CaliforniaVix
Thank you for this. We have found the S2S good, although we do use an inflater to puff it up, hubby says we should need to but it doesn’t rise very quickly?We have the S2S and love it, it's mainly used in the pop top (where it lives) and occasionally downstairs. You can adjust how much air you put in to soften/firm it up so hopefully it’ll work out for you too.
As we usually only sleep downstairs when stealth camping or in extreme weather I keep an inflatable mattress for occasional use downstairs. I use an exped double (aimed at the lightweight back packing market) which is comfortable, quiet and packs down tiny - a fraction of the size of the S2S self inflating mat. They aren’t cheap compared to the inflatables typically aimed at car campers but still a bargain compared to the S2S and much more space efficient. It’s a combination that works really well for us.
We sleep downstairs as hubbys a big build and I don’t know if I could heave myself up to the top, most of the time our son is with us and he uses the top. The space is an issue downstairs, definitely. This weekend we top and tailed which was definitely better, although I am fearful of a kick in the head in the night!!