Mountain Warehouse Self-Inflating Mat With Pillow review: a couple of clever innovations on a budget pad

Mountain Warehouse Self-Inflating Mat With Pillow: first impressions

The Mountain Warehouse Self-Inflating Mat With Pillow probably won’t find any fans amongst hardcore wild campers and backpackers, but its cheap’n’cheerful practicality still earns it a place in our best sleeping pads buying guide – just make sure you only use it for light duties.

Pillows are often regarded a bit of a luxury item by hardcore campers, especially if backpack space is at a premium and you’re trying to keep your carry weight down. But sleeping outside shouldn’t necessarily mean you have to really rough it, and if you don’t have room in your rucksack for a dedicated camping pillow, you could take an inflatable one – or, better still, a sleeping mat with an integrated headrest, like this innovative number from Mountain Warehouse.

This is one of those ideas that leaves you wondering why no one thought of it earlier, and pondering about potential reasons why the market isn’t flooded with similar models. Is there a reason why you don’t see many mats with integrated pillows?

Mountain Warehouse Self-Inflating Mat With Pillow: in the field

I slept out on the Mountain Warehouse Self-Inflating Mat With Pillow during several consecutive chilly nights in the Surrey Hills as winter teetered on the edge of becoming spring. I was in a three-season tent, using the Microlite 1400 winter sleeping bag also from Mountain Warehouse. 

Mountain Warehouse have not included an R-value for this sleeping mat, which doesn’t usually bode well (most good-quality sleeping pads will have an R-value clearly indicated). However, I can’t say I was cold overnight, which is either testament to the sleeping bag (which I rate highly) and / or proof that the mat does supply some insulation from ground chill.

The 3cm-thickness of this pad isn’t especially sumptuous, but besides having some thermal properties it did also protect me from the worst of the lumps and bumps beneath the groundsheet. It only comes in one size, and anyone even approaching 180cm or 6ft in height will find their feet hanging over the end of the mat.

The standout feature is, of course, the pillow, which you blow up via a separate pinch valve. It works fine, especially if you are someone who likes to have their head elevated a bit, but blowup pillows are never especially comfortable. The addition of some brushed fabric might improve the feel, but that would add to the weight and bulk of the product, which is already a tad on the heavy side for hauling on backpacking adventures. A quick camping hack is to slide a merino top over it, which works well as a pillowcase.

An obvious benefit is that your pillow can never disappear off the edge of the mat and go astray in the middle of the night, and for this alone the product deserves praise. The pillow is a bit of a pain in the proverbial when it comes to deflation and packing away, because it always ends up with a little pocket of air trapped in it, which makes the whole thing hard to get in the bag.

In another clever addition, the mat also features poppers along each of its sides (female fittings one side, male the other) that allow you to fit several of these mats together to make a double bed, or even cover the entire floor of a family tent.

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