Therm-a-Rest Air Head Pillow

Therm-a-Rest Air Head Pillow—just the ticket to reduce that aching neck.

After countless nights on the trail trying to repeatedly position my head on makeshift bundles of clothing or puffy jackets and still waking up with a neck ache, I was just about to break down and get a pillow. As I am counting ounces I didn’t want to add any “unecessary” items.

And along came the Air Head! I tried it in conjunction with the Therm-a-Rest NeoAir Topo Luxe (separate review) air mattress and for the first time my neck didn’t ache! The pillow was easy to inflate>

No, it didn’t blow up*, but held air perfectly. The removable cover has gel foam on the top to nestle my skull.

Of course you don’t really know how something will perform, but after a week in Idaho’s Sawtooth Range, that darn pillow was great. Literally, I slept much better and had no interruptions to claw for the hard little bundle of clothing I used to use that would slide away every fifteen minutes.

And I used it just last night (8/15) on a quick but steep backpack up the Wasatch. The pillow saved an otherwise weird night—just after I turned in I heard some stomping and munching outside my tent. Must have been deer, but I couldn't see out. It took awhile to get back to sleep, but that pillow helped make me comfortable.

Just washed the cover with Tech Wash and hung it out to dry. So the extra 5.6 ounces was well worth it. 

*Sorry, a little play on words

Background

Years of back country trips in the Intermountain West