Inflatable pillows

[Clownfish]

Chickenfeed are selling "Inflatable back cushions" that make a passable inflatable pillow, for $3.

They're flocked PVC, blow up to about 300x170x90mm, and weigh 45g. Deflated, they fold a bit smaller than a slimline CD case.

Obviously they're not to the standard of, say, a Thermarest inflatable pillow, but for 3 bucks they're quite handy to chuck in the pack. Beats trying to roll up a bundle of spare clothes under my head.

[Nuts]

That sounds like the sort of thing me ol mum would buy me as a Xmas present (no, she's never been bushwalking lol)
In fact last Xmas, she bought me an inlatable seat (square pad) from c'feed, I dont know if it ever did hold air, it just seems the same air or no Good luck with your pillow (sorry, no offense intended) (Neither to me ol mum, if shes reading... -you do have an eye for a bargain')

(Iv'e been toying with cutting up an old silk liner and sewing into pillow sizes, stuff full of spare clothes)

[corvus]

clownfish have you ever used a blow up pillow ?? they are shi- oops not very good IMHO unless well under inflated so an empty wine cask bladder wrapped in your sleeping bag sac will do the job and at least you have the pleasure (if you imbibe) of emptying it and it also doubles as a water carrier in camp
c

[Son of a Beach]

(Iv'e been toying with cutting up an old silk liner and sewing into pillow sizes, stuff full of spare clothes)

I actually pack all my clothes into a drawstring bag already, for walking. And at night I stuff them back into it for a pillow. Works well. I still fold them carefully, before stuffing, to avoid a lumpy pillow. The folded clothes alone (without a bag) worked fairly well for years, but putting them in a bag prevents the pillow from dismantling itself during the night, which it tends to do for restless sleepers like me.

[Ent]

Content removed by poster

[johnw]

I have a Thermarest compressible pillow. It's far better than anything else I've tried, including stuffing clothing inside cheaper pillows. They're fairly expensive but I've found it comparatively luxurious, bordering on something you'd use at home, though smaller. There's a weight penalty of course, but it does compress down to a very compact size, so doesn't take up lot of space.

[Clownfish]

clownfish have you ever used a blow up pillow ?

As a veteran commuter on the Geelong-Melbourne, many years ago, I've had a lot of experience with makeshift headrests and pillows!

I'm not saying inflatable pillows are great, just that for $3 they're better than a poke in the eye with a burnt stick.

I've never found stuffing clothes into a sack to be overly comfortable, myself.

Diff'rent strokes, and all that, I guess.

[photohiker]

I've got a WM Cloudrest pillow which I bought on special with the sleeping bag. 100g of 800 down, folds into it's own pocket.

Luxury!

[Ent]

Content removed by poster

[sthughes]

I also use a down jacket and put it in my camp T-shirt to make a soft cotton covered luxurious pillow. Works great for me
Never much liked inflatable pillows, but yeah - better than nothing for sure. My polarfleece trousers are also okay, if my down jacket isn't high enough I use them under it. Other clothes are too hard for me.

[Franco]

Funny things pillows. Often overlooked but for some , the wrong one can cause a bad night sleep.
I have had the fortune to be in Seattle lately so we popped into the ginormous REI there and a mate bought the Cocoon as it appeared to be a good weight/size/comfort and price solution.
Note the selection there... http://www.rei.com/search?query=pillow& ... utton.y=14
Later we went to another shop that had MontBell so I purchased their shaped inflatable one. I liked the idea that was thicker than my mat and can be tied to some mats. (I plan to modify the Neo for this...) As it turns out the Cocoon did not work for my mate because it did not give the right support but I like the MB once stuffed inside my Merino day top.
I have used several commercially made ones as well as the wine cask and the ones made from arm floaters (swimming aids) but the MB seems to work better.
Bought mine at http://www.prolitegear.com/montbell_ul_ ... illow.html
Franco

[Nuts]

...Listen to us 'Blokes'.... I'm regretting not saying that I just use the nearest spare echidna....I think someone had better bar the topic before the 'womenfolk' get in here...

