Do you think backpacking pillows are a luxury? I thought so too – until I finally turned my extra layers of stuff into an actual inflatable.
Light tent, comfortable pillow (Photo: James Stout)
Published on July 10, 2026 02:57 pm
Life is increasingly busy these days, the news is becoming increasingly serious, and the climate is changing faster than ever. For this and many other reasons I often find that my best sleep is in the backcountry, where I can’t doomscroll until 11 p.m., but to get that quality shut-eye, It’s taken me some effort to optimize my sleep system. Hence the tote box full of camp pillows in my gear closet.
In my first years of backpacking, I thought carrying a pillow was too much for me. It was a luxury I thought I didn’t have in the backcountry, even though I carried several other stupid things, like a fixed-blade knife and, once, an entire quart of bourbon. After years of trying to make do with a puffy jacket in the 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 spots, then wake up and do the hard work, which, for me, is what backpacking is all about.
Since discovering the joy of a good portable pillow, I’ve taken it all over the world. On a reporting trip to Syria, which coincided with a bombing campaign by the Turkish Air Force, my pillow and eye mask allowed me to snatch a good night’s rest amid the horrors of war. I enjoyed a perfect night’s sleep after a day free diving in the tropical ocean in the Republic of the Marshall Islands, and a less horrible night than I had expected on an airport floor on my way home. Despite the ridicule of TSA agents and border guards around the world, my pillow has been my constant companion.
Like many of us, I started my trip with a generic foam bead-filled camping pillow, which weighed too much, absorbed water, and was no more comfortable than a bloated 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 ounces, this is no light pillow. However, it is very comfortable. Unlike most camping pillows, the MegaPillow is as big as your pillow at home, and the soft microfleece cover is delightful. Its pack is approximately the size of a small grape. When I’m not traveling, this pillow lives in my truck and is pressed into service at motels with inadequate pillow offerings, or whenever I feel like feeling sleepy. If you live in a small apartment and want a guest pillow, this one can also pull double-duty. I’ve used it in heated tents in the Arctic, hotels in Syria, and in the bed of my truck at trailheads when I need a good night’s sleep before a morning start.
When I’m counting ounces, this is my pillow of choice. It weighs just 2.1 ounces – less than a Hostess Suzie Q snack cake and just a little 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.
That said, this ultralight model has a few quirks. For side sleepers like me, it’s not enough on its own, so I pair it with a puffy jacket, or another item of clothing, to get enough support. (Alternatively, I’ll bring a second pillow and put it between my knees when I sleep on the side.) If you’re using it without a hooded sleeping bag, the shiny material underneath it has a tendency to slide away from you on the sleeping mat. To deal with this, I added a few points of seam grip to the bottom. The cover of the Air Head Light is probably the least soft, but if I’m feeling particularly sensitive to texture I can always cover it with a pillowcase buff. It also uses a standard threaded valve, which is the best type of valve for pillows because it allows for easy fine tuning, proper inflation time, and less chance of leaks.
This pillow features a unique X-shaped baffle design, which creates a slight indentation in the center of the pillow. This makes it excellent as a knee pillow, and helps prevent your head from slipping off of it. Another advantage: price. It weighs .3 ounces more than the Thermarest Air Head Light, is about the same size when inflated, and costs half the price. The face cloth seems a bit soft to me, and if one side gets dirty both sides can be used as a top. Thankfully, Klymit hasn’t replaced the threaded valve with a flat flip valve, and so this pillow is less likely to deflate on you. Over time, I have developed a slow leak in one of these that has become difficult to find; Most pillows like this don’t come with repair kits, so you may want to consider bringing some extra patches if you’re on a long trip.
I got this because I feel like I’m 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 between car camping and multiday excursions, where I want to cover less ground and sleep more comfortably. The larger size is perfect for this, but if I’m backpacking and counting ounces I’ll use the smaller size Eros Premium. The pillow also comes with Sea to Summit’s Pillow Lock Patch, which creates a slight friction between your pillow and the mat to keep it in place. Once they’re stuck to your mat, they should work with all pillows. If, like me, you’re not in your premium paycheck era, you can get this pillow for a discount on Sea to Summit’s page right now.
Zenbivy offers a quivering 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, as 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 ounces. The pillowcase can be washed more easily than the other pillows listed. The pillowcase uses hooks to attach to the ZenBevi’s sheets to prevent slipping, but as with other brands of sleeping pads you’ll need to add some seam grip.
