Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow

Love this! I have been looking for a decent travel pillow for years. I have to sleep propped up a bit so its always easier to take my own pillow, than ask for another, when I am away. Anyway, I prefer to use my own pillow. For years I have taken a 'down around' pillow with me, using a vacuum bag to make it smaller, but it still weighed about a kilo. I am walking the Milford Track later this year, so needed something much lighter. This pillow rolls up into part of the cover and although it feels odd to the touch because of the lumps of foam, its really comfortable to sleep on. I got the size large, which is plenty big enough to sleep on with a hand beside your head. The cover is like a soft suede and ideal if you just want it for travelling on a plane, train etc. I would rather sleep on a cotton pillow that's easy to wash, so being handy with a sewing machine, I made a normal size pillow case smaller by sewing up two sides. It works really well. When I first received this it didn't really smell, but I washed and dried it anyway - plumped up really well. Finally a big plus - very few airmiles - it's made in Ireland.

A wonderful, and comfortable pillow. As long as you understand that a camping pillow will never be as good as a proper one like you'd use at home, then you'll be pleasantly surprised by this Thermarest. It does smell a bit chemically when you first unpack it, but the label actively encourages you to machine wash and tumble dry the pillow before using it for the first time. This has two advantages - it takes away the chemical smell of the materials, and it invigorates the loft of the pillow. The loft is actually extremely good, and provides really great support which is almost as good as having a real pillow. Note that you will have to leave the pillow for at least 5 minutes before it fully expands after unpacking, and the pillow transforms quite incredibly. Fill materials (the foam bits) are surprisingly comfy, and although you are aware that there's bits of foam in the thing (if you squeeze the pillow you can tell), it doesn't annoy you when sleeping on it - it just feels like a comfortable and soft pillow. I ordered the small model and find that it is perfectly fine for a comfortable night's sleep (I didn't see a tremendous need to go for the medium or large, and was glad in the end). The pillow packs down fairly small, and if combined with a compression and / or stuff sack, can be squished even further for more effective space saving. The thing also weighs next to nothing - bonus! If you value sleeping comfortably in the wild, then for the modest space this will take up in your pack, its well worth the investment.

Good pillow overall, a lot more comfortable than any of the inflatable ones I have used while camping. Arrived slights lumpy so I did as instructed and tumble dried to restore loft, which worked a treat. Also removed the slight smell it had although very faint to begin with. The pillow is made of a nice material and sits at a good height even when sleeping on side. Slightly pricier than my previous pillow but I think overall its worth that sacrifice. Its by far the closest experience ive ever had to an "at home" style of pillow while camping and definitely contributed towards a better night's sleep. Good support easy to use and svery happy noy to have to inflate, although it did take a couple mins to puff up after unpacking. The draw string on back was extremely helpful for adjusting the firmness too. Good print quality on pattern. The only slight negatives I have is the additional weight and pack down size that this carries in comparison to the blow up pillows.

I have been doing camping (and not campsites to which you drive to with lots of stuff but proper wild camping) for a while now and I've tried a number of pillow options. I started with simplest, sleeping bag stuffsack stuffed with clothes, which was awful: you'd need quite a lot of items to make a descent "pillow" but this kinda destroys the idea of light weight backpacking trip, doesn't it? And this "pillow" gets flat after a couple of minutes so you never get a good night sleep. I next tried cheap flannel pillow from HiGear but it was too thin - not much of a difference from stuffsack. Then I decided to invest more into that (when your neck is in constant pain during the night, you are ready to spend a lot to avoid it in the future!) and bought Exped Air Pillow (M). This one is perfect: quite thick, anatomically shaped, weights nothing and packs into tiny sack. But it's still not quite right: it solved neck pain problems but inflatable pillows just don't feel as good as the real ones! So, in the end I came across this Thermarest pillow, which is quite cheap and seems descent quality and many people left very good reviews. I decided to give it a go and got size S (packs smallest and I don't need huge pillow anyway. Gosh, it's a great little thing! Packs relatively small, weights very little, inflates fast and relatively firm. With Exped Air, these two make perfect combination: Exped rises head high enough to avoid neck pain and then Thermarest cushion makes you feel like you sleep in real bed. And btw, earlier versions required washing before the first use and people reported awful chemical smell. It looks like Thermarest changes the materials and this pillow doesn't smell at all and can be used straight away. I strongly recommend this pillow, especially in combination with any inflatable one.

This Thermarest pillow is simply great! I bought the large one. The quality and comfort of this American assembled pillow is top notch. The cinch strap on this revised model is a great idea that allows one to firm up the pillow. The spring toggle barrel which has a little button to depress with a finger, on the cinch string can slip a little however the spring does provide enough bite on the cord to hold it in place. I think this pillow is the most comfortable camping/travel pillow on the market, it's as good as a regular home bed pillow. The blow up pillows are just too uncomfortable and noisy, this pillow will allow you to get a good night's sleep. The first pillow sent to me from Amazon had its factory sealed bag opened and crudely sellotaped up. I sent it back due to hygiene concerns. My new pillow arrived in a factory sealed plastic bag.

