The best camping cot for bad back sleepers: five cots ranked on published support specs

How we picked

Every cot here comes from our cot registry and is ranked by its Built-to-Last score. Rated capacity, frame and fabric, the written warranty and whether the maker sells parts carry 65% of that score; fit (length, width, height and a published no-center-bar design) and weight carry the rest. For this page we read one group of specs harder than usual: the three support facts a maker can actually put in writing. Does anything run under the sleeper? How high does the cot stand? What is the bed made of, and how is it tightened? The bands are on our scoring methodology page, and every figure below links to the maker page it came from. Products we claim to have tested: 0.

What a cot can and can't do for your back

We aren't doctors, and no cot treats back pain. The clearest evidence we found on sleep surfaces and back pain is a randomized, double-blind trial published in The Lancet in 2003 by Kovacs and colleagues. It gave 313 adults with chronic non-specific low-back pain either a firm mattress or a medium-firm one, rated on a firmness scale developed by the European Committee for Standardization. After 90 days, the medium-firm group had better outcomes for pain in bed, pain on rising and disability. The authors' conclusion: “A mattress of medium firmness improves pain and disability among patients with chronic non-specific low-back pain.”

The US National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS, part of the National Institutes of Health) says to see a doctor if back pain doesn't improve after a few weeks, or if it comes with numbness and tingling, weakness or numbness in your legs, trouble urinating, fever, or weight loss you didn't intend. A cot is somewhere to sleep, not a treatment.

What a cot maker can tell you is narrower, and more useful when you're shopping: how high the bed sits, whether a bar runs under it, and what the bed is made of and how it's tightened. Those are the specs this page ranks on, after the durability facts that decide whether you're buying the same cot again in three years.

The support specs, side by side

Read across the table and the list splits into two kinds of cot. The TETON and the ALPS stand tall (19.5 and 22.5 inches set up) on 600D fabric, from makers who say nothing either way about a bar under the sleeper. The two Disc-O-Beds sit lower (14.5 and 11 inches at the deck) but are the only cots here whose maker publishes “No center bar,” and they use the heaviest published fabric on the page, 1200D polyester. The Coleman is the odd one out: the only cot with a pad included, and the only one with a 1-year warranty and no parts at all.

On score, the TETON leads the Disc-O-Bed 2XL by 0.7 points, almost all of it on warranty (lifetime against five years), with a little on weight. The Disc-O-Bed XL trails the 2XL by 0.4 and weighs 6.5 lb less. The ALPS Escalade gives up points on build (a 325 lb rating) and on repairability, because ALPS lists only its carry bag as a replacement part. The Coleman has the best fit score on the page, thanks to its included pad, but finishes at 4.8 overall: a 1-year warranty and no parts sink the metrics that decide how long a cot lasts.

The bar under your hips

Disc-O-Bed makes “No center bar” a headline on its single-cot page, and it is the only maker on this list that says so in writing. That is why both Disc-O-Beds earn the no-crossbar point in our fit score and none of the other cots do: we award it only when the maker publishes it, never on a guess from a photo.

The others aren't necessarily worse. They just don't say. TETON's parts list tells you the Outfitter has three legs (“Each cot has 3 legs”), including a middle leg, but not how close that leg's frame sits to the canvas. ALPS lists an “extra telescoping center support” on the Escalade without saying where it meets the bed. Coleman describes a “ComfortSmart coil suspension system” under the ComfortSmart's foam pad. If a bar you can feel is what wakes you, buy on the one published fact, which points to Disc-O-Bed. Otherwise, look at the maker's photos or set-up instructions for the cot you're considering before you order.

Height: the spec you feel getting up

If lowering yourself onto a cot and climbing back off it is the hard part of your night, height is the spec that matters, and the spread on this page is wide. The ALPS Escalade X-Large stands 22.5 inches tall set up, the TETON 19.5 inches and the Coleman 15 inches. The Disc-O-Bed 2XL's deck is 14.5 inches by its single-cot spec (Disc-O-Bed's bunk page lists 15.5 inches for the bottom cot), and the Disc-O-Bed XL's deck is 11 inches, the lowest here.

