Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow

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.

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.

When the pillow arrived I was initially disappointed as it looked half empty and useless. I read the 1 star reviews and agreed with all their comments. So, before packing it up and sending it back I read the instructions from Thermarest which advised airing it for at least 20 minutes. After 2 hours, I finally had a pillow that looked vaguely similar to the plumped up pillows on the Thermarest website.It is remarkably comfortable and for that reason I’ve given it a 4 star rating. To get a better rating, I think the beancounters at Thermarest could have been persuaded to add a few more bits of foam to give it a more luxurious feeling, especially since it’s made from “.....excess foam from the mattress factory”. So Thermarest, do yourselves a favour and stop penny pitching and fill it properly!

My favourite camping pillow. I used to use a rolled up jumper. Then I tried to get into inflatable pillows (which I hate!). Having found the thermarest camping pillow, my search is over. Relatively lightweight and small (even in size large), this is obviously nowhere near as compressible as an inflatable pillow, but it is actually comparable to a normal home pillow, and after a long day’s walk, you’ll be glad for the room it took in your bag. What price good night’s sleep?

Comfortable and compact pillow for sleeping whilst camping. Compacts down for easy storage - small but comfortable yo use.

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!

Really comfy. I've used this many times now. There are smaller travel/camping cushions out there but this is truly the best I've had. It is very well made and holds up well. A game changer for camping!!