Another pillow thread–high loft pillows for side sleepers

[Steven Paris]

I use the Cocoon Hyperlight, with a fleece sleeve/tube covering most of it and deflated just a bit. I'm also a side-sleeper. This has worked for me, although with any pillow I've used (stuff sack with clothes in it, Exped pillow) I still wake up sometimes and have to adjust the pillow or fleece.

http://www.rei.com/product/799192/cocoon-hyperlite-pillow

This was the fleece pillow case I bought at REI, but it was too small in length to fit the Cocoon pillow, so I cut the ends off to make a sleeve. I'd be cheaper and fairly easy to sew a simple one from fleece scraps.

http://travelitepillows.com/pillow-cases/polartec-reg-velour-fleece/fleece-pillow-case-small-black.html

[Ian]

My system is I combine the Exped UL Large Pillow with a Monkey Pillowcase from Hike, Bike, Dale (BPL member). The pillow is enough for a good night's sleep but I stuff my down sweater into the pillowcase too which makes for a luxurious backcountry pillow. Nice thing is it's a super convenient way to access my down sweater if I get too cold at night.

[JP]

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[Rafi Harzahav]

Hi,

Well I ordered the flexair pillow (size large). It was cheap, and I thought it was worth an experiment. On the plus side, this pillow has great height–more than six inches when fully inflated. It wasn't particularly comfortable with my head easily wobbling back and forth on it. However, the real problem was that after inflating it and deflating it over a couple of days, it developed a leak. Others have had similar experiences. It is a disposable pillow, but doesn't seem reliable enough.

My search continues…

[Stephen Meyer]

I use one of those horseshoe shaped travel pillows. They seem much firmer. The one I use is comes in at just over 7 oz. Sometimes I'll bring an REI backpacking pillow (~10 oz) along also (I do like my creature comforts).

[Glenn S]

I need help in this area too. I hibernate all winter, but I have a couple ideas for this spring. I picked up a GG Murmur on sale last month, and the minimalist in me wants to just wrap the SitLight pad around my SmartWater bottle and secure it with the shock cord I'd otherwise strip off the pack. The more gadgety side of me likes the comfort of using a 12×20 OpSack as a drybag/laundrybag for my clothes, and fitting it in an old Thermarest fleece pillow case I've never had enough clothes to fill up. Both are high enough loft, one is only grams in weight penalty, the other about 3 ounces. I've slept on both at home. The water bottle/sitlight works, but the OpSack/Fleece cover was actually pretty dreamy.

[spelt with a t]

So, I actually didn't like the Exped. I know it's highly regarded but I think air pillows in general are not for me. It also seems like multi-part solutions such as combining pillows and adding jackets and whatnot are a lot of fuss, but ymmv.

Currently, I'm using the cocoon travel pillowcase with a hunk of 2" thick open cell foam inside. I double it over for about 4" of height. Roughly 3.5 oz, or half what my Thermarest pillow weighs. I'd like it to be a little thicker and might get some 1" foam to add to it. I've also considered using a carved piece of closed cell foam, but then you have a volume issue.

Occasionally I'll use my pack as a pillow and this seems to work as well as anything else. Kinda lumpy but plenty of height.

[Brian Reyman]

I'm a side sleeper and also need a pillow with lots of loft. I've gone through half a dozen purchases, tries and returns. My favorite and current pillow is Montbell's.

http://montbell.us/products/disp.php?p_id=1124290

2.4 oz and while the fabric suffers the same of all inflatables (not terribly soft), it's easy to add a small cover and this is by far the thickest one I've found that still has a decent size and shape.

As a note, while it's listed as only 3.9 inches thick (vs Exped's listed 4.9 inches), it is the same thickness throughout (as opposed to Exped only being that thickness at its widest point) and feels thicker/better side-by-side with the Exped large size.

[John S.]

Not sure if this pillow has been mentioned in some time.
http://luxurylite.com/pillowindex.html

[BlackHatGuy]

Like the rest of you, I've looked high and low (and most places in between) for a pillow for my side-sleeping bad self. And what I found most comfortable wasn't a pillow at all, but works wonderfully as one. I've never liked air pillows because I like a little give to the pillow, and the down pillows were useless because they flattened out so much, so quickly.

On a whim, I laid on the floor and put a small Escape Pod cooler under my head. Wow. Just enough give, high enough, and actually pretty darn comfortable. 2.4 oz. I could use it without a pillowcase, but I'm sure a nice fleecy pillowcase would feel great too. And since I can use it to pack stuff inside it while it's in my pack, it serves a second purpose as well.

I know, a bit out there. But it works for me, and works very well.

[Author]

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