Nemo Fillo Elite Review

For those who spend a lot of time sleeping in the backcountry, we feel the Fillo Elite is a contender for achieving great sleep upon a lightweight pillow. This pillow also employs a layered system, consisting of an inflatable air cell with a Primaloft cushion on top. These two layers are then sandwiched inside of a soft, jersey blend pillowcase. It's a great choice for extended adventures where ounces and pack space must be taken into consideration.

Performance Comparison

Comfort

When compared to its dainty packed size and weight, the Fillo Elite delivers on comfort. It's not the most comfortable pillow on our list, but its effective layering of a stretchy air cell, Primaloft insulation, and soft jersey-blend exterior, synthesize into one of the more comfortable ultra-lite inflatable pillows we've come across. To be transparent, it's still an inflatable pillow, subject to all of the drawbacks of sleeping on an air-filled bladder; however, the added padding in the form of the insulation cushion offers noticeable comfort and noise reduction. Nemo's patented twist valve also allowed our testers to make small air adjustments as they searched for their preferred inflation volume.

The I-beam baffled air cell on the Fillo Elite adequately kept our heads centered on the pillow. Additionally, the jersey blend pillowcase feels like a T-shirt stretched across this pillow. It offers just enough friction to prevent our faces from slipping off the pillow in the middle of the night. We found pillows with microsuede or microfiber face fabrics to be more comfortable. We also have some worry that the thin jersey fabric could be more susceptible to wear and tear over time in comparison to other face fabric options.

Compared to other backpacking-specific models, this model has a significant amount of real estate. The Fillo Elite measures 15 inches across and 11 inches wide, which gives your noggin a touch of extra space to move around at night. Overall, this model's advantages in comfort are its surface area and thin cushion atop the inflatable bladder, while it falls back a step with a face fabric that we think could be better.

Weight

We were impressed when we placed the Fillo Elite on our scale. We knew it would weigh in relatively light; however, its size and overall comfort fooled us into thinking it would weigh more than it actually did.

This isn't the lightest pillow on our list, but it's near the top of the leader board. When you compare its weight against its overall comfort and size, it's clear why it's one of our favorite ultralight backpacking pillows.

Packed Size

Scoring right at the top for packed size, the Fillo Elite is ideal for backpackers, climbers, or mountaineers who have limited storage space and plan to spend several nights sleeping in the outdoors.

It's a tight fit, but once shoved into its stuff sack, this pillow boasts one of the smaller packed sizes of the dozens we've looked at over the years. This is distinctively impressive when we consider the deployed size of the pillow and the extra layer of Primaloft insulation that it offers.

Support

As with most inflatable pillows, the Fillo Elite offers impressive and adjustable support. The product's twist valve allows sleepers to adjust the pillow's air volume at micro-increments. This facilitates customized support settings through a simple twist.

That said, the support provided by this pillow, and most other inflatables, is a dense, relatively unforgiving support that tends to push back on you. However, when compared against similar pillows, the Fillo Elite does seem to provide support that is ever so slightly more comfortable than its peers. It's important to note here, though, that the Fillo Elite only offers a maximum of 3 inches of support, which is among the least loft of any model tested. Side sleepers might prefer a bit more height.

Ease of Use

Removing it from its stuff sack and inflating the Fillo Elite is quite simple and straightforward; however, closing off the twist valve without losing air was surprisingly a little more difficult than we anticipated. The valve sits close to the air cell, causing lips, face, and fingers to be pushed increasingly farther away from the valve as the cell expands. This makes it difficult to find enough leverage to close the valve since the valve must be pushed downward and twisted at the same time to close it. While pushing it downward, we often forced air out of the bladder, requiring us to start over. It works okay, but we've found better valves on other models.

We feel the Fillo Elite's stuff sack is a stitch too small, making it difficult to stow. Similar type inflatable pillows generally can be folded over and rolled up before slipping them into their stuff sack. However, we had difficulty doing this with the Fillo Elite. We do like the fact that its stuff sack is attached to the pillow so it's easy to keep track of, but its smaller size makes it awkward to roll up the pillow and fold it inside. In the end, we found the easiest way to stow the pillow is to hold the sack with both hands and use our thumbs to shove the pillow into place. The smaller stuff sack makes this more difficult than necessary. We also feel this repeated force over time may place unneeded stress on the pillow's seams and interior air cell.

Finally, we like the fact that the air cell can be removed from the outer pillowcase. This is convenient if you would ever need to patch the inflatable bladder, and makes for easy washing of the pillow's exterior. The opening to remove the inner air cell is quite small, making the process a little difficult. We feel the opening (which is about 3 inches wide) should be another inch wider.

Value

When measured against its peers, the Fillo Elite performs as well or better than the myriad of inflatables currently on the market. Scoring comparatively high marks for packed size, weight, comfort, and support, this pillow is worth the price tag. It's ideal for adventurists looking for a lightweight pillow that packs up small and achieves more comfort than models that are bladder-only inflatables.

Conclusion