Two caveats. First, makers measure differently. Disc-O-Bed gives the height of the sleeping deck; ALPS, TETON and Coleman give the cot's overall set-up height. Compare the two Disc-O-Beds with each other and the other three with each other, not across the groups. Second, a low cot can sometimes be raised. Disc-O-Bed sells a Leg Extension Set of 4 that it says adds 7 inches of height to “any straight end frame bed,” and the XL is built on straight end frames. That makes the XL a reasonable choice for a sleeper who wants the no-center-bar design but can't get up from 11 inches, as long as you budget for the extra part.

Fabric and tension

On a sling cot, the bed is a sheet of fabric stretched between rails, so what it's made of and how tight it is decide how much it gives under you. TETON builds tension into the Outfitter's design: its patented pivot arm is “a built-in lever that swivels the final, tightest crossbar into place,” pulling the bed of “IronStretch 600D Oxford canvas” tight across the frame. Disc-O-Bed uses “1200D Polyester fabric, PU coated,” the heaviest published denier on the page, though its own store lists the XL's fabric without a denier. ALPS lists 600D polyester on the Escalade. Coleman publishes no denier for the ComfortSmart and instead puts a thick foam pad on a coil suspension system, the only built-in cushioning here; Coleman doesn't publish the pad's thickness.

Denier is a durability number before it's a comfort number. We give a cot's build score a point for fabric of 600D or heavier because the bed is a cot's main wear part; the denier says nothing on its own about how firm the bed feels. If a tight cot feels too hard for you, soften it from the top rather than shopping for a cot that gives more underneath: a pad over a tight frame. Our best cot pads roundup ranks pads for exactly that job, and our best camping mattresses for back pain covers the same reader whether the pad goes on a cot or on the ground.

Who should skip which

• TETON Outfitter XXL: skip it if you want a maker's written promise of no bar under you (TETON doesn't publish one), or if 26 lb is more than you want to carry from the car. The pad is sold separately.
• Disc-O-Bed 2XL: skip it if a high bed is your priority. Its published 14.5-inch deck is well below the 19.5-inch set-up height TETON lists, and at 36 lb it is the heaviest cot on this page.
• Disc-O-Bed XL: skip it if you're taller than 6 ft 4 in (Disc-O-Bed's stated fit), or if you won't add the leg extensions; at 11 inches, its deck is the lowest here.
• ALPS Escalade X-Large: skip it if you weigh close to 325 lb, ALPS's rating, or want a cot you can rebuild; ALPS lists only the carry bag as a replacement part for it.
• Coleman ComfortSmart Deluxe: skip it if you're buying once. It carries a 1-year limited warranty, and Coleman sells no replacement parts for its cots.

Buyer's guide: a cot for a bad back that also lasts

Decide what actually bothers you

Three different complaints point to three different specs. Trouble getting up points to height: the ALPS Escalade and the TETON stand tallest. A bar or rail you can feel points to a published no-center-bar design and to width, so your hips and shoulders sit further from the side rails; the Disc-O-Bed 2XL's 39.5-inch deck is the widest here. A bed that feels too hard points to a pad on a tight cot, not a softer cot.

Length and width are support too

A cot that's too short or too narrow for you forces you to sleep curled up or pressed against a rail, whatever the fabric. Disc-O-Bed says its cots fit users up to 6 ft 4 in. Coleman designs the ComfortSmart for people up to 6 ft 6 in. The Escalade X-Large is 90 inches long, the longest cot we list. If length is your main problem, our camping cots for tall people rank on it directly.

Check the tent before the cot

The roomy cots take floor space. The Escalade X-Large is 90 inches long, the Disc-O-Bed 2XL's outer frame is 87.5 inches, and the TETON's in-use footprint is 86 x 45 inches. Measure the tent floor, and remember that tent walls slope in, before you order.

Buy the bed you can replace

The fabric is what wears out on a cot, so the maker's parts page matters as much as the frame. TETON sells the Outfitter's canvas top and publishes a video on swapping it. Disc-O-Bed sells every mat, rail and end frame. ALPS lists only a carry bag for the Escalade and handles other parts by phone. Coleman sells nothing for its cots. Which makers sell which parts, and how to order them, is in our cot replacement parts guide.

If your back is fine

If you just want the best cot for the money you'll spend once, start with our best camping cots, or browse everything in the camping cots hub. For the hours you spend sitting at camp, our camping chairs for bad backs apply the same spec-first approach to seat height and back support.