NEMO Fillo Blue Horizon vs Therm-a-Rest 14224

Buy the NEMO Fillo in Blue Horizon when you want a camp pillow you inflate: a baffled air cell under a foam top, a washable cover, and an internal stuff sack. NEMO lists that pillow at 9.2 ounces, packed to about 6 by 4 inches, and inflated to 17 by 11 by 4 inches. Buy Therm-a-Rest model 14224 when you want the Regular Compressible Pillow Cinch in Outer Space: foam from pad offcuts, a cinch cord for firmness, and no valve. The sheet on the regular size is about 13 by 18 inches, 6 inches thick, and 11.5 ounces. One takes air. The other takes a tug on a cord.

A jacket under your head works for one night. It fails on the third night, when the jacket is damp and your neck is done negotiating. These two are the pillows people actually pack. They get compared because both are camp pillows with a small packed size. They are not the same construction, and inflating the Cinch is not a thing you can do.

Pair either one with a hammock only after you have read the hammock comparison. A pillow does not hang itself, and a hammock strap is not in a pillow box.

What the Fillo actually is

NEMO builds the Fillo as an air pillow with a foam face, not as a bare vinyl bladder. The interior is a 3-inch baffled air cell, which is why it holds a shape instead of ballooning into a beach ball. A layer of foam sits on top of that cell. The cover comes off and goes in a washing machine. The stuff sack is internal, so you are not keeping track of a separate bag that stays in the tent. Blue Horizon is the color on this card. Mango, silt, and black are other Fillos. Buy the color you mean.

The valve is a small one you can crack with one hand to dump a little air after you lie down. Shoulders sink a pad, and a pillow that felt right while you were sitting up is suddenly too tall. Let air out until your neck is neutral. Close the valve. Do not pump it hard with a pad pump. Mouth pressure is the right pressure. If the seams look strained, you have too much air, and you have made a louder, less comfortable pillow.

Side sleepers are the people who notice the loft. Four inches of thickness is not a bed pillow, and it is more neck height than a flattened stuff sack. Back sleepers should start softer. A hard Fillo puts your chin toward your chest. The fix is the valve, not a different brand, unless you have already let the air out and you still hate it.

What model 14224 actually is

Therm-a-Rest 14224 is the Regular Compressible Pillow Cinch in Outer Space. The fill is urethane foam, the same family of foam the company cuts from sleeping-pad production, with a light insulation layer on top so the surface is not a bag of lumps. The cover is polyester, and the care line says machine washable. Firmness is a cinch cord. Pull it and the pillow gets smaller and firmer. Loosen it and the foam expands. There is no valve, no baffle, and no air to leak out at 2 a.m.

The regular size on the maker’s size chart is on the order of 13 by 18 inches and about 6 inches thick, at about 11.5 ounces. That is larger in the hand than the Fillo’s inflated 17 by 11 by 4, and heavier than 9.2 ounces. It is still a camp pillow, not a king sham. Small and large Cinch models are different numbers. 14222 and 14223 are small. 14228 is large. If the mailer is not Outer Space and not regular, you did not receive 14224.

The cord is the feature the name is selling. It is not a strap that locks the pillow to a sleeping pad. If you thrash, you still have to put the pillow back on the pad. What the cord does is let two people share one pillow model and not agree on firmness. A side sleeper cinches it. A back sleeper leaves it loose. That is a real adjustment. It is not an inflatable’s adjustment.

Pack size, and the trip that cares

The Fillo packs into its own sack at about 6 by 4 inches. That is the backpacking argument. Nine ounces and a potato-sized bundle is easy to justify on a three-night trip and easy to resent if you are counting grams and you sleep fine on a folded fleece. The Cinch compresses into itself. It does not disappear as small as an air pillow, because foam has a volume even when you crush it. For a backpack where the hipbelt pocket is already full, the Fillo wins. For a car camp, a canoe box, or a truck, the extra bulk of the Cinch is irrelevant and the lack of a valve is the point.

