In the event you use a pillow at residence, I like to recommend taking a tenting pillow with you in your backpacking journeys. You’ll nearly actually sleep higher when you’ve got one as a result of your physique is used to having the additional help. I realized this the exhausting means myself, making an attempt all types of the way to cut back my backpacking gear weight by not carrying a pillow, solely to find that I sleep infinitely higher once I carry one on my journeys.
An important factor to search for when shopping for a backpacking pillow is getting one which stays on prime of your sleeping pad all night time and doesn’t fall off. You’d assume that backpacking and tenting pillow producers would have discovered this can be a must-have attribute, however most don’t embrace any sort of pad attachment system to maintain the pillow beneath your head all night time.
Personally, I swear by the pillow attachment system that comes with Sea-to-Summit sleeping pads and works with Sea-to-Summit Tenting Pillow. It contains particular non-abrasive hook-and-loop patches that adhere to your sleeping pad and follow the underside of their pillows. I exploit this pillow attachment system with a 2.5 oz Sea-to-Summit Aeros Down Pillow and a Sea-to-Summit Insulated Etherlight XT Sleeping Pad and sleep like a child on all my journeys. Please observe, this pad attachment system solely comes with Sea-to-Summit sleeping pads and solely works with their pillows.
Once I began backpacking, I didn’t carry a devoted pillow with the intention to cut back my gear weight. As an alternative, I stuffed an insulated jacket right into a stuff sack and used that as a pillow, regardless that it didn’t present the identical help or head peak that I most well-liked when sleeping at residence. In hindsight, it was barely satisfactory and by no means stayed in place at night time.
I attempted quite a few different pillows after that together with the Flex Air Ultralight Pillow, the Hyperlight Mountain Gear Stuff Sack Pillow, the NEMO Fillo Pillow, and so forth., however none of them stayed in place both. In consequence, I concluded that the pillow isn’t as essential because the pillow attachment system.
Clearly what’s wanted is a pillow attachment system that’s sleeping pad and pillow unbiased. Whereas I haven’t tried it but, the brand new Pillow Strap pillow attachment system appears prefer it ought to fulfill that want properly. After all, you may most likely obtain the identical end result through the use of a cutoff pair of pantyhose in a a lot inexpensive means.
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