Klymit LUXE Tenting Pillow Evaluate

Backside Line

The Klymit LUXE is certainly one of a number of inflatable tenting pillows with a skinny layer of cushioning to make it extra snug than most air pillows. Its giant sleeping floor and quilted cowl every add a further diploma of consolation. It’s a center of the street tenting pillow, even for a de-LUXE camp pillow aspiring for luxurious standing.  

In a nutshell, this quilted air pillow proved to be snug for each backcountry and frontcountry tenting. Like all inflatable pillows, it was additionally fairly supportive. On the similar time, its weight and packability are simply borderline for backpacking, and its quilted baffles didn’t impress our testers as a lot as different tenting pillows famend for his or her consolation.

Nonetheless, it’s a cushty inflatable pillow for informal campers and backpackers who don’t get too hung up on weight. For an entire comparability towards our different favorites, see this yr’s information to the perfect tenting and backpacking pillows.

How We Examined

Over the previous a number of months, CleverHiker gear analyst Jory Brass put the Klymit LUXE via a sequence of assessments to guage the way it stacked up by way of consolation, weight and packability, assist, and ease of use. It was one of many top-rated pillows he camped with in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness and a piece of the Continental Divide Path for side-by-side testing. He additionally piled the LUXE into his Subaru with a basketful of tenting pillows to sleep below the celebrities at a number of dispersed campsites within the Land of Enchantment. 

Consolation

Consolation is the LUXE pillow’s calling card – Klymit promotes it as a luxurious selection for informal campers and backpackers who care extra about consolation than weight financial savings and packability. On the plus facet, this is among the largest air-filled pillows available on the market with a sleeping floor listed at 22 x 12.5 x 5 inches. It additionally has a quilted polyester pillow case that cushions the air bladder – which frequently feels just like a seaside ball or inflatable pool toy in lots of inflatable pillows. This quilted cushioning does make the LUXE subtly softer than the typical inflatable camp pillow. Nonetheless, we weren’t impressed by its consolation in our New Mexico-based area assessments.

Over a number of nights of side-by-side testing, the LUXE’s consolation didn’t stand out in comparison with the opposite tenting pillows we reviewed. The LUXE’s quilted cowl didn’t really feel as luxurious because the added layer of insulation on the Exped Mega Pillow or the down baffles of the Sea to Summit Aeros Down Pillow – two equally sized pillows that additionally lay declare to the luxurious air pillow area of interest.

Our tester additionally prefers the consolation of the NEMO Fillo – a hybrid air/foam pillow with weight and packability just like the LUXE. In different phrases, it is a snug camp pillow – particularly for an air pillow – but it surely definitely doesn’t have the market cornered on consolation.

Weight & Packability

As for weight and packability, the Klymit LUXE works higher as a tenting pillow than a backpacking pillow. Measuring 7.8 ounces on our gear analyst’s kitchen scale, it was the heaviest and bulkiest inflatable pillow we examined. It measures just below a half-pound – an unofficial dividing line between a heavy backpacking pillow and a campground-only pillow. Its packed dimension is barely smaller than a premium sleeping pad however bigger than pillows really useful for backpacking. 

By most measures, it is a higher pillow for automotive tenting than backpacking. However informal backpackers may pull it off as a backpacking pillow for overnighters and quick weekend journeys. General, the LUXE pillow is geared towards weight financial savings and packability greater than consolation and assist.

Assist

In case you’re after a supportive pillow, the Klymit LUXE tenting pillow is a stable selection. Like the opposite inflatable pillows in our lineup, the LUXE makes use of air stress to supply vital assist for campers’ heads and necks. CleverHiker Gear Analyst Jory Brass had no complaints about this pillow’s assist as he slept on it within the Gila Wilderness at a roadside campground. It had sufficient peak to carry up his head and cradle his neck in an ergonomically right place as he slept on his facet. There’s loads of assist for facet sleepers – who typically choose firmer, thicker pillows than again sleepers and entrance sleepers.

In accordance with Klymit’s tech specs, the LUXE pillow needs to be the thickest air pillow in our present testing lineup with a depth of 5 inches. Nonetheless, when our tester in contrast all the giant inflatable pillows facet by facet, the LUXE Pillow didn’t seem thicker than these with listed heights of 4.3 or 4.7 inches. The Exped Mega Pillow and Sea to Summit Aeros Down Deluxe pillows truly felt barely extra supportive.     

We anticipated the LUXE pillow to rank on the prime of the assist class because it’s heavier, bulkier, and supposedly taller than the opposite air pillows examined. Nonetheless, after a number of nights of testing, its assist wasn’t particular. It was stable – however no higher than the opposite air pillows we examined.

Ease of Use

A lot of the camp pillows we examined are foolproof. You inflate or deflate the LUXE tenting pillow with a easy twist valve. It solely takes 4-5 puffs to inflate it totally. You merely twist the valve open to set free air to regulate the pillow to your most popular stage of cushioning and assist after which twist it again to shut the valve. A handy snap on the quilted cowl tucks the valve away whereas sleeping. 

The quilted cowl can also be low-maintenance. In case you’ve drooled or spilled on the polyester pillow case, it’s machine-washable and simple to take away from the air bladder. This Klymit pillow additionally comes with a branded stuff sack, so you may maintain monitor of which stuff sack suits your pillow.

Ought to You Purchase the Klymit LUXE Pillow?

The Klymit LUXE profiles finest as a pillow for informal campers and backpackers who care extra about consolation and assist than weight and packability. It’s heavier and bulkier than the camp pillows we sometimes take backpacking. Nonetheless, the quilted baffles give it a consolation increase over the typical inflatable pillow, and its air bladder supplies loads of assist for again sleepers and facet sleepers alike.

On the similar time, the CleverHiker crew ranked the LUXE beneath different camp pillows chasing after luxurious standing. With that being mentioned, the LUXE Pillow isn’t as costly as different luxurious air pillows, and it’s extra packable than the froth pillows we reward for his or her consolation. General, it’s not a nasty purchase if it matches your finish use and preferences for consolation, packability, and assist.

What Different Tenting Pillows Ought to You Contemplate?

Our full information to the finest tenting pillows offers you the dust on 12 different pillows that we suggest for several types of tenting. In case you’re not bought on the LUXE and need to browse one thing comparable, please begin with these:

Trekology Aluft Professional Evaluate: Are you in search of a cushty and supportive air pillow however need one thing extra acceptable for backpacking? Our price range choose, the Trekology Aluft Professional, feels just like the Klymit LUXE pillow, but it surely’s lighter, extra packable, and fewer than half the value. 

Exped Mega Pillow Evaluate: In our most up-to-date spherical of pillow testing, our gear analyst selected the Mega Pillow as the perfect luxurious air pillow, discovering it extra packable and comfy than Klymit’s luxurious mannequin.  

HEST Pillow Evaluate: The HEST is just too heavy for the backcountry, but it surely’s essentially the most luxurious entrance nation pillow we examined. It’s a a lot better splurge purchase than the LUXE.