REI Comfort Cot

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

After a day hike along the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT) with my son and his scout troop, I thoroughly enjoyed a great night's sleep on this cot. The features I like the most about this cot are:

1) Each leg has an adjustable length. I don't mind if my tent is on uneven ground, because I can adjust the cot to be perfectly level. (Hint: For a make-shift level, roll a filled water bottle along the cot and watch the air bubble in the bottle. Adjust the legs accordingly.)

2) It is longer and wider than most other cots. I have a Big Agnes sleeping bag (wide and long) that fits perfectly on the cot. No overhang on the sides or the length. I don't think this will fit in my REI Taj 3 tent, but it fits great in my REI Base Camp 6 tent.

3) The legs are carefully spaced to provide lots more support near the head/torso area, and less down at the feet. This is a smart design. When I get in or out of my sleeping bag (transitioning to/from a seated position), I'm usually sitting near the head, which is also where this cot has most of its support. Other cots tend to tip, unless you sit in the middle. The feet pivot around and are wide, too, which reduces the pressure points on the tent floor.

I want to keep this cot clean, so I sewed my own custom bag using a 4' x 8' tarp, a long zipper, a shoulder strap, and some heavy duty thread. The bag works great! The cot itself is a little bulky and a little heavy, but the bag keeps it closed and the shoulder strap helps to carry it.

Service and delivery comments:

I ordered on-line, and had it delivered to my local REI store. It arrived about a week ahead of schedule, just in time for me to take it on a camping trip.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

Well, my wife & I purchased 2 of these when they were on sale for a good price.
They were back ordered but we had 6 weeks before the trip we were planning so figured plenty of time.
Not so unfortunately, naturally they came in about 6 hours after we left to go on trip.

Anyway we ended up buying 2 of the REI 3.5" XL Camp Beds that we picked up at our local REI just to use on this trip which I might add are very comfortable.
We slept on those for the 4 days of our trip and were most pleased with them, except for the fact that they are pads that lay on the ground and my wife & I are both old fogies now with the customary aversion to laying on the ground even if its comfortable because its harder to get up, don't have a place to sit inside the tent etc.

We figured that we would weigh the differences between the two and then take the other one back.

Problem is that they both had attributes that the other did not.
Honestly the 3.5" REI camp Bed was more comfortable overall than the Comfort Cot.
The Cot was a bit on the hard side surprisingly and did not conform to our old bones nearly as nicely as the Camp Bed did.
As far as Cots go this is easily the most comfortable cot we have ever slept on because of the way it is suspended, there are no bars or straps or anything digging into your side or back plus they are wide.

Now the Cot was great because you were off the ground, had a place to actually sit inside the tent, had much more room in the tent because of all the space "under" the Cots.
The Cots also compensate for unlevel ground of which basically about every campsite has, so doesn't matter if its slanted, or has a dip or a rise or whatever because you are above it all and can adjust legs to compensate.
So we had a dilemma on which would suit our particular needs the best.
Then it came to us, USE BOTH! The REI 3.5" XL Camp Bed I would give 4.5 stars in comfort and the Cot probably about 3.9, but both together there should be a different rating system because I would give them together a 5 plus.

We placed the 3.5" Camp Bed on top of the Comfort Cot and voila, they fit together like a glove, what we now have is quite literally THE most comfortable portable car camping bed in existence bar none.
We have all of the good attributes of both, and the camp bed on top of the cot is considerably more comfortable than the camp bed by itself.
You just allow the bed to inflate itself, lay it on top of cot, close the valves and lay on it then reach over your head while laying flat and let out (in my case)about 1/3rd of the air in the bed, this made the bed conform perfectly to my back and honestly it feels very similar to our mega bucks High Density Memory Foam Mattress (Starts with a T ends with a C) at home.
Then I just raise the head part of the cot just about an inch or so and its perfect.
Add a feather pillow and I feel almost like I am laying on our top o the line T.......c.

The cost was about the same, in fact a few bucks less (because we got such a good deal on the cots) than buying the "Thermarest Dreamtime XL pad" and I guarantee is better in every respect except for bulk.

