Pillows

[Nooga]

Exped pillow for me. It worked great on my hike last year. At Trail Days, I noticed that Hyperlite is offering a cuban fibre stuff sack that is reversible with fleece on one side which looked good.

[Mr. Bumpy]

Another shout out-for the Exped. I likes mine large.

[rocketsocks]

I've been using the same ole thermarest crushable pillow for years...about 7oz. I think, not a bad pillow, little bulky though. Sometimes I just leave it in the stuff sack it came with and use it like a Chinese or Japanese round pillow, keeps my head propped up for reading.

[Blissful]

I love my exped airpillow.

[HeartFire]

I have a SQUSH pillow - it has those micro beads - you find them in the big bins at Bed Bath and Beyond - mine is about the size of an airplane pillow,it weighs 6 oz, so a bit on the heavy side, and it does NOT pack down at all, so it's rather bulky, but boy do I love it. It fits into the hood on my sleeping bag so it stays in place. I can smoosh it in the way I want it - no neck or ear pain ever.

[I miss Mtns.]

I am also a side sleeper and used to get really sore shoulders, hips and neck using a green thermarest and makeshift or blow up pillows. Now when I'm not in a hammock, I leave the $50 thermarest at home and forget the pillow. I traded them out for a $2 inflatable pool float with the built in pillows (you know the different colored barely float style since the 80's). I sleep great even down to the teens with a 20* down bag in a tent and don't even snore because the pillow is so high. I have shock cord on my sleeping bag loops to keep it under me. Sometimes I carry my daughter's pink one just to really mindf&#k the gear heads. At first I worried about durability but have never had a problem and I have duct tape and one of those small patches they give you just in case. The pillow doesn't move because it's built in to the float and it's about 8-10'' high when inflated.

[DeerPath]

Long story short, my neck is kinda finicky from when I wrecked my stock car a few years ago. I still have aspirations of a thru in 2014 but I'm gonna have to figure out how to get my neck comfortable. I will probably be using a Thermarest Prolite-Plus sleeping pad. I also have one of those $20 Cocoon air pillows. I just tried laying on the pad with that pillow and it couldn't be more uncomfortable! After only 30 seconds my neck starts to hurt and feel tight. I know I can't be the only person who is into hiking with a bad neck. So what other options could I try? I'm not a fan of air pillows based on my experience with the cocoon one because it seems like whatever is heaviest moves the air around. I know a lot of people don't take a pillow and use a stuff sack, but what is in the stuff sack? Any ideas or options would be appreciated!! Thanks folks

I use the EXPED pillow. It's very comfortable, but hard to keep in place on my EXPED mat. It does have loops on both sides (to tie in place?), and weighs 2.0 oz. on my postal scale.
Any suggestion on keeping it in place?

[Rocket Jones]

+1 on the Exped Air Pillows mentioned above. I'm a side sleeper, so one thing I did was to cut a small rectangular piece of dense foam to slip under it and raise the height. I had originally intended to make a small pillowcase to fit them together and keep them from slipping, but so far I've found that to be unnecessary when combined with my NeoAir Trekker pad.

[oceaneire]

I have a SQUSH pillow - it has those micro beads - you find them in the big bins at Bed Bath and Beyond - mine is about the size of an airplane pillow,it weighs 6 oz, so a bit on the heavy side, and it does NOT pack down at all, so it's rather bulky, but boy do I love it. It fits into the hood on my sleeping bag so it stays in place. I can smoosh it in the way I want it - no neck or ear pain ever.

+1 on the microbeads. I have a chronic pain issue that greatly affects my neck and upper back - this pillow is a necessity of life. I use it every night, in the car, on the plane, camping, etc. It is well worth the little bit of extra weight.

[treesloth]

I have a SQUSH pillow - it has those micro beads - you find them in the big bins at Bed Bath and Beyond - mine is about the size of an airplane pillow,it weighs 6 oz, so a bit on the heavy side, and it does NOT pack down at all, so it's rather bulky, but boy do I love it. It fits into the hood on my sleeping bag so it stays in place. I can smoosh it in the way I want it - no neck or ear pain ever.

