I got mine for free when I purchased the Outdoor Vitals Loftek Sleeping Bag. (that’s a link to my review, but other links in this article may be affiliate link).
Will the Outdoors Vitals Pillow change your backpacking and camping sleep system?
Does Anyone Actually Use Backpacking Pillows?
I go backpacking a lot – most of the time with groups of friends.
Not once have I seen someone bust out a backpacking or inflatable pillow as we’re setting up camp.
For backpacking, I have always used a stuff sack filled with clothing as a pillow. Worst-case scenario, I put my rain jacket inside it for substance and combine it with the hood on my sleeping bag for enough padding.
But, this guy loves them. He recommends the Trekology 2.0 pillow as his favorite and the Sea to Summit Aeros for side sleepers.
If you want a removable case to wash between trips, the Hikenture pillow is the choice.
You can use what he recommends, or if you already have some packing cubes, they work as a backpacking pillow alternative.
It’s a basic packing cube and weighs 2.3oz with nothing in it. That’s actually lighter than the OV pillow and I’m already bringing this anyway for keeping my clothes organized.
It’s ~14 inches long, ~11 inches wide, and can be ~2-4 inches thick depending on how much you stuff inside.
This is also what everyone I know does.
Something like this will work. And they are great for traveling in general. If you want to go real lightweight, you can cut off the handles and modify the zipper.
And for car camping, I have always just brought a full-sized pillow from home or if there isn’t room… see above.
So, what’s the point of an ultralight backpacking pillow?
I have no idea.
It’s pretty ironic that an ultralight-based company would even think such a product is necessary. My Facebook feed is full of Tayson saying people have too large of packs and we should buy his smaller one.
In reality, they just use this pillow as a marketing gimmick. It probably costs about $1.00 to make in China and they use it to get your email address and sell you their other stuff via Email and Retargeting Ads.
In fact, it’s pretty close to this one I found on Alibaba for $2.38 in bulk.
That said, when I received this for free, I figure I had to give it a try to see if I was missing out!
The Pillow is Small, Light, and Easy to Pack and Unpack
The Outdoor Vitals Free Pillow is light – it weighs less than 3oz with the stuff sack. It also packs small and won’t take up much space in your pack.
In fact, it takes up even less space in your pack when you leave it at home and put it in your gear bin for a year before tossing it in the trash.
If You Receive the Outdoor Vitals Pillow for Free, It Might Be Worth It
An inflatable pillow is one of those items I’m too stubborn to buy, but now that I have it, why not use it!?
In hindsight, having it taken over a year to actually use this “free gift” should be a warning of my bias on this product.
However, I do think it’s very important to get a good night’s rest while backpacking and camping trips. Important enough to add weight and bulk to your pack if it helps accomplish this goal.
Outdoor Vitals Inflatable Pillow: Is it Worth it?
No, it’s not.
I would never purchase this product and I would not recommend it.
If you receive it for free, try it out for yourself.
Mine ended up in the trash.
The Positives
I’ll start with the positives.
Ease of Use
The first thing that stands out when you see the Outdoor Vitals Pillow is that it’s tiny when deflated. It’s easy to inflate with a large, foolproof valve. 2 to 3 full breaths will do the trick.
Another positive is that after using it, it fits right back into the stuff sack it came in very easily.
One of my biggest pet peeves is having to fold something 95% perfectly to fit back into its original casing. Who has the patience to refold and think about that kind of stuff?
Soft Liner Material
Continuing with positivity, I noticed the material is soft and not “plastic-y” like I thought it would be by the looks of it. It’s almost a weird felt-like material covering the face of the pillow making it feel softer than it appears.
So, overall, the design and ease of use show there was good thought put into this product.
A Side Sleepers Pillow Delight
I tend to sleep on my side at home. However, I always tend to sleep on my back while backpacking or camping because it requires less support.
In addition, at home I don’t wear ear plugs, but I do while camping to get better sleep.
In my opinion, it’s better to be ignorant of the ultra-low chance of being in danger than to get startled by every random noise in the woods. I’ll still wake up to a bear or other loud noises, but it’s been nice to ignore every flap of the tent in the wind.
Back to the point… side sleeping while backpacking or camping was difficult because it felt like an earplug would be getting jammed into my brain.
This pillow has a little “pocket” for lack of a better word. This allowed the side of my head to kind of fit into it, and it didn’t feel like my earplugs were getting mashed into my brain.
The Negatives of Outdoor Vital’s Pillow
As you can see, it’s very well-designed and works as intended.
However, there’s one big flaw. It’s a product that doesn’t need to exist… in my opinion.
Do You Actually Need a Backpacking Pillow?
I’m not an ultralight backpacker.
I try to save obvious weight, but I’m not cutting off the bottom of my toothbrush or anything crazy like that.
However, I never had to cut out a backpacking pillow because there’s never been one in my pack.
And with all my times backpacking, no one ever talked about a backpacking pillow or brought one.
Everyone I know seems to have a similar system of using extra clothes, backpack, or other soft-enough material to lay their head.
So, when I tested the Outdoor Vitals Pillow, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was expecting it to be MORE comfortable than what I have been doing. (note: the picture below was just when I was testing it while car camping, not my actual backpacking pillow in the background haha).
Spoiler alert, it’s not more comfortable than nothing.
I actually had a hard time sleeping with it. At first, I thought I had it TOO inflated so then I deflated it and re-inflated it with less air to try and give it more flexibility.
That still didn’t make it any more comfortable.
I will say, I’m also one of those people that have NEVER found those airplane neck pillows useful. For me, nothing beats just resting your head on the side of the plane or using an extra hoody/long sleeve and putting it behind your neck if needed.
I have a feeling that the people that enjoy those airplane pillows are the same people seeking out a backpacking pillow.
They are just using a mental mechanism to trick their brain into thinking they’re more comfortable and to allow for better sleep (allegedly).
So, you can design the best ultralight backpacking pillow and it can still fail because it fails at the sole purpose of buying one: getting BETTER sleep.
I’m also not super picky with real pillows. I’m not one of those people that complain about hotel pillows.
However, if a hotel gave me a pillow that felt like this, I would throw it at the manager and leave. It’s literally worse than having no pillow.
I would love to know if anyone at Outdoor Vitals actually uses this pillow.
I normally wouldn’t leave a review for a “free” item, but they do sell this individually which is why I tested it out.
Also, I’m never a fan of companies that give you something that is essentially a “here’s a gift… for your local landfill.”
There’s a reason they give this product away. If it worked, they’d make you purchase it instead of giving it away with orders over X amount.
Conclusion: Calling this a “Pillow” is an Insult to Real Pillows
I’m going to be blunt.
This thing is probably going to end up in a random “gear” bin at home. Actually, I’m not a hoarder so it’s probably going to the local landfill (update: it is indeed in a landfill).
And I’m not trying to sour Outdoor Vitals as a company. In fact, I use their sleeping bag and will likely replace my down jacket with one of theirs.
2024 update, I did upgrade my down jacket with theirs (#amazonad) and I love it for the price. It’s a Utah-based design company and you can tell the owners and designers actually use what they make (for the most part).
I’m also pretty certain this product was only designed to be given as a “gift” to entice higher-value purchases from the company. It’s a solid business strategy in a sense. Shit, even worked on me. But this pillow will be a very useless product to most.
Calling this a “pillow” is an insult to real pillows.
Thanks for coming to my Ted talk.
