neither the pillow or mattress are inflated in this picture, which is why the cord looks so long

This has been my go-to backpacking pillow for over 10 years. I am a side sleeper, so a pillow is required for me to get a good night’s sleep.

An air pillow is a compromise of sorts and at first I just hated this pillow because it was difficult to make it stay in place and during the night would slide off my air mattress. Back in 2012 it flew away during a windstorm, but I later recover it.

Once I devised a method to secure the pillow to my mattress, it became acceptable.

Compromises

At home and in our camper I use down pillows. These are perfect for me, but are exceeding large and heavy to take backpacking. Somewhere in my gear storage is a small UL down pillow I bought long ago. It is too small.

Long ago I tried using my spare clothing as a pillow, and even wrapped them around my shoes to make a larger pillow. None was satisfactory.

My down jacket makes a pretty good pillow, but it really needs to be put into a stuff sack that is in the shape of a small pillow case to work well. That also causes problems if it gets colder than expected and I need to put the jacket on for extra insulation.

So an air pillow is my solution. Compact when folded for storage, easy and quick to inflate, and lightweight. Not as good as a real pillow, but I get a good night’s sleep with it.

Durability and a User Error

I had used the same pillow for over 10 years without issue until this summer, when it developed a seam leak. Not a product failure, but the failure on my part to follow directions.

Beware of exposure to heat: Do not expose an inflated pillow to direct sunlight or heat sources. This may cause the air to expand and put excessive pressure on the seams which could then fail.

Last August I joined a group of friends for a weekend trip. A short hike to a campsite and then hanging out for a couple days in one spot. I rarely do this. When backpacking I am up every morning packing up and hiking for the rest of the day. This weekend was different.

How Hot is Hot?

Saturday night I got ready for bed and found my Exped pillow was flat. A couple of breaths and it was inflated. It quickly deflated when I put my head down on it. Opps!

No problem. I put my down jacket into a 3 gallon ZipLoc, which is the perfect size for a small pillow and immediately fell asleep. It was summer, so I wouldn’t need the jacket for extra insulation. BTW, I have mostly quit using stuff sacks since I don’t bring much gear compared to most people. I use different sizes of ZipLoc bags to organize small items, for my food, and for trash. They are light and since you can see what is inside of a ZipLoc makes things easy to stay organized.

Patagonia Down Sweater in a 3 gallon ZipLoc

In the morning when I was packing up, I found that my extra fuel canister had expanded too. I have never seen this happen to a IsoPro canister in all the years I have been using them. The high temperature the day before was in the high 80° F range and my shelter had been zipped shut.

Below is the concave bottom of a fuel canister:

Compare that to the expanded canister from the sun:

A New Exped Air Pillow

Shortly after this, I left on another trip and didn’t have time to repair the leaking Exped. So I ordered a new one from Amazon and got it in 2 days.

The Old vs New

The old pillow was an Exped Air Pillow UL, a model that is no longer available. I think it is pretty much the same as the current Exped Ultra Pillow. Instead, I bought an Exped Versa Pillow, size Medium.

The difference is the Versa is made from heavier material, so it weighs more.

Exped Ultra size M: 15 x 10.6 x 3.9 in
Exped Versa size M: 15 x 10.6 x 3.9 in

Exped Ultra size M: Weight 2.3 oz
Exped Versa size M: Weight 1.8 oz

Exped Ultra size M: material is 20 D recycled stretch polyester, TPU polyether film laminate, hydrolysis resistant, OEKO-TEX® 100 certified
Exped Versa size M: 75 D recycled polyester, TPU polyether film laminate, hydrolysis resistant, OEKO-TEX® 100 certified

Obviously the one on the right is the old pillow (needs to be washed)

New new pillow (L) has a single valve versus two valves (inflate/deflate)

On both pillows the valves lay flat when the cap is pushed in, so the valves don’t interfere with comfort.

The single valve works just a well as two. To deflate the plastic tab on the cord is pushed against the flap in the valve

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Exped Ultra Air Pillow Check Amazon