[north-north-west]

What does being a woman have to do with wanting a good night's rest?

I've been using one of those el-cheapo blow-ups for two years now. Slightly underinflated it's great - for me. Now that I have a down jacket I may try that instead, if I can fold/stuff it into the right size and shape.

[Nuts]

What does being a woman have to do with wanting a good night's rest?

, dunno, lighten the mood perhaps?

[Franco]

On another forum someone asked about pillows so I suggested some solutions. She liked my arm floaters version. That got me thinking so I tried to put together my pillows and this is what I came up with...



The funny thing is that I often use just a stuff sac filled with day clothing.
Franco

[tasadam]

Bought mine at http://www.prolitegear.com/montbell_ul_ ... illow.html
Franco

Dead link.
One of these? http://www.prolitegear.com/site/search_ ... ria=pillow

[photohiker]

Mainpeak have the Exped UL Large pillow for $30.80 at the moment:

http://www.mainpeak.com.au/outdoor/expe ... large.html

[Hallu]

I have a Thermarest compressible pillow. It's far better than anything else I've tried, including stuffing clothing inside cheaper pillows. They're fairly expensive but I've found it comparatively luxurious, bordering on something you'd use at home, though smaller. There's a weight penalty of course, but it does compress down to a very compact size, so doesn't take up lot of space.

I agree with this, I have both Thermarest compressible and inflatable pillows (the Exped AIR UL Pillow Large), and the first one is far far better. It's almost impossible to get a good nice sleep on an inflatable pillow : it's noisy, and you need to adjust the amount of air to your liking...

[Strider]

What does being a woman have to do with wanting a good night's rest?

A tired woman is far scarier than a tired man?

[hunsta]

OK this is a subject I have pondered for a while. As well as hiking i do a lot of O/N motorcycling and the best pillow I came up with was an infants flat pillow from a cot and one of those pvc blowups. Trick was to blow the pvc up halfway and fit it inside the infants pillowcase with the pillow. High enough for an adult. Soft enough not to give you that "Im sleeping on a plastic pillow headache" and small enough to fold up to a manageable size.

[andrewa]

The "Oh Sacred Pillow" ritual - a bad pillow does wreck the night, doesn't it.

I quite like my Exped pillow. I normally don't have spare clothing to use as a pillow. I think the best option for me is a custom home made "pillow case" with 3 sections - a top layer of fleece; an envelope pocket under for any extra clothing I might have, and a base layer that is inflatable. Unfortunately I'm used to sleeping with my arm under my pillow at home, which causes all sorts of problems in the bush.

Andrew A

[rogo]

The "Oh Sacred Pillow" ritual - a bad pillow does wreck the night, doesn't it.

I quite like my Exped pillow. I normally don't have spare clothing to use as a pillow. I think the best option for me is a custom home made "pillow case" with 3 sections - a top layer of fleece; an envelope pocket under for any extra clothing I might have, and a base layer that is inflatable. Unfortunately I'm used to sleeping with my arm under my pillow at home, which causes all sorts of problems in the bush.

Andrew A

I sleep on my stomach and arm wrapped around my pillow. I find it impossible to get comfortable in the bush as I use an inflatable pillow that is one third the size of a home pillow.

Has anyone tried the travel neck pillows for camping? I've never put my head into one of these so I have no idea if they are comfortable for either camping or travelling.

[andrewa]

Rogo, I think the only way to sort it out is to think of the ultimate pillow dimension, and squashiness before you go, and try it at home in bed. If the normal inflatables are too small, what about a 50l kayaking dry bag ( with inflation valve). I now recall some good nights with this as a pillow in Fiordand when kayaking about 7yrs ago. Doubles as a dry bag. I actually had some very comfy sleeps, but had forgotten, as the bag belonged to a mate.

Something like this.
http://nolimitswatersports.com.au/dry-s ... p-124.html

I wish I was a back sleeper who just lay there all night in the same position .

