Camping cot size guide: what the dimensions actually mean

What counts as standard

There is no industry standard cot size, which is why the question keeps getting asked. What exists is a cluster: most car-camping cots land between 75 and 80 inches of sleeping length and 28 to 35 inches of width, because that is the band that fits an adult up to about 6 ft 2 in inside a two-to-four-person tent. Coleman's ComfortSmart Deluxe at 80 x 30 inches is about as close to a typical cot as our registry has.

Outside that cluster, both directions are useful. ALPS's Escalade Cot XL publishes a 90 x 35-inch surface — the longest deck we score, and the one that actually fits someone over 6 ft 4 in. Helinox's Cot One Convertible publishes 75 x 26 inches, which is narrow on purpose because the whole cot weighs 4 lb 9.5 oz. Disc-O-Bed's 2XL is 85 x 39.5 inches, the widest we score.

The three numbers that matter

1. Deck length. Decides whether your heels hang off the end bar, which is the single most common cot complaint. Several makers publish a maximum camper height instead of, or alongside, the length.
2. Deck width. Decides whether you can roll over without a leg coming off the edge. Matters far more for side sleepers than for back sleepers.
3. Height off the ground. Decides whether you can stand up easily and whether the cot fits under a sloping tent wall. These pull in opposite directions, so pick deliberately.

Everything else — packed size, weight, frame material — matters for transport and durability rather than fit. The durability side is covered in the main cot rankings.

The full published range

Length: how tall are you?

Work from the maximum camper height where the maker publishes one, because it accounts for the end bar. The pattern across our registry:

• Up to 6 ft 2 in: almost any cot. Coleman explicitly rates the Trailhead II to 6 ft 2 in.
• 6 ft 2 in to 6 ft 6 in: you want 79 to 80 inches of deck. Coleman's Pack-Away and ComfortSmart both state 6 ft 6 in; the Disc-O-Bed XL states 6 ft 4 in; REDCAMP states 6 ft 6 in.
• Over 6 ft 6 in: the field narrows to two. ALPS's Escalade Cot XL at 90 inches is the only deck we score with genuine room to spare, and the Disc-O-Bed 2XL at 85 inches is the other. Both are ranked in best camping cots for tall people.

One thing to know: a cot's end bar sits above the deck plane, so a deck exactly your height is a cot your feet press against all night. Add four inches to your own height as a working minimum.

Width: how do you sleep?

• 26 to 28 inches is narrow. Fine for a back sleeper who does not move much, and it is the price of a 4 lb 9.5 oz cot (Helinox) or a 5 lb one (ALPS Ready Lite).
• 30 to 33 inches is the comfortable middle and where most car-camping cots sit.
• 35 to 39.5 inches is wide enough to turn over freely and to sleep on your side without a shoulder overhanging. TETON's 35.5 inches, Disc-O-Bed XL's 35 inches and the 2XL's 39.5 inches.

If you sleep on your side, width is not the only question — whether a frame bar runs under your hip matters just as much, and Disc-O-Bed's whole design claim is that there is no centre bar. That is the subject of best camping cots for side sleepers.

Height: tent or knees?

This is the choice people make by accident and regret. The published range in our registry is 6 inches to 22.5 inches, and the two ends solve opposite problems.

• High (17 to 22.5 in). A bed you sit down onto and stand up from, with a dry storage shelf underneath. The right answer if knees, hips or a back are involved. It needs tent headroom and it exposes you to more draught underneath.
• Mid (14 to 15 in). The compromise most cots land on. Still easy to get off, still fits most dome tents.
• Low (6 to 11 in). Fits under sloping tent walls, leaves headroom to sit up in bed, and is far less draughty. Harder to stand up from. The low options are ranked in best low-profile camping cots for tents.

Helinox is the one cot that lets you change your mind: the Cot One sits 6.5 inches up and Helinox sells a 12-piece leg extension set that raises it by 8.5 inches to 15 inches.

Measuring your tent first

Three measurements, and it takes two minutes with the tent pitched:

1. Usable floor length, measured where the walls are vertical rather than at the seam. A dome tent loses several inches at each end.
2. Usable floor width at cot height, not at ground level. This is the measurement that catches people: a tent that is 50 inches wide on the floor may be 40 inches wide at 17 inches up.
3. The in-use footprint of the cot, not the deck. Legs splay. TETON publishes a 45-inch in-use width against a 35.5-inch deck.

And if you are fitting two cots side by side, add the two in-use widths, not the two deck widths — or stack them. Disc-O-Bed cots bunk with an adapter kit, which turns two 39.5-inch decks into one footprint; see best camping cots for two.

Matching a pad to the deck

Almost every cot is better with a pad on it, and that means the pad size has to match the deck. The sizes that line up with the common cot widths: Therm-a-Rest's BaseCamp comes in 72 x 20, 77 x 25 and 77 x 30 inches, so the XLarge suits a 30-to-35-inch deck. TETON's canvas camp pad comes in 75 x 24, 80 x 30 and 82 x 38 inches, and the Outfitter XXL version is sized to TETON's own 35.5-inch cot with straps that attach to the end bars. ALPS's Flexcore XL is 77 x 30 inches.

A pad narrower than the deck slides around; a pad wider than the deck folds up at the edges and pushes you toward the middle. Within an inch or two either way is fine. The full ranking is in best cot pads, and the warmth reason you want one at all is in how to stay warm on a cot.

One cot per size problem