Vango PopTop 5cm reviewed

The Vango PopTop 5cm is a slim self-inflating mattress cut to 180 x 100cm for the roof bed of a pop-top campervan. It costs £125 from Vango, weighs 2.8kg and is only 5cm deep, which is the whole point: a thick mattress on a roof bed stops the roof folding down over your bedding.

Will it fit your van?

Measure before you buy. Pop-top roof beds vary between vans and conversions, and Vango designed the PopTop for the typical elevating-roof bunk rather than for one model. Its 180 x 100cm footprint is Vango’s own figure on the PopTop product page; some retailer listings quote a different length, so trust the maker’s numbers over a shop’s. At 100cm it is narrower than a UK small double at 120cm, so two adults will be close, while one adult or two children have room to spare. If you leave the mattress in place, check that the roof still closes with your sleeping bags or duvet on top.

What it is made of

Inside is a 5cm self-inflating foam core. The cover is 75 denier polyester with a peach-brushed finish, which Vango describes as warm to the touch, a real gain over the smooth nylon of many mats on a cold roof bed. A 3D construction with vertical side walls keeps the depth constant right to the edges, so the full 100cm is usable instead of rounding off at the sides as a flat mat does.

Insulation

Vango gives it an R-value of 5.7. The R-value is a measure of how strongly a mat resists heat flowing from your body into whatever is underneath, and the camping-mattress standard ASTM F3340 tests it between a warm plate and a cold plate, so higher is warmer. Vango does not say which method produced its figure. Taken as stated, 5.7 is a high number for 5cm of foam, comfortably enough for spring-to-autumn touring in a van, where you are already off the ground and out of the wind.

Inflation and packing

A twist valve does everything. Open it, let the foam draw in air, and close it. For a firmer feel, blow in a few breaths before closing. To pack, open the valve and roll it tightly to push the air out; it rolls to 56 x 22cm and goes into a carry bag with a compression strap and handles. That roll is small enough to live in a cupboard or under a seat between trips.

Comfort and its limits

Five centimetres of foam will not hide a hard base. On a roof bed with a firm board, back sleepers and lighter adults should be fine, but side sleepers and heavier sleepers may feel the base at the hips and shoulders. For the main bed downstairs, or for camping on the ground, a deeper mattress is the better tool. Vango’s own Shangri-La Lux 12 Double gives 12cm across 132cm, and the Exped MegaMat gives 10cm for one.

Value, warranty and delivery

At £125 the PopTop costs about half as much as the Shangri-La double, a fair price for a mattress made to one job. Vango’s warranty runs for two years, with a third if you register the product, and Vango delivers free in the UK on orders over £50 with 30 days to return unused items. Towsure listed it for about £10 under Vango’s price at the time of writing (October 2026), so check a retailer or two before ordering.

Buy the PopTop if your van’s roof bed came with a thin pad that leaves you cold or sore and you need the roof to close over it. Skip it if you are a side sleeper looking for real cushioning, because no 5cm mattress gives that.