherwise a very commendable product.

There’s nothing earth-shattering about its shape: it’s a rectangular mattress with curved corners – but you already knew that. It measures 200 x 136 x 8cm – long enough for the vast majority of campers and deep enough to lift you nicely off the ground. What you might not appreciate at first glance is that 136cm is relatively wide.

This can be both an advantage – it provides two sleepers with more of their own space – and a disadvantage, as it’s too large to fit into some tent’s 2-person sleeping areas.

For example, the Outwell Colorado 5 Air’s 2-person pod is only 120cm wide. Meanwhile, something like the Eurohike Genus 800 Air is supposed to sleep four people in both its 250cm-wide bedrooms.

You’d need a bedroom width of at least 272cm to fit two of these in. The moral of this story is, check the footprint of the tent you intend to sleep in before committing to a purchase.

Inflation and deflation

I like the simplicity of the Ultim Comfort’s inflation and deflation system. It’s got two clearly labelled valves: one ‘In’, one ‘Out’ – like a busy nightclub after pub closing time. Both feature a little plastic cap with handy pull tags, making them easy to pull out even when wearing gloves.

The ‘In’ valve features a rubbery diaphragm that stops air leaking out but allows air in when the cap is removed. If you’re unacquainted with self-inflating mats, it’s a marvellous thing watching it slowly take shape without actually having to do anything other than remove the valve’s cap.

First invented by Therm-a-Rest in the early 1970s, these kinds of luxury sleeping mats work by drawing air inwards thanks to an interior expanding foam. The job isn’t totally effortless though, you’ll still have to finish inflation off by mouth to achieve a nicely firm sleeping platform. Decathlon states that self-inflation takes the mattress to around 80%.

The instructions state that it should take 10 minutes to self-inflate, followed by around 30 puffs by mouth to finish it off. I found that it only took around 24 puffs once the self-inflation magic had ceased.

Having to finish it by mouth is still a little bit dizzying but the whole process is easy enough. However, I prefer the design of Coleman’s Supercomfort Double, which uses a clever pump sack to negate the need to get your own lungs and lips involved.

Of all the design features of this mattress, I think the clips at the top and bottom that hold the two halves together when deflating, are its best. This is because they make deflating and packing the mat away easier than much of the competition.

Usually, when you fold a double mattress in half lengthways and begin to squeeze air out by rolling from one end, one of the halves starts veering off to the left, frustratingly out of line with the other half. Here, by clipping both halves together at the top and bottom, they stay nicely aligned as you work the air out. Simple, but effective.

Once the air has been squeezed out, it’s then just a case of folding it in half twice to end up with a tidy rectangle that’s just small enough to be swallowed up by the carry bag. It’s all so easy.

Warmth and R-Value

The Ultim Comfort is rated for 4-season use, with an R-Value of 8.6. On paper, this makes it the best insulating double mattress on test – not bad at all when you consider it’s also the cheapest. The mixture of foam and air, couple with its 8cm thickness, is what enables such a high value.

What does this mean in practice, you might ask? Well, R-Value is a measure of a sleeping pad’s thermal resistance. Basically, how well it shields you from the cold ground beneath the pad and the tent’s groundsheet. The higher the value, the better.

Once you get above an R-value of 6, the differences between individual mattresses are fairly negligible. Basically, you can camp throughout the year in all weathers with these kinds of mattresses, as long as your sleeping bag and your tent are up to the task too.

This is backed up on Decathlon’s website, which states that an R-Value above 4.5 is suitable for ‘extreme conditions’.

My test took place during summer, at a time when some counties were establishing hosepipe bans due to the heat and lack of rainfall. It should go without saying that I was never chilly while sleeping on the Ultim Comfort. If I decide one day to take it to the Arctic, I’ll let you know how it fared.

However, from its website, I can also see that Decathlon has rigorously applied the ASTM (an international standards organisation) F3340:18 testing to arrive at the stated R-Value, so I have little doubt that it will cope well with a hefty dose of winter cold.

Weight and packed size

Weighing in at 5.3kg, the Ultim Comfort is the heaviest of the double mattresses on test, which is forgivable considering it’s also the most insulating. Weight is also less of an issue here than it would be with something like a backpacker’s sleeping pad, as it’s not as though anyone in their right mind is going to be hauling a double mattress up a mountain.

It’s still light enough for one person to carry comfortably for medium distances, such as the slog between the car and the pitch at a music festival.

Most sleeping mattresses roll away into a cylindrical stuff sack, akin to a sleeping bag’s sack. Not so the Ultim Comfort. It makes use of a couple of plastic clips to hold the ends together when deflated and, rather than rolling it up like a carpet to pack away, instead you fold it. This creates a flattened cuboid package that can be easily slotted into the large, briefcase-shaped carry bag.

Decathlon state a packed size of 70 x 52 x 12cm, though I found that it was more like 70 x 52 x 16cm in practice. Regardless, its rectangular shape when packed down makes it easier to slot into a car boot or under a bed than a more cylindrical package would.

I should stress at this point (and the same goes for sleeping bags too), the best way to store the mattress is in its unfolded state. This will help it maintain its shape and integrity longer. Speaking of which, the Ultim Comfort comes with a 5-year warranty, though I’d wager it’ll last much longer than this.

Verdict

This is a very good product and, as we’ve come to expect from Decathlon, comes at a very reasonable price point too. It’s dead easy to set up, boasts the best insulation on test, provides a comfortable and supportive sleeping platform and packs away with consummate ease.

It’s shape when packed down makes it easier than most to slot into tight spaces too. My only qualms are that it lacks a pump sack, so the last bit of inflation has to be done by mouth, and there’s no hint of recycled materials. Other than this, great stuff.

To match this double mattress, check out our roundup of the best double sleeping bags.

About the author

As a qualified Mountain Leader, avid wild camper and a family man, Alex Foxfield enjoys camping in all its forms. An expert on all things outdoor gear, he’s been testing and reviewing backpacking can car camping kit for many years.