That is the single drawback, we are going to have to buy a Sportrack Aero XL roof box from REI just to be able to carry the Cots.
We have a regular size 4 door car, (99 Lexus ES300) and the cots take up the entire trunk leaving very little room for anything but a couple of small items in the trunk.
The Cots are HUGE, the Camp beds not so bad but still between the 2 cots and 2 camp beds that's it for the trunk which leaves just the back seat for a ton of other gear, Tent, Bags, Cooler, Camp stove, couple of large duffle's and so on.
So in our case it got a bit expensive to basically sleep like a sultan but at our age its worth it and will be nice having the roof top box anyway.

We also now have 2 nice extra beds for guest if need be.

So our advice is buy both the Cot & the 3.5" Camp Bed and treat yourself to best nights sleep you will ever get in a tent.
Our advice to REI is to incorporate these 2 together and upgrade the "Comfort Cot" to a "Ultimate Comfort Cot" by replacing the somewhat stiff and kind of hard (for old folk) center padding section of the cot with about a 4" thick self inflating Camp Bed.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

Cot performs exactly as described and is definitely comfortable due to the shock-cord suspension. To make it even more versatile I tightened the locking devices on both sides of the head/shoulders section to the halfway open position which made a really comfy lounge chair, probably not what the designers intended but it works very nicely. When I'm not using it my two dogs (80+ lbs/ea) share the cot for napping.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

We just came back from a 3 night camping trip using this cot for the first time. This is a great product to bring camping if you have the room. I have a bad back and knew I could not sleep on our air mattress for 3 nights so we brought this cot to test it out. I am also 6 feet tall so I needed something that would be long enough for me. Set up is easy and quick...faster than blowing up a mattress! Sleeping on it was great. Super comfortable and very supportive. Lots of nice cushioning that feels really good when you are in your sleeping bag. There was no slipping and sliding on a moving mattress. No bouncing around every time you move and no sliding down the mattress if you are not on level ground since the cot can be adjusted to be perfectly level. There was no reinflation necessary since it's not an air mattress. Best of all no back pain yeah! I was able to get up and swim, hike, bike and play all weekend. I think I slept better than I ever have camping! You can adjust the height and level of the cot any way you want to make it comfortable for you. Adjusting it is really easy. An added bonus for us was the extra storage room under the cot for clothing, towels, books whatever. All around a great addition to our camping gear. The only drawback was that it is bulky, especially when packing two.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

I saw this cot, (well, a picture of the cot anyway (it's only available online)), and had to get it. I am so very glad that I did, too! I have some back issues and need to sleep on a firm, yet giving surface, and this cot definitely did the trick. I'm a side sleeper and this is the first cot that didn't have any of the support bands digging into my upper thigh/hip area at all. The only con that I can think of is that it's only available online so you have to order it to be able to try it out.[...] This is one cot that *almost* beats sleeping on a regular bed. Try it!

Service and delivery comments:

Got it early in the morning on the day it was "promised" to be here. The box was bigger than I expected - though I'm not exactly sure what size I thought it would be - but arrived without any damage. You have to pay $15 for an oversize shipment but at least it's fairly lightweight (just under 19 lbs.).

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

I'm a weekend tent camper. I've been searching long and hard for the right cot. I think i found it. This cot is very comfortable and sturdy. As mentioned in other reviews, the cot is a little on the bulky side, but still worth the investment.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

I am now in my 50's and no longer enjoy sleeping on the ground. This cot is very comfortable and cushiony. One of my favorite thing about it is it's ajustable legs. Last year our campsit was on a slight slope. I was able to adjust the legs where I couldn't tell our sight was sloped. It is heavy to carry, and is hard to pack in a small car with other camping gear. Even with the cons, I would totally recommend this cot for those who want to be comfortable

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

Very nice cot. Setting the legs takes a little getting used to but overall, this is a great cot that deliveres a good nights rest. I normally backpack thus my view may be skewed a bit since I normally sleep on a Thermarest.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

Extremely comfortable. Easy to set up.
Used for a week at cub scout camp with my son. Other dads were very envious since they had to sleep on old canvas army cots.
A little bulky but certainly light. Much better than air mattress based cots.
A little expensive but you get what you pay for.
Extremely pleased and look forward to using for years.

Comments about REI Comfort Cot:

VERY comfortable. Wish it came with some sort of bag but otherwise really like it.