Why it's on the list
A cot gets you off the ground. An air bed is the other way people actually sleep, inside the tent, under the shade. The one that lasts the week is thick, flocked so the bag does not slide off, and insulated enough that you are not lying on a bag of night air. It comes with a pump and a patch kit. A thin guest mattress from a house is cold by 2 a.m. and dead the first time it meets playa.
How we use it
Inflate it on the tent floor or on a rug, never on bare playa. A foot pump still works when the battery bank is saving itself for lights. Find the hiss the hour it starts. The sleeping bag goes on top. Deflate it and bag it for the drive so it does not become a dust balloon.
Heads up
The lounge sofa is not this, and this is not the shade. A hole you ignore is a night on the ground. Scraps from a popped bed are moop.
