Reviews > Sleep Gear > Accessories > FlexAir Travel Pillow > Jamie DeBenedetto > Field Report

Little Rapids FlexAir™ Pillows

Field Report - June 27th, 2006

Reviewer's Information

Background/Experience

I am a native of Arizona. I began backpacking eighteen years ago with the outdoor club at my high school. At present I hike in some capacity about fifteen times a month, most of which is in Arizona with either the Canine Hiking Club of AZ or with my family. I prefer to sleep in a hammock and I gravitate toward multifunctional gear that will enhance my comfort level for minimal weight. I consider myself a lightweight packer but not ultralight. My total pack weight is rarely above 25 lbs (11 kg) for outings of two to three days.

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Product Information

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Product Description

The FlexAir pillow is a lightweight, inflatable, disposable pillow. A more detailed description may be found in my Initial Report.

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Experiences Thus Far

This report is the second in a series of three on the FlexAir pillows. Since receiving the pillows in mid April, 2006, I have used them on two outings in Arizona. The following is a break down of these locations, the conditions experienced at each and my thoughts regarding the pillows as my only head and knee support.

Trip 1 - Car camping at Burro Creek

Burro Creek Canyon is in northwestern AZ, elevation 2,000 ft (610 m). It is a riparian area surrounded by portions of the Mojave and Sonoran Deserts. When I was there in late April the nighttime lows stayed around 60 F (16 C) with near 90 F (32 C) temperatures in the daytime. Weather conditions were clear, dry and calm.

Overall Comfort

This trip was my first official use of the pillows so I decided to bring both the Dual Chambered (DC) and the larger 240 size as I thought they might prove to be the most comfortable of the three sizes. I started with the DC under my head on the first night. It was okay but as FlexAir had suggested, it was less comfortable when I slept on my side and noticeably more comfortable when on my back. Unfortunately, I change between back and side sleeping quite often, especially when sleeping on the ground. This made sleeping consistently through the night quite difficult. I would say the manufacturer's statement that these pillows are "designed for resting more than sleeping" is unfortunately very accurate.

The 240 was used on this first night as my knee pillow. Although I'm used to a much larger pillow it worked fine. It was just large enough to be supportive and stay between my knees. I even used it a few times under my knees while on my back and it served the purpose there too.

Fabric

No question the pillows are a little noisy. Ignoring the suggestion of the manufacturer to wrap the pillow in extra clothing, I chose to sleep directly on the pillow fabric on this inaugural test. I often do not have extra clothing so I wanted to see how crunchy the pillows would be and if they would be disruptive to sleeping. They were not. I don't recall waking up as a result of the fabric rustling although I do recall having a little difficulty falling asleep because of it. The pillow used between my knees was trapped between two pieces of fleece (my pant legs) and was only slightly noisy.

The pillows are also a bit slippery but again I did not have them wrapped in anything, which I later found out does help. I noticed it more when I used the 240 under my head than when using the DC pillow, but both moved somewhat. This was even more apparent if I moved to the far side of either pillow or when turning onto my back. I had to reach back and readjust the pillow so it was squarely under my head several times during the night.

Inflation/Deflation

My experience inflating and deflating the pillows in the field was just as it was in my at home trials, no problem. The trick is finding the right amount of air so the pillows are comfortable. This was not hard with the 240 pillow because it only has one air chamber. I just inflated it to where I thought it would be good then deflated a little as needed. It only took me two adjustments to find a good fit. The DC pillow was more time consuming much to my displeasure. I found it difficult to get both chambers evenly filled so I tried them with different amounts of air. This was not good. My neck felt supported but then the back of my head felt too low or my head felt raised enough but then my neck was not right. The perfect air amount remained elusive on that first night and I'm sure that contributed to the less comfortable sleep I experienced.

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Trip 2 - Overnight backpack in the Aravaipa Canyon Wilderness

Aravaipa Canyon is northeast of Tucson, AZ, elevation 2,600 ft (800 m). It is a lush riparian area surrounded by typical Sonoran Desert landscape. We had a nighttime low of about 60 F (16 C) and daytime highs up around 95 F (35 C) or slightly higher when I was there at the end of May. Weather conditions were clear, dry and for the most part calm with an occasional light breeze in the afternoon and early evening.

