Outwell Dreamboat (16cm)

Review Score

Our Score: 9.6/10

We've given the Outwell Dreamboat (16cm) the Thumbs Up award.

ComfortQualityValue for Money

The good

• Very comfortable
• Great insulation for colder weather
• Not too warm for summer camping
• Valves to make inflating and deflating easier
• Packs down to a relatively good size for such a large mat

The not so good

• Not cheap, but you might think a good investment

This was a hands-on product review. The product was supplied to us to test and conduct the review.

Price Guide

Outwell Dreamboat (16cm) has a recommended retail price of £266.99.

The best price we've found so far is £199.99. That's £67.00 off the RRP of £266.99.View at Leisure Outlet

Outwell

£240.9910/03/2024

Amazon

£205.0010/03/2024

Leisure Outlet

£199.9909/03/2024

Outwell Dreamboat (16cm) Videos

Outwell Dreamboat (16cm) Photos

Our Review

We've reviewed the 7.5 cm Outwell Dreamboat before, as well as the much older double Outwell Dreamboat we bought many years ago.

The Outwell Dreamboat has always been an extremely comfortable self-inflating mat. The 7.5 cm Dreamboat shone when compared to even deeper mats from other brands.

Well, this year, 2020, Outwell have brought out an even deeper version at 16 cm. And luckily, they agreed to send us one to review. :-)

Outwell Dreamboat Single 16 cm Review Video

Comfort First

We want all families to enjoy camping. But if you have someone in your family who thinks camping is roughing it and refuses to go, you might try convincing them with a great sleeping mat. At least, get them to try it at home first as we did in the video.

So let's look at the new 16 cm Dreamboat from the view of non-campers who think sleeping when camping is either too cold or hot or on a hard floor that gives them backache.

Keeping you warm

While you can get sleeping bags to keep you warm at night, people generally get cold when sleeping in a tent due to the ground. The ground in the UK is cold, and if you don't have enough insulation, the cold ground can suck the heat out of your body.

Many campers use an inflatable air bed, but at night, the cold ground chills the air inside the bed, making them cold. Have you ever woken up in the early hours feeling cold? This could be why.

So how does the Outwell Dreamboat keep you warm?

First, the Dreamboat has insulating foam within that 16 cm of depth. But, for cold weather, the mat has extra insulation on one side to keep you warm, so make sure you have the cold symbol on the side you sleep on.

For those who want the technical details, this cold side has an R-Value of 5.1. The Outwell Dreamboat has been independently tested to keep the average female comfortable down to -16C!!

By the way, they test the rating for women, as ladies tend to feel the cold more.

independently tested to keep the average female comfortable down to -16C!!

But not too warm

Another complaint from a non-camper who has experienced camping on warm summer nights might be that it gets too hot to sleep.

Well, turn the Outwell Dreamboat over so that the warm symbol is on the top.

When the bed is this way around, there is less insulation next to your body, plus the built-in air tubes are closer to the surface in summer mode. Remember the cooling effect of air beds? Well, Outwell has used that on this side of the mat to help take the excess heat away from your body.

Comfort

Comfort is very subjective. Some people like firmer beds; others softer. No one likes the cold, hard, lumpy floor of the campsite.

Well, with 16 cm depth, that's not going to be an issue. The princess from the Princess and the Pea children's story would get a good night's sleep if she'd had this 16 cm Outwell Dreamboat ;-)

What's more, you can make the bed firmer or softer by adjusting the air in it.

But can I use the Outwell Dreamboat on a campbed?

Yes, if you have the right camp bed.

With the mattress on a bed, you are up off the ground. For some, this makes getting in and out of bed much easier.

And this does make camping feel like sleeping at home.

You need to have the correct size bed for this very large self-inflating mat and ensure the mat is secured to the bed.

We tried it on the large Outwell Laguna Hills L folding camp bed, which is the correct size for this mat, plus the bed has elastic straps to hold the mat in place.

The Practicalities

16 cm Outwell Dreamboat Pack Size

OK, so the 16 cm Outwell Dreamboat is comfortable, warm or cool, and can make it feel like sleeping at home. But how big is it when folded? Will it even fit in my car?

Testing the previous 7.5 cm Outwell Dreamboat, especially when compared to other brands, I was impressed with how small the pack size was. Yes, it's still larger than very small back-packing SIMs, but this mat is for family camping with a car or van, not back-packing.

With 16 cm of insulation, the pack size is larger but smaller than you might think. Officially, it's 81 cm long with a 25 cm diameter when folded. That's good for a mat of this size.

However, after the first time, I rolled it back up, the diameter was more like 30 cm. But leaving the valves in deflate mode could squash down a little further.

Inflating - does it self-inflate?

Despite these types of mats being called self-inflating, they rarely do.

I leave the valves open, put the mat in the tent's bedroom, and leave it until later. I've found that this 16 cm mat inflates itself quite well, better than the 7.5 cm Dreamboat.

I can leave the mat, set up the rest of the tent, and return later to top up the air to make it firmer.

Is it easy to roll up?

Yes, it is. See our video above or Outwell's video below.

Set the valves to deflate, give the mattress some gentle folds to expel the air, and then roll it up from the opposite end to the valves.

Verdict

Well, as you may have guessed by now, I love this SIM :-D

Now the downside: it is relatively expensive compared to airbeds and smaller SIMs, which is unsurprising given how much deeper this is. However, it's a similar price to other large SIMs, and if you shop around, you can get it much cheaper than the RRP of £262.

Yes, Outwell sent us this one to review, so we didn't pay for it (yay!). However, we did buy the double Dreamboat before, so it is something we'd invest in and recommend.

We consider it a great upgrade to our camping kit.

This gets the Thumbs Up award.

Details