This Innovative Japanese Sleeping Pad Has a Feature I’ve Never Seen Before

DOD’s comfy Soto mattress can be inflated in minutes using an unlikely pump — its own pillow.

Published September 30, 2024

·

Updated October 8, 2024

Every product is carefully selected by our editors. If you buy from a link, we may earn a commission. Learn more

Regular GP readers are no doubt quite familiar with Snow Peak, the stylish purveyor of high-end, technical, comfort-first tents, apparel, cookware and more.

There will be times when you roll into camp late and you — or your partner, or your kids — don’t want to wait an hour for your bed to be ready. In those situations, you can inflate the pad from zero to firm in 18 smooth, patient pillow pumps.

But hey, turns out it’s not the only Japanese “outdoor living” brand with a penchant for smart design and olive and beige earth tones.

A formidable rival, DOD Outdoors, has much to offer, including the Soto Sleeping Pad, which inflates like no other I’ve seen.

DOD Soto Sleeping Pad

Starts at $279

What if DOD was one of us?

So what’s the story with DOD? Founded in 1997, the brand carries a pretty similar ethos to Snow Peak, as articulated in an Instagram post from last fall:

“Quit going out to suffer. Stop sleeping on a thin pad in a tiny tent. Stop eating dehydrated food. Stop rushing through nature from campsite to campsite. Start CAMPING COMFORTABLY. Fill your belly with good food and drink while sitting in a comfortable chair at a camp table. Fill your soul with bird song at sunrise and the laughter of friends and family. Get a great night’s sleep in a cozy tent on a thick sleeping pad.”

dod-soto-sleeping-pad-lifestyle — The Soto leans more toward luxurious than lightweight, which makes a lot of sense for most campers.

“When you camp comfortably, you go out more often and you stay out longer because you have a better time. Embrace nature and comfort at the same time. That’s what it means to Inhabit the Rabbit.”

The last part references the brand’s mascot/logo. And the rest of it, well, we can get on board with that — especially when the products are not only cushy but clever.

Power to the pad

Like many sleeping pads, the Soto is technically self inflating. Leave it out for an hour and it will naturally rise to about 70 percent of its capacity. Taking it the rest of the way is where things get interesting.

See, the Soto comes with an inflatable pillow that has a flippable valve (one side deflates, one side inflates) that attaches to a corresponding one on the pad. Once joined, you can use a rolling motion to steadily put air into the pad. If it’s already at 70 percent, you can finish the job in about five pillow pumps.

But let’s be realistic. There will be times when you roll into camp late and you — or your partner, or your kids — don’t want to wait an hour for your bed to be ready. In those situations, you can inflate the pad from zero to firm in approximately 18 smooth, patient pillow pumps.

inflating-dod-soto-sleeping-pad — Inflating the pad with the pillow involves a repeated rolling motion. It will take a few minutes to fully blow up.

Now, this isn’t the product for ultralight thru-hiker types. Made of polyester and polyurethane foam, it’s a little more luxurious, a 4-inch thick open cell memory foam-like mattress with an R value of 8.3.

When packed, the pad plus pillow plus removable, washable polycotton sheet and pillow case fit in an included, standard-sized duffel. The small unit weighs 10.1 pounds and the large weighs 16.5 pounds.

But for more casual campers, there’s something pretty cool about a sleeping system with a built-in pump you don’t have to worry about losing or forgetting at home, because it’s the very place you rest your head. As for the pillow itself? It self-inflates in about 10 seconds.