Weight follows the same split. 9.2 ounces against about 11.5 ounces is not the difference between a trip that works and a trip that does not, unless the rest of the kit is already on a scale. Comfort per night is the decision. If you already cut your toothbrush in half, you have tastes this page will not argue you out of. If you drive to the site, buy the pillow you will still like on night four.

Heat, noise, and washing

Air against a face steals heat for the first minutes in cold weather. Inflate the Fillo inside the tent, not in the truck, so you are not filling it with freezing air. The Cinch has no air chamber. It is foam. It still is not a hat. A cold night wants a beanie either way. In summer, the Fillo’s cover is what your cheek touches, and it comes off to wash. The Cinch’s cover is washable too. Do not put a soaking pillow into a stuff sack. Dry it open. Mildew is the failure mode both of them share if you pack them wet.

Noise is the complaint people bring from cheap vinyl pillows. The Fillo’s foam face is there to stop that balloon sound. The Cinch does not crinkle, because it is not a bladder. If you hear noise in the tent, look at the pad. A crinkly pad will be blamed on the pillow for exactly one night, and then you will still own the pad.

Who should skip both

Skip both if your pad is too short and your shoulder is on the ground. A pillow does not add length to a pad. Fix the pad. Skip the Fillo if you refuse to touch a valve in the dark. Skip the Cinch if you need the packed size of an air pillow and you already know foam will not crush small enough for the pack you own. Skip either one as a fix for a sleeping bag that is too cold. Insulation is a different purchase.

Do not buy 14224 because a photo showed a small woodland Cinch. Color and size are the model number. Do not buy a Fillo in a different color and call it Blue Horizon because the shape matches. The card is the color.

What the clip shows

The clip shows how to fold and stuff a NEMO Fillo into its internal sack. It does not show Therm-a-Rest 14224, and it does not show a night of sleep. Use it for the pack. The Cinch packs by compression, not by that fold.

What to buy

Buy the Fillo in Blue Horizon if you want the air-and-foam pillow, the internal sack, and the 9.2-ounce packed size. Buy Therm-a-Rest 14224 if you want foam, a cinch cord, and a regular Outer Space pillow you never have to inflate. A household that backpacks and also car-camps can own both. Using the Cinch as an air pillow, or the Fillo as a foam brick you cinch, is how you end up mad at a product that was never the other one.

On the trip you already planned

A weekend car camp wants the Cinch. You are not weighing ounces, you are trying to sleep after a day of setting stakes, and a foam pillow you cinch once is less fiddling than a valve you will adjust twice. A backpacking overnight wants the Fillo, because the sack is the size of a potato and you already know where it goes. A mixed trip, drive to a trailhead and walk in, can go either way. If the walk is under an hour and the pack is a daypack plus a sleep kit, take the one you sleep better on. If the walk is the point, take the Fillo and stop debating the cord.

Neither pillow is a lumbar cushion for the drive, even though both will be used that way. The Fillo’s valve will hiss against a seatbelt if you overfill it. The Cinch will slowly expand if you forget you cinched it for the tent and then sit on it in the truck. Loosen the cord before you use it as a seat pillow, or accept a hard lump. Check the live price on the card when you order. A color that is out of stock is a different model, not a rain check on Blue Horizon or on 14224.

Match the color and the number

Blue Horizon is the Fillo on this card. If the sack says Mango or Black Pearl, you have a Fillo and you do not have this color. The construction is the same. The reorder is not. Model 14224 is regular Outer Space. A small Cinch in woodland is a different number and a different size. The cinch cord works the same way. The dimensions do not. Read the tag before you decide the pillow is “smaller than the review.”

Inflate the Fillo once at home so the valve is not a surprise in the dark. Cinch and loosen 14224 once at home so you know how far the cord goes before the foam buckles. Then pack the one the trip actually has room for. Wash the cover or the pillow before a long season if it has been in a trunk. Dry it. The rest of the ownership is putting it under your head and going to sleep.