Andrew A

[Tortoise]

+1 to those for whom a comfy pillow increases the chance of a good night's sleep.

In the past i've used partly inflated wine cask in shirt - but altogther too crinkly for me. So i stuck with the open cell foam blocks i introduced years ago for bruised hips with very heavy pack - make a reasonable pillow along with other bits and pieces in a thin cotton mat cover.

BUT then i got a down jacket last year - aaaahhh! Magnificent pillow, just the right softness, and perfect height adjustment.

BUT now i'm trying to go lighter, i have my spiffy down quilt (into which i can comfortably cocoon completely) - but may need to use my down jacket at night if too cold. Back to the drawing board.

How do you light weighters cope? I don't want to add something that only has one use - but am tempted to cut off the hood of my old now summer down bag as a pillow or toe warmer or... At least it would be very small, light.. and soft.

[Onestepmore]

There's another thread on this subject that had some good options
viewtopic.php?f=15&t=8585&p=138025&hilit=pillow#p138025
I gave up on the air flex pillow - too rustly. I stil use the drawstring Sea to Summit compressible pillow sometimes, but better yet is a $15 Wanderer brand self inflating one with a nice soft fleecy face from BCF. Only downside is that the fleece is white - WORST colour choice for what it's for imo. I keep saying I need to make a dark microfeece slip for them......(that can double as the stuff sac)
For me anyway, the weight carried is definitely worth having a comfy sleep.The BCF one doesn't seem to slide on my mat, so haven't needed to hold it in place with a T-shirt over the top of my mat (I don't carry spares anyway)
And PS Evan from Black Rock makes a super compressible rectangular down filled hammock pillow, with a fleece face. I need to take mine out of the hammock gear box lol, and test it on the ground one night!

I have seen a stuff sack/pillow made of cuben fibre that has a reversible fleece face too, but can't remember who made it sorry. Anyone know? Might be a good light choice, but it's not inflatable tho.

Edit - found it
http://www.hyperlitemountaingear.com/sa ... illow.html

And @Strider (can't work out how to quote mid post)
"Postby Strider » Wed 20 Mar, 2013 3:06 pm
north-north-west wrote:What does being a woman have to do with wanting a good night's rest
A tired woman is far scarier than a tired man? "

A happy wife means a happy camp

[Franco]

3 years later...
After having tried many versions I have finally settled the issue by using a silk pillow cover (cut from a silk liner) and stuff that with whatever bit of soft clothing I have and use it inside the hood of my sleeping bag.
Previously I used stuff sacks but eventually realised that it was the plastic feel of them that I did not like.
Side benefit of having the pillow inside the sleeping bag are that it does not move and catches my drooling.

[Orion]

Previously I used stuff sacks but eventually realised that it was the plastic feel of them that I did not like.

Maybe make a stuff sack out of silky material? The stuff sack I use for my pillow (and quilt) is made from the material I used to sew the quilt (Momentum 50). It has a very nice feel against my skin and I no longer need to put fabric between my face and the stuff sack to feel comfortable. A side benefit is that, at 9g, it is a very light stuff sack.

[Franco]

"Maybe make a stuff sack out of silky material?"

Great idea. I must try that.

[Strider]

"Maybe make a stuff sack out of silky material?"

Great idea. I must try that.

http://cascadedesigns.com/en/therm-a-re ... ow/product

[Franco]

I was just having a bit of fun considering that I already posted :
"After having tried many versions I have finally settled the issue by using a silk pillow cover (cut from a silk liner) and stuff that with whatever bit of soft clothing I have and use it inside the hood of my sleeping bag."
The silk pillow cover is big enough to contain a full size pillow. That is handy for me because it can hold anything from a T shirt to a down yacket.
Most of the time I end up with the typical compact BP pillow size and the cover doubled up.
It can also serve as a liner up to my knees , pre-filter , emergency bandage/sling. I like that...


But that is because I already have it, otherwise the "stuff sack from silky material" like the Thermarest one is a good idea.