+1 on this... I've mentioned on here before about my pillow solution, as bulky as it is. I cut a small hole into a Sobakawa pillow, emptied out about half of the styrofoam beads, and sewed the hole back up. Pillow weighs about 8oz without the 2.5 oz pillowcase... I call it my half a pound of pure sleeping pleasure. Takes up the whole bottom 1/4 of my pack but that's ok by me. It's a tradeoff, really... at least for me. My large melon cannot be supported by a soft down pillow that compresses to the size of a baseball. This pillow is totally supportive, 'smooshable' as it were, and can be folded in half to prop my head up for reading. As a side/stomach sleeper, it's a great solution (so far) to me.

[Kingbee]

+1 on the Exped pillow. Very light and packs into a very small stuff sack.

[Odd Man Out]

I have a follow-up pillow question:

For those using air mattresses (e.g. Neoair, etc..), do you put your head/pillow on the pad or do you sleep with your shoulders at the top of the pad and your pillow and head off the end? I learned on my last outing I am now too old to be comfortable on a CCF pad anymore and was going to upgrade to a Neoair. But I figure I could get by with a shorter pad, especially if I only need it to go from my shoulders to hips but then I would need a thicker pillow (by the thickness of the inflatable pad).

[HeartFire]

I have a follow-up pillow question:

For those using air mattresses (e.g. Neoair, etc..), do you put your head/pillow on the pad or do you sleep with your shoulders at the top of the pad and your pillow and head off the end? I learned on my last outing I am now too old to be comfortable on a CCF pad anymore and was going to upgrade to a Neoair. But I figure I could get by with a shorter pad, especially if I only need it to go from my shoulders to hips but then I would need a thicker pillow (by the thickness of the inflatable pad).

I'm a side sleeper, I use a 25 X 72 neoair that I cut down the length (I'm not that tall). I wanted the wider width. I sleep with my head on the pad along with my sqush pillow and sleep like a baby.

[Nooga]

I have a follow-up pillow question:

For those using air mattresses (e.g. Neoair, etc..), do you put your head/pillow on the pad or do you sleep with your shoulders at the top of the pad and your pillow and head off the end? I learned on my last outing I am now too old to be comfortable on a CCF pad anymore and was going to upgrade to a Neoair. But I figure I could get by with a shorter pad, especially if I only need it to go from my shoulders to hips but then I would need a thicker pillow (by the thickness of the inflatable pad).

With my Neoair, I need to have the Exped pillow on the the Neoair. For me the Neoair is too high to place place the pillow on the ground.

[Rocket Jones]

I have the pillow on the pad with me. I'm planning on getting the new Trekker wide torso model and will just use my pack under my legs.

[Swordpen]

I have both Exped pillows, the regular & the ultralight. I had the regular, then I liked it so much, I bought the ultralight.

The ultralight is lighter by 1 oz, only because they got rid of one valve.

In addition, the ultralight has a different slippery surface, I don't like it personally, & will be sticking with the regular red color.

Also, Zpacks makes a clothing Cuben stuff sack, that if you turn it inside out, it has a side thats fleece, so non-slippery. I'm thinking about that one to try.

[Theosus]

Ive seen the exped in person before. It looks very nice, and is contoured so you don't roll off. I have a cocoon I think. Its like a ziplock freezer bag full of air with a fuzzy cover. It's pretty bad, in that my head always want to roll off. I gave up and made a pillow from a cotton (yes cotton damn it, you don't use rip-stop nylon pillowcases at home, for good reason!) cloth and some climashield left over from my under quilt project. I just stuff it in the bottom of my pack and sit everything on it. It's about 14x9. Not sure the weight... a few ounces I guess. But it keeps my head warm and comfy in the hammock. And it has a pouch for my headphones and iPhone, so they don't wind up under me in the middle of the night after I fall asleep listening to something.