Given that multi-purpose gear is one of the foundations of ultralight backpacking, it’s not surprising that Hyperlite Mountain Gear sells a pillow which can double as a stuff sack. Turned inside out, one side is covered in Polartec 100 fleece, making it very cozy and warm to rest your head on.
Available in two sizes, the HMG stuff sack pillow is also very lightweight, weighing just 1.7 ounces in a size large (12″ x 17″) and 1.2 ounces in a size small (10″ x 14″). I use mine to store all of my sleeping and “oh heck” clothes on backpacking and day trips including long underwear, extra socks, gloves, and hats.
When I use the pillow as a stuff sack, I keep the Polartec fleece “sleeping” surface facing inwards, so it doesn’t get wet or dirty when it comes in contact with the contents of my pack. While it closes with a side zipper, I know if it ever fails, I’ll still be able to use it to stuff clothing into it for a pillow.
No Air Leaks
The other advantage of the Hyperlite Mountain Gear Stuff Sack Pillow over the inflatable backpacking pillows offered by many manufacturers is durability. Sooner or later inflatable pillows leak at the seams and around the valve or they develop pinhole punctures. That can never happen with a pillow that is a stuff sack.
Disclosure: The author received a pillow for this review.
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I have & love this pillow. Do you think you could adhere Sea to Summit’s pillow lock Velcro tabs to this pillow? You can buy a S2S pillow lock case only, but that defeats my HMG pillow (& adds weight). Net net would like to attach the Velcro tabs to my S2S pad & the cuben side of my HMG pillow.
Try it and let us know.
As requested, here’s HMG’s response:
“Adhesives will definitely stick to the DCF material of our Pillow – the only thing I will caution is that sometimes things stick too well and make it difficult to take off at a later time without damaging the material. If you intend to keep this on for the life of the pillow, then definitely go for it. If this is something you may take off at a later time, you may need a Dyneema Repair Kit.”
I thought you were asking whether the velcro would stick to the fleece, which I how the S2S pillows work..which doesn’t make sense on hindsight since you want the fleece on your cheek with this pillow.
The zipper on this pillow is going to fail long before the S2S adhesive lets go.