Why Don't Sleeping Mats Have A Pillow?

[pistonbroke]

We pay top dollar for all singing insulation, baffle construction, robust build etc etc but then spend all night playing hunt the soap for a separate pillow. Why can't mats incorporate an attached or even shaped section rather than the pan flat boards we currently put up with? Obviously if such a thing already exists, I stand (or lie) corrected.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Yep, they exist but generally they're at the cheaper, uninsulated end of the market.

[ScotRoutes]

As I've previously reported, my pillow tends to live in the hood of my sleeping bag. It doesn't really wander then. But of a bummer when I'm using a quilt though...

[Bearbonesnorm]

But of a bummer when I'm using a quilt though...

Use a buff to hold it to your mat.

[ScotRoutes]

The curve on the Synmat tends to make it slip off. I've tried a short cord round it too but much the same result.

[Bearbonesnorm]

Self adhesive velcro patches work.

[Lazarus]

I have a selfinflating cheapo mattress with one and its really crap
not big enough on its own too big/wrong angle if you if you use a pillow

[FLV]

The curve on the Synmat tends to make it slip off. I've tried a short cord round it too but much the same result.

Little bits of furniture grip pads aren't too bad. Just had them on a pillow, they were self adhesive and stuck fine.

[metalheart]

Self adhesive velcro patches work.

Do you need to shave the back of your head for it work properly?

[sean_iow]

Excuse to use this picture from a similar discussion last summer...

You just need an elastic strap on the pillow, where most people go wrong is put the strap round the mat, it should go around your head



It also keeps you moustache under control

[mattpage]

I prefer not to have a pillow, so I'm quite happy they are not included.

[ripio]

I prefer not to have a pillow, so I'm quite happy they are not included.

Same here.
Haven't slept using a pillow for the past 40 years, either at home or camping.

[RIP]

it should go around your head

Marvellous! What happens when you roll over onto your tum in the middle of the night?

Reminds me of the time when I worked(?) in an office and everyone else had Sony Walkmans (remember them!). Except for me. Eventually I felt left out so decided I'd better get one. But I didn't fancy the whole things-poked-in-my-ears situation (I've had a few things poked into my ears in my time but we won't go into that now). Eventually compromised. Ended up with the cranium-mounted music but not the things in ears. Wanders off to see if he can find the pic....

[RIP]

.. ah there we are.. what an idiot! Worked really well though. Note the wig on the shelf for when visitors came to my desk. Oh, and Managing Director in the background going "Oh for fvcks' sake now what's he up to" .

[sean_iow]

I had a walkman, well a posh Panasonic in the end. The bottom 2 drawers of my desk were completely full of tapes. My Ipod has probably 100 times the amount of music and is half the size of a single tape, if you'd told me at the time I'd never believed it was possible.

[fatbikephil]

Isn't a wayward pillow all part of the experience? Oft times I've laid back onto a pillow free mat, gone hunting for said pillow (exped and particularly buoyant) only to find it down by my feet, or outside the tarp.... Being nearly 50, a pillow is essential for a neck pain free nights kip...

[Boab]

Being nearly 50, a pillow is essential for a neck pain free nights kip...

Yup. And I want it in the hood of my sleeping bag, not under it...

[JohnClimber]

The reason they don't come with them, I guess is that so many of us want different thicknesses, softness or not at all.
It means they would limit their market if they had one with the wrong pillow built in to them

#TwoPenneth

[Bearbonesnorm]

up. And I want it in the hood of my sleeping bag, not under it...

Uhm but that means I can't then use the hood of my bag and therefor limit how warm I'll be in it

A pocket beneath a hood as part of a sleeping bag, may be one solution?

[Boab]

Yup. And I want it in the hood of my sleeping bag, not under it...

Uhm but that means I can't then use the hood of my bag and therefor limit how warm I'll be in it

A pocket beneath a hood as part of a sleeping bag, may be one solution?

Either your pillow is really big, or your sleeping bag hood is really small. I might just be lucky, but the hood on my old Rab bag is massive and can easily accommodate my head and pillow, while cinched down to a pea hole.

[Bearbonesnorm]

I must have a small hood.

Having given it some more thought though - as a side-sleeper, I really want my pillow attached to the mat and not the bag, as I'd spend most of the night it stuck to the back of my head.

[pistonbroke]

while cinched down to a pea hole.

Now that's a trick I'd like to see

[Verena]

I prefer not to have a pillow, so I'm quite happy they are not included.

Same here.
Haven't slept using a pillow for the past 40 years, either at home or camping.

Same. Since my inflatable, always wayward pillow died, I have found that my rucksack, emptied of all soft items cos I'm wearing them, leaving cooking utensils, drinks bottles and other hard, decidedly non ergonomically shaped items in it, does perfectly well, as does the odd stone or two....if it's good enough for Jacob....https://biblehub.com/genesis/28-11.htm

[Richpips]

A pocket beneath a hood as part of a sleeping bag, may be one solution?

My Big Agnes winter bag has that feature.

[techno]

Yep, they exist but generally they're at the cheaper, uninsulated end of the market.

Or the expensive uninsulated end: https://klymit.com/collections/sleeping ... 2981621850