Pillow or no pillow?

[Hooch]

.......Mine looks like this except it's blue and says UK.

Boo! Want me to get you a good pillow? Like this one:

[swampfox]

Thanks for the offer Hooch, but I believe that one would give me hives!

[CoyoteWanderer]

I have a little MEC-brand stuffable down filled backpacking pillow. I was finding it wasn't really enough while tenting, and had switched to rolling up my fleece vest for a pillow. In the hammock however, it is perfect. I just set it under my neck. The hammock fabric and tension is soft enough, I don't need padding for my head, just a a small thing to keep my neck proper.

I could likely just as effectively use a shirt or the vest, but I just leave the pillow in the shelf of the WBBB and stuff the whole thing into the stuff sack.

[Bunn]

Huge fan of the pillow. I personally use an inflatable U shaped travel pillow. It has a soft fleece cover and when not needed it folds up and takes up almost no space in my pack. However the fleece can make me sweat a bit in the summer months. Never travel without it though.

[LostCause]

My need varies with the hammock and the season.
I tried this U shaped pillow with little beads in it that was pretty comfortable but somehow it failed in the middle of the night and in the morning I was swimming in the beads. There was more sticking to me than was left inside the pillow shell. It took a long time to clean that up. Never again....
Most of the time I go without a pillow, or when using my mummy sleeping bag(used as a top quilt) bunch up the hood as a pillow. I used to use a stuff sack filled with clothes that was binered to the ridgeline, but I was never able to get the 'firmness' of the pillow to be even enough to be comfortable. Maybe I'll try it with just a down vest in it and get better luck, but there is no point in carrying that until it gets much colder.

[TinaLouise]

for me it depends on how much weight I'm carrying. If I can carry it, I have a small kelty down pillow. If not, I have a breathable ripstop bag that my clothes are in and for double duty, it's my pillow. Mostly I've found that I can carry the pillow in the summer because all my other stuff is way lighter. Come winter I'm carrying the heavy quilts and more clothes so, no pillow.
Almost forgot the other situation: my backyard. That's when I go all out and have "two" pillows!!! Pure comfort!!!!

TinaLouise

[PS]

Use one from Walmart. Terry cover over thin layer of memory foam and a flat inflatable bladder. The bladder is actually dimpled in the center so your head doesn't roll off like it does with most inflatables.

Hey Knotty,
Can you talk more about this particular pillow? I don't believe I've ever run across it at the Wal-marts here.

I like the idea of the dimple in the center becuase you are exactly right about your head rolling off.

I've taken the REI blue 9" X 12" pillow, ripped the seam and inserted a FlexAir. It's the best so far.

And I agree with others, I need far less of a pillow in a hammock than on the ground.

[Dancer]

I use a small backpacking pillow (usually one of Hooch's) but when we car camp I will bring a full size on. I turn it the long way, lay on my side, put my head on it and wrap my arms around it. Very comfortable in the hammock.