Pillows

I must be one of the lucky ones I suspect, but I am more than happy with my Sea to Summit Aeros Ultralight pillow at 60 grams. Mind you I have little problem sleeping so to me this is luxury :)

Shaped!!!

That could be the solution, Andrew.

Thanks for pointing my attention to that one.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/massdrop-x-klymit-pillow

I’ve been real happy with this pillow and my rain shell bunched up over it. The x design makes for good stability. It’s a steal for $15.

Thanks, @giachett… but I was a bit impulsive and have already ordered the Aeros Ultralight… because it looked just right. :-)

Martin, you probably already know this, but IME all these air pillows work best if not fully inflated.

I prefer pillows to be minimally inflated so that my noggin sinks in, and find that I can be fairly happy even with the Flex Air plus hospital pillow. I attached 1.2mm shock cord to it with cuben repair tape to keep it in place on my air mat (Neoair) and it works fine. 29g and low volume when weight and space are at a premium.

@bobmny10562

Great attachment idea, Bob. Thanks!

For me the main issue has been reliability. Two products, two failures (Exped medium weight had a valve failure when it was just out of guarantee, and a well reviewed Chinese Sea to Summit clone sprang leaks all over the place within days).

I don’t have too much problem with comfort, though neither were exactly home-from-home. I have seen people experiment with hybrid solutions using an outer layer of down or foam which would seem the only practical way forward.

But if anyone can suggest a reliable pillow that will last a thru-hike, I’d be grateful to hear from you. Bottom line is that the thing should hold air, and reading the reviews, most of them don’t achieve that too well.

I was happy using my TAR LiteSeat folded over and stuffed inside a buff…easy to adjust firmness and (I told myself) dual-purpose as it was quick and easy to grab and use as a seat during day.  2 problems…it was pretty flat, i.e, no head cradling, and I never once used it as a seat during the day…it’s sole actual use was as a pillow.

Likeing the idea of something adjustably inflatable inside my buff (which in fact was dual-purpose and used all the time), I tried the Big Sky DreamSleeper UL.  It looks silly and feels awful by itself, but with the right inflation level and wrapped in the buff I have grown to really like it.  Almost 1/2 the weight of the LiteSeat solution to boot.

I mostly use the 2L Platypus that I carry anyway for water capacity.  It can be either partly full of air or partly water, doesn’t matter much. Sort of like a waterbed for my head. Not as comfy as a big pillow from home but good enough. Not all bunchy like extra clothes. And if it’s on the chilly end of the trip and I planned accurately then there aren’t any extra clothes, I’m wearing everything.

This thread comes with both an informational and psychological bonus to me. I’ve found a pillow that looks promising… and I have discovered that the topic is one a lot of people care about. Prior to this discussion, I thought I had simply gone soft.

I also use the Big Sky Dreamsleeper, but since my neck is messed up I put it inside a Goose Feet down stuffsack.

I’m sure the weight penalty won’t work for everyone, but I probably break even by not carrying as much Ibuprofen as I used to.

ETA: This combo weighs 5oz on my scale. Less then I expected, huh!

I’ve had the same problem with pillows. I’ve had about 5 of them. The Therm-a-Rest compressible pillow is an awesome – like home pillow but it weights 10 oz.

That 10 oz seems like a lot when you are spending $400 to save 6 oz on a tent though. I tried some pure inflatable ones but the bounce is annoying and they almost seem hard. I sleep on my side and having one ear creating a suction cup on a plastic like surface is also a no go for me. Even the fabric on the bear pillow did the same thing where it creates this weird muffled sound even though it’s not inflatable.

This is what I’m using now. Not the lightest(life seems harder for us side sleepers) but better than the Therm-a-rest and has a soft fabric cover. I’m sure if I slept on my back I would be much less picky.

I have a couple of bad disks in my neck, so I find that a good pillow makes a big difference for me. Still, I hate weight.  So I have been using a Marmot Strato.  Weighs 40g.  I place it inside of a buff for a great pillow.  Plus this gives me a warm place to put my phone and water filter, if necessary.  However, the first one only last about 70 nights before it developed a seam leak.  I hope the second one does better.

The inflatable hospital pillows work great. I wrap mine in a shirt, and call it a night. Sometimes even bring two, because they are light, and pack up small.best of luck in your hunt.

If you are like me, and I know there are many, you hate the feeling of an air pillow.  I made this out of some foam lying around the house.  It weighs right around 5 oz and compresses fairly well into a stuff sack but not yet so much that I am left with no loft when using it.

Brian’s idea works well. I made some for Sue and me in 2004, The coring process can be … fun: you need a sharp cork borer and a drill press.

Note the layer of red fleece over the top side and the white cotton cover over the lot. It has plastic snaps along one side.

And they are still performing just fine.

Cheers

I ground a piece electrical conduit to an edge and just pounded it through the foam.  Worked okay….not great but okay.

Did you squash the foam flat first? I guess likely if you used a straight push.

Cheers

I use the Zpacks Pillow Dry Bag with my Montbell Alpine Light Down Jacket inside within a smaller cuben stuff stack.  The reason for the smaller cuben stuff sack is to compress the down jacket enough to get it firm to my liking.  It took a few tries at home to determine which stuff sack size would work best, but once I got it figured it out it’s worked out great.  The dry bag with the stuff sack weights a little less than 2 oz.

It’s really hard to talk about pillows without talking about sleep style — a great pillow for one person may be terrible pillow for someone else because they sleep completely differently. Pillows for back sleepers vs. rotisserie side sleepers are like apples and oranges.

So, Martin…what’s your sleep style?

To date, the large Exped UL air pillow in a GooseFeet Gear down pillowcase has worked the best for me. However, I might have to try to find some lightweight foam and try out Brian and Roger’s idea…

I still use a Klymit Cush that I got to boost an order above the free shippign limit. It’s light enough (3 ounces) and, if you fold it over twice, thick enough for a side sleeper to keep a straight neck. Kind of not too soft on the ear pressed against it, but if it’s cold I’m wearing a hat and if it’s not cold, I have an extra shirt to cover it.

Yes, squashing was part of the process.

@Roger

How heavy is your home pillow? And could you give an estimate of packed volume when compressed?

Thanks