The best inflatable sofas for camping need to be heavy duty, durable, reliable and most of all, compact in size. When camping you can come across many harsh environments. Anything inflatable is susceptible to punctures and rips.
While there are some airbeds that are close to being puncture proof, at the end of the day, a blow-up sofa is not in the same ballpark as a airbed.
So extra care is certainly required when using an inflatable sofa for camping purposes. Many people prefer to take an inflatable sofa to burning Man as a way to save space while maximizing comfort in the desert.
What Makes An Inflatable Sofa Suitable For Camping
So how do you differentiate a good blow up sofa suitable for camp sites compared to your indoors only options?. It’s certainly not easy considering there’s not much that separates most inflatable sofas. However, the small details are what matters. Fortunately for you, I’ve listed 5 of my personal recommendations which I would confidently use on my camping trips.
Most of these sofas can be used in the water, so don’t let that be a selling point for you. What you need to consider are the following:
- Heavy duty materials used – The thicker the PVC the more durability you will have against twigs, rocks etc. Look for a sofa that uses rip-stop materials to prevent easy tears. Ensure you get a puncture repair kit with your sofa as a back up.
- The ability to stake down the sofa so it doesn’t blow away in the wind.
- Lightweight and compact in size when folded down.
- Storage pockets are optional, but I prefer my sofa to have them. They are great for when you take the sofa down to the lake or beach and need to keep your keys and cell phone dry and safe. There’s also one on this list below with a lockable pocket which I think is a fabulous idea.
Most Comfortable Blow Up Sofa
Key Features For Camping
- Lightweight & compact design
- Ground stakes to peg the sofa into the ground so it doesn’t blow away
- Heavy duty 210T rip-stop nylon to prevent tears and punctures
- High weight capacity so multiple users can sit on it at the same time
- One of the best inflatable pillows you can get on a sofa like this.
When you want comfort in a hurry, it’s hard to pass up the TSGarden inflatable lounger. It doesn’t take long to set up at all, and it’s so simple and fun that the kids will be lining up to inflate this camping sofa.
They will have such a blast doing it you will never have to run around in circles getting dizzy again. You just swing it around in circles, or run in a line, and let the air fill it up!. It takes no longer than half a minute to inflate.
What makes this inflatable sofa the best for camping is the fact that it doesn’t weigh much, and doesn’t take up much precious storage space. This makes it really useful to take camping, since space is a premium asset.
While sleeping on it would be possible, I wouldn’t be replacing your airbed in a hurry. It doesn’t have the internal air coil supports like a premium camping airbed does. But it’s perfect for lounging in, and enjoying the weather.
Best Sofa With Inflatable Pillow
The clever design of having the inbuilt pillow for your head, is a bit of a game changer. It makes that bit more comfortable and makes traveling with it even better. Since you don’t need to carry a pillow with you.
The pillow is also a good thickness of about 5.9 inches. When compared to many other inflatable sofas, this pillow just rocks. Much better head and neck support.
If you’re on a little bit of the heaver side like myself, then you will be happy to know that this comfortable blow up sofa can take up to 600 lbs. Tho naturally it won’t stay up as long when you’re pushing the weight capacity.
You may think that it would blow away easy since it’s so light, and filled with just air. However this isn’t the case, which is also why this is one of the better camping sofas on the market. Why?. Because it includes a few stakes that goes into the ground through a loop on the sofa. Helping to keep it there and not flying away while you’re inside the tent or down at the beach swimming.
Top Rated Inflatable Sofa
This is one of the most relatable, and more popular blow up lounges. There is a good reason for this, WEKAPO have managed to keep the cost down, and haven’t skimped out on quality. It’s made with a thicker and stronger Rip-stop polyester, which is very durable for your camping needs.
Quality Features For Camping
- Strong durable rip-stop polyester as mentioned above
- Easy air inflation, no need for bulky pumps
- Comes with anti deflation technology to ensure you get a good 5 to 6 hours of full inflation at a time. So not ideal for sleeping on overnight as you may wake touching the ground.
- Comes with ground stake to ensure it stays where you want it.
If you don’t want to go with just basic black, thankfully there are a range of different colors. So you can stand out and go with something a little more vibrant. Or perhaps you just want to keep a more low key tone. Since there are 8 different colors to choose from, there’s something for everyone.
Height can sometimes be an issue for those on the taller side, and I mean people who are well over 6 foot and above. Thankfully the tall campers won’t have that issue with this air lounge. With it being up to 7 feet long, there will be very few people who this won’t be long enough for. Plus the sofa can hold up to 500 pounds, so not a bad choice for the big and tall campers at all.
One of the underrated features of this air lounge is the pockets, that it has on the sides. While this is only a small thing, having the extra pocket to store some of your smaller items. It also has bottle holder which is extremely important, having my drink nearby within arms reach is key to a successful camping trip!
