Camp Gear FAIL!
Ever find that awesome new toy or must-have piece of gear, then get it out in the field and it not only doesn’t make your life more awesome, but, in many ways, sucks parrot caca? Well, Mark and I recently discovered that this happens to us far more than the average camper and climber. We seem to gather useless pieces of crap gear like pirates collect parrots… or something.
Anyway, I’d like to put together a short series of posts on what NOT to buy right now. Save yourself the pain and money, and don’t make the same mistakes we did.
Therm-a-Rest Compressible Pillow
A few years ago, I made camp pillows. I bought some heavy canvas and stuffed it with pillow filling. They were the right size, and I could throw them in the washing machine. But we need the BEST gear, and lumpy, old, homemade pillows just don’t fit in with our hi-tech, light-weight, uber-svelt climbing-gear persona.
I thought these Therm-a-Rest pillows were pretty great when we played with them at the store. They were filled with some kind of soft memory-foam-like substance that compresses when you roll the pillow, but slowly expands when left open. You don’t blow or pump them up, you don’t have to stuff them full of anything, and they were comfy when we laid on them in the store.
We took them camping for three nights in Fruita, CO and three nights in New Mexico and I can officially say, these are a camp gear FAIL.
What happens to compressible foam when you lay your head on it all night long? That’s right, it compresses! It seems to take these pillows a full 24 hours to reach their full fluffyness, and a mere 2 hours of laying our fat heads on them to go right back to lumpy-pancake-state.
If you’re going camping, save yourself $30 and take the pillow off your bed. The Therm-a-Rest compressible pillows shown here: DEFINITELY not worth the money. FAIL!
Luke and I actually have these pillows and travel with them a lot. Ours are usually quite fluffy and nice but I think the key is that you have to leave them unrolled when you’re not using them (just like its better to leave your thermarest unrolled with the valve open) so that they’ll re-expand themselves faster.
Hi Lizzy, thanks for the comment! I left the pillows unrolled after purchase and between the two camp trips. And they were fairly poofy at night when we went to bed. But in the morning, they looked like the picture, and felt awful. They flattened over the night as we were laying on them. Maybe our heads are just too heavy? :)
I think maybe the key is to have the bigger ones? I like having a pretty flat pillow, so i don’t mind mine deflating a little (in fact, its usually too thick when I initially lay on it). Luke has the biggest size and he doesn’t seem to have a problem with it – maybe more squishy stuff inside = less shrinkage while sleeping?
I have one of these and I TOTALLY agree! Unless I stuff it with a fleece jacket it’s worthless (and even then it’s not much better).
I have to ask – what was wrong with the homemade guys?
I think these are subjective to what type of pillow one is used to. I agree they compress a lot but I like this feature. The foam fills in under my neck and I sleep really well. I sometimes even feel that I like my large therma-rest pillow better than my one at home.
One trick is once one side gets compressed flip the pillow over. This allows the foam to move around and functions well. As Lizzy noted she has a small one and I have both small and large. The small is ok but the large is great….
Woo, look at all the comments!
Jeremy – Thanks for backing me up. Mark had to steal my “warmy” to keep his neck from seizing on the second night.
Doug – They are still around. They have gotten lumpy and really grossly stained. Kind of icky looking. This was one of those ‘unnecessary upgrades’ that makes me kick myself even more. I was just sold on the idea of ‘something better’ in REI. Compressible!
Luke – yep, I think if you’re not used to sleeping on a lumpy pancake, these pillows may disappoint slightly. I’m starting to wonder though, when did you get your pillows? We just bought these in May, so maybe they have changed their foam-formula recently. Tried to cut costs by using less or crappier foam? Anyway, thanks for the tips! We’ll probably give them another couple shots before I give up completely.
rocks are useful and plentiful. Maybe fill it with pine cones? Also, don’t you have a doggie in the tent with you? Seems like a missed opportunity to me…
Ha! True, there is usually a dog in the tent, but I can tell you, based on years of trying, that she is a camp pillow FAIL as well. Too squirmy. Though, she is a foot-warmer WIN!
Hi Kate
Hello Kate,
I am a product manager for ThermaRest accessories. Sorry to hear about your disappointing pillow experience. I wanted to take the opportunity to answer your question about the foam – the pillows have always been filled with the same foam (same quality) punched from our Therm-a-Rest mattresses, which we found to be a great alternative to otherwise scrapping the foam. However, the primary reason we use it to fill the pillows because we found it had the best head support than any other type of fill that we tried (when the foam is allowed to recover) and had the best support-to-weight ratio. That being said, I wanted to give you some tips that might help improve your experience with the pillow. If the pillow is stored for too long in its rolled state (this may happen at our warehouse or at the retailers), it may need some heated air circulated through the foam to regain its loft. If your pillow is not keeping its loft, put it into the dryer and tumble dry for about 5 minutes. The pillow will recover its loft and more. If you’re not in the vicinity of a dryer, putting the pillow out in the sun and shaking it will also have the same “fluffing” effect. Please let me know if these techniques don’t solve the problem and we’d be happy to exchange the product for you.
Thanks! Sheila
Wow, Sheila, thanks for your comment! It’s so cool to see that ThermaRest is out there and listening to their customers. :)
I will happily give the dryer fluffing a try. We are supposed to car camp again this weekend, so I’ll give the pillows another couple of nights and then get feedback to you, and anybody else who’s curious.
Thanks!
I would love to hear the results! Thanks, Sheila