Are inflatable sofas comfotable?

September 5, 2005 8:34 PM

Are inflatable sofas comfortable?

I am thinking of getting one of these for my studio. Are they comfortable? Do they get destroyed in 3 months? Are they worth $35 bucks?

posted by mildred-pitt to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

Save your money and buy a cheap futon instead. Anything inflatable will leak, burst a seam, or pop within a few months. They're also hideously uncomfortable in the heat (think sweating on a vinyl car seat) and super-cold in milder climates.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 8:39 PM on September 5, 2005

Those things are terrible. It's really hard to get up out of them and they squeak like two balloons rubbing together every time you move.
posted by idiotfactory at 8:45 PM on September 5, 2005

They're actually a lot hardier than they look. They're not comfortable at all, though, and very hard to relax on, since you never really feel stabilized, and always feel like you could tip over at any given time. They give you a great core workout if you're concerned about your abs, though, because since you can never fully relax, you're always rebalancing yourself, and tightening your abdominal wall ;)

Older people will avoid sitting on it, and kids will make a beeline for it and want to jump on it. Plus they make rude noises when you move around.
posted by iconomy at 8:45 PM on September 5, 2005

No
posted by caddis at 9:21 PM on September 5, 2005

There's one sitting in the next room from here; as the above posters have mentioned, they shift around like crazy and you sit weirdly low in them. They might be better than sitting on the floor, but just barely.

the one in the other room probably costs $100 though, so anything you get for $35 is gonna suck.

it'd probably be better to get 3500 pennies and build a stool out of them.
posted by fishfucker at 9:35 PM on September 5, 2005

Nope. They're all kinds of awful, sorry. Bean-bag type chairs can be ok, but inflatable chairs are terrible. I hate how they look too, but YMMV.
posted by crabintheocean at 9:43 PM on September 5, 2005

Since my waterbed sprung a leak and I discovered that virtually no one handles thems locally anymore (they seems to have gone the way of crepe-makers & fondue pots), I have been using air matresses for close to three years. They work just fine (except they don't retain heat, which is a drag in winter). They last about 5-6 months before getting a leak -- that's reasonably durable, since I use it every day and it cost $30 bucks. I'm GUESSING that sofas would be a bit less durable, since they have asymmetrical seams creating uneven stresses (as opposed to the simple bed-shape which distributes it pretty evenly); but have no 1st-hand knowledge.
posted by RavinDave at 9:59 PM on September 5, 2005

not worth $35.00
not worth receiving $35 for having one at homel...

goto Target or Walmart... pay $99.00 or less for generic futon.... much nicer looking and much more comfortable... easy to move around... you can even resell it for $50.00

Can you really not be able to afford that extra $65.00 for real furniture... Please please.. don't get air anything furniture....
posted by curiousleo at 10:16 PM on September 5, 2005

No, as the chorus of responses has answered.

You'd do better with a bunch of cardboard boxes taped together.
posted by blasdelf at 1:28 AM on September 6, 2005

No
posted by ajbattrick at 3:27 AM on September 6, 2005

To be contrarian: inflatable furniture is fun. I gave one to my brother as a college dorm-room gift years ago, then used it in a sparse office for a few months. It got lots of favorable comments and, when blown up to 100% and pushed against the wall, pretty comfortable. I used to take conference calls on it rather than sit at my desk.

That said, I wouldn't make it the focal point of a room, and the one I bought was a hearty $100 model, not a $35 one. But done right you could enjoy it.
posted by werty at 1:41 PM on September 6, 2005