Portability is one of those things that can make or break, an item like this. It does only about about 2.65 lbs, and comes with a carry bag. The carry bag is useful, but could be a little bigger if you ask me. Since it can be a little difficult to get the darn thing back into he carry bag, like most camping items that go into carry bags.
Blow Up Armchair For Camping
Intex have gone the opposite route, from the more common types of blow up lounges. Instead of having to run in circles, or hoping there’s enough wind to blow it up. This does it the old school way, but using an air pump or compressor. Which still works just as well today as it did 20 years ago.
This particular blow up chair has two modes. It has the standard chair mode which will make you the King or Queen of the campsite, or you can lay it out as an inflatable fold out bed. Which is really useful for space conscience campers. You won’t need to take a bed, and a chair. You can take the one item, which will save you a lot of space.
Just How Big Is This Blow Up Camping Armchair
It’s surprisingly big in it’s couch mode, and can actually handle having two people sitting on it at the same time. But do note: the weight capacity is only 220 pounds. So not really suitable for 2 adults at a time. With the amount of room it has, it’s perfect for a kids gaming room. Since it can fit multiple kids, and it gives them a place to crash out on. Giving it a lot of extra value for the avid camper.
Use Indoors Or Outdoors
One thing that makes this really useful, is that it can be used as a couch in your living room. So if you’re moving, or having company over. You can set this up temporarily, and not have to go out and rush buying a couch.
There is something that does make this blow up couch a little frustrating. That is it has three different compartments to blow up, with one of them being different to the other two. Which can make it difficult to know if your pump is compatible. it would be worth spending a bit extra, and getting Intex pump with it, to save this hassle.
Camping Sofa For Big & Tall People
Height and weight can be a big issue for a lot of people, either it’s not long enough, or isn’t strong enough to hold a heavy person. Which is one of the things that makes this Lauva air sofa really good in my opinion. It can handle most of these things without any worry to the user. It’s one of the best inflatable sofas for big and tall campers.
With this air lounge being roughly 8.5 feet in length, it’s one of the longest on the market. Making it perfect for taller individuals. Then if you need to use it for someone shorter, you just don’t fill it up with as much air. This gives it that bit of versatility.
Multiple People, No Problem
Normally with these types of lounges, you can rarely have more than one person on them. But when this is filled fully it’s roughly 2.7 feet wide, and has a capacity of 500 lbs. This does make it possible to have more than one person. This is especially easy if it’s you and your kids laying on it.
While I wouldn’t recommend doing it for extended periods of time, you can use this camping sofa on the water as well. Which is extremely comfortable, but should only really be done on calm water. Just don’t forget to wipe it down with fresh water afterward, to help keep it protected and last longer.
While these are designed to be filled by using momentum and air, you can fill them with an air compressor. Which does take a lot longer, but it’s a lot easier to do. It does also make it viable to blow it up inside, instead of outside.
Camouflage Inflatable Camping Sofa
Great For Camping
Parachute quality nylon exterior which is also waterproof & tear resistant
- The liner on the internal is elastic for flexibility, preventing seams to split
- 2 air chambers versus 1 allow you to keep the air in the sofa longer
- Heavy-duty camp buckle to keep it all together
- Lockable pouch for when you must leave your sofa
- Bottle opener and ground stakes
People will say what’s on the outside isn’t important when it comes to air lounges. Campers Lair and I both agree that this is wrong, and the design on the outside is extremely important. There’s a variety of reason why the look of your lounge is important, but the simplest is it needs to suit your needs.
While they have 8 total designs, it’s the camouflage one the caught my eye. The camouflage gives the little bit more blending while out camping, and hunting. While camouflage is not everyone, it does have it’s uses. Plus there are other color options available.
Lockable Pocket – Yes Please
There are a few little extras that this has that really do make it great value for money. With two of my personal favorites being the lock, and the bottle opener. Having the lock does give you some peace of mind, knowing your items won’t be so easy to steal. The lock is on one of the 2 side storage pockets. This allows you to lock your keys, sunglasses etc away while you run into the ocean for a swim. The bottle opener is pretty obvious as to why I like that.
It’s a very wide for a air lounger, coming in at close to 3.8 feet wide. So you can have multiple people on it pretty easily. It is a little shorter than some of the others on the market, Measuring only 6.8 foot long. So this will only be a problem for a select few.
One thing to note if you do decide to take this camping, is to either clear the ground of sharp objects. Or to have a tarp on the ground, this will help keep this air lounger around for much longer.
How To Inflate A Camping Inflatable Sofa
The best part about using these kinds of sofas for camping is that you don’t need a pump to inflate them. This is what makes self inflating air mattress such a popular camping bed.
However, these sofas are not like self inflating beds. A little more leg work is required to manually inflate a sofa like this. Its certainly not hard, all you need to do is go for a short run or turn around in circles until the sofa is full of air. See, simple.
But not everybody learns via text, so here’s a short video on how to inflate an inflatable camping sofa.