Comfort

My sister joined me on this trip so I lent her the larger 240 pillow to try. I was using the Dual Chambered (DC) under my head again and the smaller 150 between my knees. The 150 worked fine as the knee pillow. I was thinking it might not be able to take the pressure, but I was careful to not over inflate it and apparently my legs don't exude more than 50 lbs (23 kg) worth of force, thank goodness. My results with the DC were pretty much the same as the first time I used it, I was fairly comfortable on my back but not on my side. I think there are two possible reasons side sleeping is less doable with the DC pillow. First, I have not been able to find the right inflation amount, which creates incorrect support resulting in soreness in my neck partway through the night. Secondly, the DC is not thick enough to elevate my head as high as it needs to be to avoid some downward curving of my spine when my shoulder is under me. I did have the pillow wrapped in part of my sleeping bag but that was not very thick. I wonder if a thicker piece of clothing would add a little height to the pillow and increase its comfort slightly? If I get the chance I'll try this out and comment on it in my final report.

Fabric

As I just alluded to I decided to wrap the pillow in a section of my sleeping bag this time. Both slippage and noise were slightly lessened by doing this. I felt like it was easier to stay on the pillow with this setup as well. I think because my bag made the pillow a little larger and since it wasn't moving around as often I didn't have to make as many adjustments through the night.

Our campsite was near the creek on this trip so I thought this would be a good time to check the manufacturer's claim that the pillows are 100% waterproof. I dunked the 150 size in the creek a few times and held it under for a couple of minutes to see if any water entered into the air chamber. It did not. The pillow dried, or at least felt dry to the touch with in just a few minutes also.

Inflation/Deflation

I had the same experience as before with one exception, my sister, who had borrowed the 240, unknowingly blew too much air into it. When I realized she had done this I tried to deflate it but it was quite difficult. I did not have access to a pencil or stick of the right length (as the FlexAir instructions suggest) at the time so I made due with the straw. It took some patience and wiggling of the straw before I was able to break the valve's seal and release some air but I was able to do it.

Alternate Uses

The FlexAir pillows are technically disposable so I thought it would be fun to see if they could be used for any other functions around camp. I took the little 150 I had brought on this trip and cut along the full length of one end near the seam with my pocket knife. I then rolled the open end over a couple of times to create a large opening for the water to enter. I dunked the open end into the creek and filled it about half way. I then walked up to our camp and around the area holding the "water-bag" for about three minutes to see if it would continue to contain the water. It did. I also sat it down to take pictures and this took at least an additional five or ten minutes so overall the water was inside the pillow for several minutes. It was not overly difficult to carry the pillow with water in it, although it would have been nice to have a handle of some sort, especially if I had to haul the water over a lengthy distance. I believe it would have also served as a rudimentary sink but I did not try it because I didn't have anything to clean. The picture here shows the pillow propped up against a rock during the water container experiment.

After I shot the picture I emptied out the water and used the wet pillow as a washcloth. It was a little coarse but I roughed it up a few times and that made it somewhat softer. It was refreshing just to have something wet with which to wipe down and remove some of the trail dirt. I'm not thinking of replacing my bandana with a disposable pillow just yet, but it did work and it's nice to know the option is there if needed.

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Proposed Test Strategy for the Remaining Two Months

I'm going to continue to use two different pillows each night I'm out, one under my head and one for my knees. I will probably move the Dual Chamber pillow to my knees and alternate between the 150 and the 240 under my head. I would like to get at least one night in my hammock with the pillows to see how they work and if they stay in place on the nylon fabric. I'm in the process of testing a tent so a full night in the field may not be possible but I will certainly make the effort. Any excuse to get off the ground and back into my hammock sounds good to me.

Durability hasn't been looked at too seriously up to this point because I have only used the same pillows twice but that will be more of an issue as I move into the Long Term phase of this test series. Along these lines I will also attempt to expose one of the pillows to various items that might puncture it to evaluate how much stress the material can take. I will continue to watch for seam splits, leakage during use and other malfunctions as well.

Finally, I have primarily been using the pillows as a backpacker/camper but the FlexAir website suggests several other uses from seat cushion to head support while in a vehicle to use in a hot tub. I will try to pick a couple of alternate uses that backpackers might encounter and see how the pillows fare.

Thank you BGT and FlexAir for the opportunity to be part of this test series.

Jamie J. DeBenedetto
June 27th, 2006

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Reviews > Sleep Gear > Accessories > FlexAir Travel Pillow > Jamie DeBenedetto > Field Report