I Won’t Backpack Without a Pillow Anymore. Here Are the 5 I Trust Most

Life these days is increasingly busy, the news increasingly grim, and the climate changing faster than ever. For this and many other reasons I often find I have some of my best sleep in the backcountry, where I can’t doomscroll until 11 p.m. But to get that quality shut-eye, I’ve had to put some effort into optimizing my sleep system. Hence the tote box full of camp pillows in my gear closet.

In my first years backpacking, I thought I was far too tough to carry a pillow. It was a luxury that I thought didn’t belong in the backcountry, even though I carried lots of other stupid things, like a fixed blade knife and, once, a whole quart of bourbon. After years of trying to make do with a puffy jacket in a stuff sack, a Nalgene inside a beanie, or my water bladder, I now bring a proper pillow. Along with my fancy eye mask, these pillows allow me to sleep comfortably in uncomfortable places, then wake up and do difficult things, which, for me, is what backpacking is all about.

Since discovering the joys of a good portable pillow, I have carried one all over the world. On a reporting trip to Syria which coincided with a bombing campaign by the Turkish airforce, my pillow and eye masks allowed me to snatch a decent night’s rest amid the horrors of war. In the Republic of the Marshall Islands I enjoyed a perfect night’s sleep after a day spent freediving in the tropical ocean, and a less awful night than I would have expected on the floor of an airport on my way home. Despite the mockery of TSA agents and border guards around the world, my pillow has been my constant companion.

Like many of us, I began my journey with a generic foam bead-filled camping pillow, which weighed a lot, absorbed water, and was not much more comfortable than a puffy in a stuff sack. Since then I have experimented with different shapes, sizes, and surfaces to develop my current quiver. Here are my top five.

At 9 oz, this is not a lightweight pillow. It is, however, very comfy. Unlike most camping pillows, the Megapillow is as big as your pillow at home, and the soft microfleece cover is delightful. It packs down to about the same size as a small grapefruit. When I am not travelling, this pillow lives in my truck and has been pressed into service in motels with inadequate pillow offerings, or whenever I feel like a siesta. If you live in a small apartment and want a guest pillow, this can pull double-duty as that, too. I’ve used it in hot tents in the Arctic, hotels in Syria, and in my truck bed at the trailhead when I need a good night’s sleep before an early morning start.

When I am counting ounces, this is my pillow of choice. It weighs just 2.1 oz—less than a Hostess Suzie Q snack cake and only slightly more than a Twinkie. When packed, the Air Head fits in the palm of my hand, but when inflated it’s four inches thick, which is enough to support my head if I sleep on my back.

With that said, this ultralight model does have some quirks. For side sleepers like me, it’s not quite enough on its own, so I tend to combine it with a puffy jacket, or some other item of clothing to get enough support. (Alternatively, I’ll bring a second pillow and put this one between my knees when I side sleep.) If you’re using it without a hooded sleeping bag, the shiny material on its underside has a tendency to slide away from you on a sleeping mat. To combat this, I put a few dots of Seam Grip on the underside. The Air Head Lite’s covering is probably the least soft of the bunch, but if I am feeling particularly texture-sensitive I can always cover it with a Buff as a pillowcase. It also uses a standard threaded valve, which is the best kind of valve for pillows as it allows for easy fine tuning, reasonable inflation time, and a low likelihood of leaks.

This pillow features a unique X-shaped baffle design, which makes a little indentation in the center of the pillow. This makes it excellent as a knee pillow, and helps to prevent your head sliding off it. Another upside: price. It weighs .3 oz more than the Thermarest Air Head Lite, is almost exactly the same inflated size, and costs half as much. The face fabric feels slightly softer to me, and both sides can be used as the top if one side gets dirty. Thankfully, Klymit has not replaced the threaded valve with a flat flip valve, and so this pillow is less likely to deflate rapidly on you. I have, over time, developed a slow leak in one of these that has been difficult to find; most pillows like this one do not come with a repair kit, so you may want to consider bringing a couple extra patches if you’re on a long trip.

I got this because I feel like I am moving into my “premium” era. The “premium” package here combines an inflatable pillow with a plush memory foam topper. I use this pillow for trips in between car camping and multiday excursions, where I want to cover less ground and sleep in more comfort. The large size is about perfect for that, but I would use the small size Aeros Premium if I was backpacking and counting ounces. The pillow also comes with Sea to Summit’s Pillow Lock patches, which create a bit of friction between your pillow and mat so that it stays in place. Once they’re stuck to your mat, they should work with all pillows. If, like me, you are not in your premium paycheck era, you can get this pillow for a discount on Sea to Summit’s page right now.

Zenbivy offers something of a quiver killer with a modular pillow system that allows users to combine a pillow bladder, pillowcase, and one of two down toppers. The pillowcase really shines in ultralight applications, because it allows you to stuff your down jacket in between the bladder and the pillowcase, giving you a soft sleeping surface for just 2.3 oz. The pillowcase can also be washed more easily than the other pillows listed. The pillowcase uses hooks to interface with Zenbivy’s sheets to stop sliding, but with other brands of sleeping pad you’ll need to add some Seam Grip.