Try this perfectly protected HEST pillow for your campervan

Pam LeBlanc cuddles up with her HEST pillow during a recent trip to Dinosaur Valley State Park. Photo by Chris LeBlanc

I have discovered the perfect pillow for my camper van: The cushy yet supportive HEST pillow that packs into itself to protect the sleeping surface.

This isn’t a camp pillow – it’s a camper pillow. There’s a difference.

I have a tiny inflatable pillow I use for backpacking, when every ounce counts. I hate that pillow because my head tends to slide off while I’m sleeping. But it’s small and light, so I tolerate it.

The standard size pillow opens to 20-inch by 26-inches. Pam LeBlanc photo

My new HEST pillow weighs in at a whopping 2 pounds. Unfurled, it measures 26 inches by 20 inches. Folded up, it’s 18 by 10. That’s way too big and heavy to haul in my backpack. But I’m using my HEST pillow when I sleep in Vincent VanGo, my kitted-out-for-glamping Ford Transit, so I don’t care.

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HEST makes a smaller version of the pillow marketed for tent camping, but it’s still bulkier than what I’d use in the backcountry.

The HEST pillow tucks into a 10-inch by 18-inch size. Pam LeBlanc photo

I store my HEST pillow in protective mode – tucked inside itself, with its durable cover zipped around it like a clamshell. (Or a hedgehog, now that I think about it.)

I like the cover, because I always seem to drop my gear on the ground. I can keep it in “folded up” mode when using it outside (it still serves as a pillow), then unfurl it when it’s time to hit the hay.

It’s filled with memory foam and polyester, and you can remove some of the loft if you like a thinner pillow. The cover is washable, too.

All that bliss doesn’t come cheap. You can get an inflatable camp pillow (with a groovy mushroom motif) by Therm-a-Rest for $36.95 at REI. By comparison, the much larger HEST pillow sells for $119. Two different products used for two different situations,

Sleep tight.