4 Minute Mattress

Product Description
I live on a lake and sometimes unexpectedly people will stop by and visit for a few days. When that happens, I need to find a place for them to sleep and since I can’t have them sleeping on the floor, I needed to find another option. From our friends at http://www.boscovs.com, the 4-Minute Raised Queen Size Bed seemed to fill the need I had.. From their website…

A full-sized Queen bed that inflates and deflates in minutes. Top nozzle adjusts mattress for firmness. Includes electric pump. Twice the height of a regular air mattress. Bed size is 74" X 54" X 24". Includes carrying case.

What It Costs $99.99 but hold on, now it’s only $39.97. + shipping and handling. Wow what a savings, perhaps the fine folks at ww.boscovs.com take us shoppers for stupid...

However when I add the product to my shopping cart, www.boscovs.com need my email and a pw before I can proceed to checkout. I hate it when websites put up obstacles that hinder me from purchasing items. Fortunately I was on my way out to the mall and could stop by and pick it up in person.

Ease of assembly 5 Stars
The bed has a few air chambers that need to be filled but the product comes with an air pump. Just insert the nozzle and turn the pump on.

Ease of use 5 Stars
The concept is simple enough, fill up each air chamber then remove the air pump hose. Then screw down the caps covering the air ports. By monitoring how much air you insert into the top chamber, you can modify the firmness of the air mattress.

Actual performance 1 Star
It looked nice when inflated. Laying on the mattress I notice that unlike other air mattresses, this one is almost a normal bed height. And being a queen size mattress, I have bed sheets that fit. Even my kids like it and can’t wait to sleep on it. Well not wanting to disappoint them, I set it up and let them sleep on it.

Now being a parent, I normally check in on my kids a couple of times a night. About 1 am, I hear a slight cry coming out from the room. I go to investigate and find that my older son is on the floor (sound asleep). However looking at the 4 minute bed, I see that is it terribly leaning to one corner. Apparently it’s deflating slowly. The resulting angle, deposited my son onto the floor. My other son is stuck in a depression in the middle of the mattress (kinda like a olive in a bowl). I pick him up from the middle of the mattress and put him into his bed.

Final thoughts on practicality
An air mattress is very handy to have when you have guests over. The 4 minute mattress seems like a good concept, a high bed that can have the firmness adjusted. However the 4 minute mattress just did not work well for me. Perhaps I just got a bad one but given the dangers of having a child stuck in a deflating mattress, I aired on the side of caution and returned mine to the store. With a lower air mattress, there is less chance of having a child get stuck in the mattress.

Final Score
1 out of 5