Rest Your Head On The Nemo Fillo Pillow
A bad night of sleep can be one of the worst things to experience on a camping trip. Having a soft, supportive place to rest your head can alleviate a lot of troubles. We learned this after only a couple of trips. We tried taking full size pillows from home on one car camping trip. While that was quite comfortable, it was a space waster in the car. We try so hard to be minimalists, but at the same time, really like to be comfortable and prepared.
This started our search for dedicated camping pillows. We wanted a pillow that is small, can pack even smaller, yet still gives a soft and supportive place to sleep. The Nemo Fillo Pillow was the first pillow we found that wasn’t just an inflatable "bubble" in a sleeve. This pillow actually has a layer of memory foam, which gives it a real pillow feel. The basic inflatable pillows are great for size and weight, but tend to have poor weight balance for your head and can often be noisy to sleep on. While the layer of foam adds to the size and weight, it’s honestly a worthwhile trade off. The slight increase in size and a few ounces is worth it for a good night of sleep!
The Fillo has an air chamber that inflates by blowing into a valve. The air chamber is baffled so that the air is evenly distributed, which also means your head is well balanced. It’s topped by about an inch of memory foam, and it’s all wrapped up in a super soft microsuede cover. It has all the right features to equal a super comfy pillow. The back of the cover is a nylon material. The cover has an internal stuff sack attached on the inside, so you never lose it.
My favorite feature of the whole thing is that the cover can be removed and tossed into the washing machine. We put it in a net bag for a bit of extra protection and hang it to dry. It’s great to be able to wash away the dirt and campfire smells!
The air valve is on the corner of the pillow. It’s a smart twist and pull to inflate, push down and twist to lock. While it seems a bit large at first, it has never been a bother when in use. Additionally, we have found the pillow to be quiet enough for sleep. I am a fairly light sleeper, so noisy sleeping stuff is always a bad thing. This pillow has never woken me up or bothered me with noise.
The pillows are amazing for car camping, because they just disappear with all of the other gear in our SUV. They are also great for backpacking, as they pack down to about the size of a 32 ounce Nalgene bottle. They have a draw cord that can be used to just attach it to the outside of your pack, or it can be stuffed in a side pocket! Even better, the pillows have come in great for regular traveling. Sometimes hotel pillows are just not good, and this small item in my suitcase turns into a great pillow. It’s small enough to be handy on long road trips or on airplanes.
Overall, the Fillo provides comfort, durability, ease of washing, and is lightweight with a small enough footprint. Most importantly, it provides us with some good rest on our camping and backpacking adventures. If you're looking for a pillow, take a look at these!
