NEMO Fillo Elite Pillow

Product Information

Unfortunately I moved at the beginning of summer and temperatures were pretty toasty in the Moab area. The Fillo's length made it fit snugly inside the hoods of the mummy sacks we used for our tests, and it did not slide around much under our heads at night. The award-winning Fillo backpacking and camping pillow brings clever design to an often-overlooked piece of gear: the humble camp pillow.

You can bring it on an airplane or long road trip, use it as everyday lumbar support, or keep it stashed in your pocket for an emergency nap. Luckily I saw a one-day weather window of lows in the 60's and a high of 80 so I decided to go for it. I threw out the idea to some friends though and settled on the 1st weekend in November to give it a go, and it really worked out beautifully. On outdoor excursions from Alaska to Alabama, we loved sleeping on this near-perfect camping pillow.The features are great - it packs down to next to nothing in the attached stuffsack, the bungee on the bottom is great for raising it up a bit, and the memory foam/fabric combination is really comfortable. Filling the pillow is via a twist lock valve: twist to the left, pull outwards, and this opens the valve to inflate or deflate. Its block-shaped design allows the pillow to easily fill the notch between the head and shoulders, making it perfect for side sleepers. This year I had a chance to spend three days on the Illinois from Miami Bar to Oak Flat, and I finally understand why this section of river is so special.

The integrated stuff sack is conveniently sewn into the inside of the cover so that it can never be misplaced. Scoring right at the top for packed size, the Fillo Elite is ideal for backpackers, climbers, or mountaineers who have limited storage space and plan to spend several nights sleeping in the outdoors.The schedule in graduate school isn't conducive to taking a month off on a whim, but I caught a lucky break during my 4th year of medical school. Some testers preferred rolling the pillow up before stowing, while others felt shoving in the pillow as-is was easier.

Unfortunately there are many confounding factors present, and I never had the time or technical skill to do justice to the sheer amount of data collected in the survey. A bit more material to extend the stuff sack's volume would be an improvement here, but it's not a deal-breaker.In the end, I found that I could split the difference by leaving the air bladder and foam behind and filling my Fillo with my down jacket at night. Fillo in between a Therm-a-Rest NeoAir mattress and a Nemo Cosmo Air mattress—the NeoAir looks to be about the same size, but that's just the stuff-sac. This is convenient if you would ever need to patch the inflatable bladder, and makes for easy washing of the pillow's exterior. Zpacks: Lightweight and roomy, the Duplex Tent weighs just 19 ounces and sleeps two people with two doors and two vestibules.