Mammut Ajungilak Air Pillow Vs Ajungilak Soft Skin Pillow

A couple of years ago some friends bought me a couple of Ajungilak Air Pillow’s for when we went wildcamping. They very quickly became our must take piece of luxury when ever we went camping, they were small, light and really comfy. For those of you not familiar with the Air Pillow, its basically a blow up pillow in a bright yellow fleece cover that packs down nice and small. The fleece means its really comfy and warm when camping although if you don’t blow it up just right it can be a little squeeky when ever you move, with it being air filled it gives you a lot of room for adjustment, unlike the fibre filled pillows on the market.

Unfortunately on our last couple of trips I noticed the valve on mine wasn’t sealing properly and as a result kept deflating during the night, sometimes gradually, sometimes in one big pop, which the first time it happened scared the life out of me.

As a result I started the search for a new pillow, I was going to just buy another of the Air Pillows but thought times might have changed and their might have been an improved verison somewhere. During my research I came across this article from WhiteSpider, it seems he too is a fan of the Air Pillow.

During my research I also came across the Ajungilak SoftSkin pillow which looke like a similar sort of product but with a self inflating valve which after the valve issues on my old pillow seemed like a good idea, so I promptly parted wtih 20 of my hard earn English pounds and ordered one from Beyond Extreme. A few days later and it promptly arrived.

The first thing i noticed was the size of the pillow when packed, it was a bit bigger than I had expected but still pretty compact. The material wasn’t fleecy at all but had a lovely soft feel to it, I guess this is where the “soft skin” name comes from. Unlike the Air Pillow it comes with a fastening strap instead of a stuff sack, which to be honest is a bit better, my only real gripe with the Air Pillow is that unless you roll it right its quite a task geting it back in the stuff sack as there isn’t quite enough give in the top of the sack.

On unrolling it it was apparent the Soft Skin Pillow had a layer of foam in which is great for adding that extra bit of insulation on cold nights, it also felt a little bit more robust than the Air Pillow and was an all in one design rather than that of an inflatable inner with fleece outer. It blows up in seconds and the valve is a little twist valve like you get on most self inflating mats.

I’ve not used it yet but first impressions are great, it’s a little smaller than the Air Pillow but a little bit thicker so if you sleep on your side it’s probably a better option and the material feels nice and soft although not as soft as the fleece on the Air Pillow.

Ajungilak Air Pillow
Price: £16
Weight: 154g including stuff sack.
Pros: Cheaper than the soft skin, slightly bigger, packs slightly smaller than the Soft Skin Pillow, Lovely fleecy cover which can be removed and washed.
Cons: Zip on the end with the valve can be a bit of a pain, regularly gets stuck, the stuff sack could do with being a little bigger. The valve gets loose after time, you also have to blow the pillow up then quickly close the valve which can be a bit of a task.

Ajungilak SoftSkin Pillow
Price: £20
Weight: 15g including strap.
Pros: Valve is better than the Air Pillow, The material feels a bit more hard wearing and less slippy, No stuff sack so simpler to pack. Has a foam layer to keep out the cold
Cons: Not as fleecy, slightly bulkier, £4 more expensive.

Update: I’ve now used it and it’s great, the smaller width doesn’t seem to make much difference and it’s a little bit thicker when fully inflated, it also doesn’t slip around the tent at all.

and just for Chris heres a pic of the two side by side: