Reviews > Sleep Gear > Accessories > FlexAir Travel Pillow > Ralph Ditton > Field Report

Models: Standard: 360 mm x 260 mm (14.2 in x 10.2 in).
                Weight: 21 g (0.74 oz) incl. straw.
                Airline: 475 mm x 310 mm (18.7 in x 12.2 in).
                 Weight: 26 g (0.92 oz) incl. straw.
                 Double Compartment Spa Essentials: 468 mm x 316 mm (18.4 in x 12.5 in).
                 Weight: 33 g (1.16 oz) incl. straw.
Length of straw supplied: 203 mm (8 in).

Field Conditions
So far, testing has been exclusively at home and at Prickly Bark (S 31° 42. 800' E 115° 56.981') campsite on the Coastal Plain Trail.
Elevations have ranged between sea level to 83 m (272 ft).
Temperatures  at night when the pillow was in use ranged from a high  of 17 C (63 F) to a low of -3 C (27 F).
The weather has been cool to freezing with no rain in sight. It is supposed to be our rainy season. At Prickly Bark campsite when I experienced the minus temperature, there were clear skies, a very light wind with very dry air and a low dew point. (Source. Bureau of Meteorology).
Out in the field, the pillow was used in a tent.

Performance
I have used the three versions at home over a period of four weeks. One week was used on two models and two weeks on the Airline model.
The first model tried was the Airline as I was apprehensive about the smaller sized pillow and the dual compartment Spa Essentials for comfort.
The first Airline pillow that I used had a slow leak in it. It would deflate to about half of what I started out with. I was unable to locate the source of the leak. I used this pillow for two nights before retiring it. I would blow about five puffs into the pillow so that my head had a recess to lay in. When it was too hard when I inflated the pillow fully, which I trialed, my head would tend to move towards the ends and it was not comfortable to lay on. It felt over inflated and unyielding.
The picture below gives an indication of how much inflation I use.

inflated pillow ready  for use

The second Airline pillow did not leak for the test, nor did I have to add any extra air over the remaining twelve days. I just kept using it night after night and felt really comfortable on it.
The next one I tried for a week was the smallest pillow, the Standard. This pillow surprised me as to its comfort when not fully inflated. When I thought about it, the vast surface area of a pillow  is not used by the head during the night. The head tends to stay in the same spot even with all the turning and tossing that I do. So the size of the pillow was very adequate. It did look like a midget next to my wife's regular pillow.

The dual compartment Spa Essentials pillow took me a few nights to get used to. The concave nature of the pillow towards the centre did not provide support for my head. It provided support for my neck, but caused my head to bend slightly downwards. I then adjusted my sleeping habit and placed my head on the chamber closest to the end of the bed which meant that my neck then bent slightly downwards and this was more comfortable. It still took me a little while to adjust to the lack of air in the middle of the pillow.
Of the three models, the Spa Essentials was on balance, the least favourite.
The noise from the pillows when resting on them did not unsettle me, nor did they seem particularly loud during the night.
On a more serious note, my wife did not find them very noisy with me using them. It did not disturb her sleep at all and my ribs can verify that. They were not elbowed during the nights.
One big side benefit of using the pillows at home was the comment that my wife made.
I have a problem with snoring and I take a nasal spray to combat the problem which is partially successful.
When I used the pillows, I did not use the spray due to the nose bleeds that I was experiencing from it.  My wife commented that I was snoring only rarely and not for long. We both put this down to the lower profile of the FlexAir pillows compared to our regular home pillows. It must be something to do with the angle of the neck which affects the air passages. She has nothing but praise for the pillows.
Out in the Field
I have used two models in the field, the Airline and Spa Essentials.
My sleeping profile was different to home in that I slept on a platform and the ground using my self-inflating mattress. There is no sensation of sinking into a bed at all, just stiff and make the most out of the self-inflating mattress.

After a trial and error, I inserted the different pillows when being used, into the hood of my sleeping bag so that they would not slide off the self-inflating mat. Initially when I placed the pillow on the self-inflating mat under the sleeping bag hood, the pillow had a tendency to slip off onto the boards of the sleeping platform or the floor of the tent. This caused my head and neck to drop in attitude thus waking me up because it was uncomfortable.
With the pillow being trapped inside the hood of the sleeping bag, it had nowhere to go. I got a good night's sleep no matter how much I tossed and turned.

pillow inside hood of sleeping bag
I did not wrap the pillow in anything and the fabric remained warm against my face despite -3 C (27 F) outside the tent. I think it must have been closer to 0 C (32 F) inside the tent. Nor did the air inside the pillow feel cold, so I was not resting my head on an ice block.

As an exercise I tried to deflate the pillow the following morning using a small stick found on the ground. The stick went into the opening ok, but I had to press the pillow against my chest to expel the air around the stick. This took a little time. It is so much easier to do it with the straw that is supplied as the air rushes out of the centre of the straw.
When I thought that I had expelled all of the air, I rolled the pillow up to put in my backpack and found that there was some air still left in it. Trying to expel the air when rolling the pillow up and using the straw is very difficult. My solution was to suck the air out by mouth using the straw.
I have more camping trips planned and will be using all three models of pillow in the next testing phase.

Summary
To date I am impressed with the pillows and the crinkly noise has become a non event to my wife. Even I am not disturbed by the noise when settling down for the night.
I think the company could be on a winner for bad snorers like myself where it seems that the angle of the neck is not at a steeper angle when using the home pillow.
Apart from one leaky pillow, I have been getting very good use out of the other three models without having to use the spare ones yet. Their life, barring unsightly discolouration from perspiration, could be months each with regular use. 

Reviews > Sleep Gear > Accessories > FlexAir Travel Pillow > Ralph Ditton > Field Report