Well, this is an ok camping pillow, but I'm not so sure it will be the last camping pillow I ever try out. It is nice and soft to the touch. But it is quite thin, so not so great for side-sleepers and also you can't adjust it in any way. It's also a bit lumpy, consisting of off-cuts of Thermarest's foam filling that they otherwise use in their insulated mattresses. It weighs 200g. This is heavy for ultralightweight backpackers (myself included), but if it gave a good night's sleep then it would be worth it. Also it compresses into a roll (it rolls into itself and is retained by cinching up a drawstring), but the roll is about 12" long and the same diameter as a sports water bottle. It takes up a fair bit of room in the pack. Contrast this with the Sea-to-Summit air pillow that I was using before - weighs 25g and stuffs into a little sack about the size of an egg - but it isn't as comfortable as the Thermarest pillow. No matter how much or little you inflate it, it hurts your ear when side-sleeping. Roll over, sure, but then the other ear hurts after a while - and so on, all night long. Next up - I'm going to look at the EXPED REM pillow, which is a combination of an inner core inflatable pouch and an outer compression layer, with a soft outer against the skin. The inner pouch can be inflated to suit the size you want. Overall it is about 190g for the medium and it is about the same size as the Thermarest, but might be a bit more comfy due to the ability to adjust the thickness to suit your preferred sleeping position. It compresses to about the same size as the Thermarest. About £30. Maybe 2x Thermarest pillows would be the solution, but if that's the case, you might as well take the pillow from your bed at home!

LOVE it! Closest comfort to a 'home pillow' I've found.

I'd give this 6 stars if I could. It's been a game changer to my quality of sleep when camping. I even use it as my bedroom pillow now. I've cut the toggle and draw string off and use a stuff sack to compress it down to about the size of a rugby ball. Good quality and quite soft. You can make it firmer by adjusting the draw string but I don't find it necessary. Absolutely worth the pack size for the weight and quality of sleep.

**EDIT** I took it on my river rafting trip and it was worth every penny. Easy to pack away and store, and while everyone else woke up with sore necks (due to using rolled up towels and other things as pillows) I woke up feeling rested and pain free. Great bang for your buck in this little pillow. --- So far so good. I'll be using this trip for my camping escapades. I specifically purchased this pillow because I'll be taking a multi day river trip next weekend, and my experiences with this same trip in the past made me realize I'd like something more than a rolled up towel under my head as I sleep by the river side looking up at the stars. I got this in the mail today and so far am very impressed with it. Here are my general observations... 1. It has a lumpy feeling to it when you touch it with your hand, but when you lay your head down you don't really notice. At least I didn't. Not to mention I'm bald, so my head feels EVERYTHING. 2. I bought the medium sized pillow, and as an average sized dude this has plenty of real estate for my head and enough cushion to provide good support. 3. I tried laying on it as if I were a back sleeper, side sleeper, and stomach sleeper. In all three cases I feel this pillow works fine, though I felt the most support with the back sleeping. 4. The medium sized pillow packs down pretty adequately. It should go just fine in my dry bag that I'll be keeping my sleeping bag and other supplies in. Overall, I'm really happy with this purchase. Great bang for the buck. If something crazy happens during the trip this weekend, and I notice any cons with the pillow, I'll come back and edit this review. But so far my evaluation at home is 5 stars for a great bang for your buck pillow.

Very good pillow if you can manage a large size while packed. I had imagined it would be possible to inflate it but it is puffy by pieces of foam rather than being a balloon. Great product and will probably last many years.

When I first tested this pillow and fell asleep in a few minutes. I woke up a few hours later to a large puddle of drool. Shucks. I therefore put it through a wash cycle and after the drier it ballooned up even larger. This is definitely the most comfortable pillow I own. Although, I'm not really one to buy pillows, and the ones I have now are old and flat. I brought the small Thermarest for camping and back packing, and was hesitant because so many people said it's too large. I don't think that at all, and could go up to the medium and still find it suitable. Although, I'm good with compression knots, and the Canadian jam knot is one of my favorite, thus I can compress this pillow to about half the size of what it can on its own fairly easy, and I can store the prelooped knot in the pocket without effecting how pillow feels on either side. Talking about sides, it has a brush polyester side and a smooth polyester side. They are both comfortable, but I prefer the smoother side because its cooler and smoother, and I live in Hawaii where climate is a bit hot sticky. The thing I didn't like about the pillow is the syntheic smell, its that headache smell similar to eucalyptus or paint thinner. It's not too bad, and it seems better after I washed it. One thing to note is the pillow stays wet at its core for a long time, as well. Even it feels dry on the surface I noticed that after I compressed it there was water ringing through, even after running it through the drier a few times. This is both good and bad, because even if it gets wet it can be rung out and can be used without a ton of drying, but on the other hand it can accumulate unseen mold. Nevertheless, I love this pillow, so far, and I'm probably going to buy the larger sizes later on. I definitely recommend for those considering picking one up, it's cheap and definitely a great value. Quite frankly, I even recommend them as house pillows even if you don't take them on the go.

*Update* I ordered this pillow in a different pattern as well and it was a lot floppier and less full than the moon pattern. I returned it to Amazon and ordered another moon pattern one and it was just as full as the first. So it seems that different patterns are filled different amounts.* This thing fluffs up a lot better than I expected after reading reviews, I just shake it around and squish it for a couple of minutes and it seems to get over 4 in thick. It folds down surprisingly small so it will be perfect for travel and camping. The fabric is soft and comfortable to sleep on, the only thing I rated less than five stars was the support, because it may not be supportive enough for some people. The foam pellets inside squish down and compress fairly easily, but it still gives me enough support so that it feels like I'm not sleeping on the ground, and surrounds my neck and head well.

Mon compagnon pour l’ascension du Kilimandjaro. Facile à gonfler et limitant fortement les effets de rebond d’autres coussins plus plastiques. Le revêtement est agréablement doux.