AeroBed Review: Premier Raised Queen Air Bed

The high price of the AeroBed initially drove me to purchase two other brands of inflatable beds before I finally threw my hands in the air and bought the AeroBed Premier Comfort Raised Queen Air Mattress in frustration. In retrospect, I should have saved myself the money and invested in the AeroBed in the first place.

The other beds I tried were about $55 (looked like a pool toy) and $80 (made for camping, so allegedly durable). They were both raised to the height of a normal bed, just like the queen size raised AeroBed that I eventually purchased, and both were quickly inflated with electrical pumps. Both beds also began leaking within a few months of purchase. The worst part was that the leaks were at the seams, so it was impossible to repair because the patch could not be glued flush onto the material.

After these failed investments, I knew I had to climb the ladder to the more expensive models because I was planning to move into a temporary apartment and did not want to buy furniture, but still needed a reliable bed for daily use.

Enter AeroBed . I have been using the queen AeroBed daily for almost a year with no problems. Any air bed owner will tell you that that is the track record of a high quality air bed.

The queen Aerobed comes with both a bedskirt and a thin mattress pad, and it is raised so it looks like a normal bed. It's also made to fit normal queen size fitted sheets. I tried using an egg carton foam mattress pad for additional cushion but found that it wasn't really necessary. The thin mattress pad that comes with the queen Aerobed was sufficient for me because I like my mattress to be firm.

You can easily inflate and deflate the queen AeroBed with the remote control. I have been using it daily, and I have to add some air every week or so, which just means holding down the button on the remote control for about a minute. I weigh less than average, so you may have to inflate the queen Aerobed every few days if you use it daily, but it doesn't take much time at all, and you'll have to re-inflate much more often with any other air bed.

One issue that arises with all air beds is that the shape of the bed changes gradually under your weight, and the part of the bed where you sleep tends to slope in slightly. The sides also tend to bulge outwards a little bit with regular use (imagine applying downward pressure to the center of a marshmallow). This seems to be an inherent problem with air beds. The AeroBed fares much better on this front than the other beds I have tried, but it does change shape slightly over a period of regular use. Of course, this is not an issue if you only plan to use the queen AeroBed occasionally in your guest room or while traveling, but I would not recommend putting a lot of weight on it on a daily basis if you want to reduce the risk of shape-shifting. It has not really posed any problems for me, but the more weight you put on the AeroBed, the more the middle will tend to slope inwards.

That said, I am so happy that the queen AeroBed has not developed any leaks or other problems over such a long period of daily use that I enthusiastically recommend it. From experience, I can tell you that it is not worth wasting $80 at a time on other less expensive air beds that will inevitably start leaking after a few uses. Go for the highly quality AeroBed that looks exactly like a real bed, and you will not have to worry about replacing your air bed for a long time.