Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow Review

Travel pillows are practically a must for any trip. These traditionally U-shaped pads are designed to support the neck while you’re seated upright and can make dozing on a plane at least somewhat tolerable. To my surprise, the foam Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow is shaped like a miniaturized bed pillow, which makes it versatile for providing neck, back, or even knee support on plane, train, bus, and car rides. Plus, you can use it for sleeping when you get to your destination, while camping, or even for a nap on your couch at home. It could make a great gift for the travel lover in your life—with a couple of caveats.

About the Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow

The Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow is a springy solid-foam pillow about a quarter the size of a king-sized bed pillow, at 14 inches long by about 8 inches wide and 4 inches thick. Despite its block-like form, the pillow can be folded and stuffed into a bag (which it comes with), making it flexible for travel. The polyester-viscose cover and bag are machine-washable. The foam insert itself is not machine-washable.

The Anywhere Pillow is available in one color, a heathered gray, and retails for $95.

What I like about the Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow

It’s soft and supportive

As you’d expect, the pillow was designed for comfort—and it delivers. I tried lying on the floor with the pillow beneath my head, and it cradled my head and neck to maintain good alignment when I was on my back. On a plane, it’d be great for lumbar support on a day flight or softening the window for taking an upright snooze. It’s far more like a pillow you would use on your bed than anything you ever got for free on a plane before COVID. As a seasoned traveler, I think it tops what you can buy in most airport gift shops, in terms of the comfort and support it offers.

It’s versatile for travel or use at home

Unlike most travel pillows, this isn’t an item I’d pack away and use only for trips. It can be folded, molded, and stuffed into small spaces, and I see it having many uses beyond travel. It’s handy to have around the house, say, when napping on a couch. It would be an ideal pillow for a camping trip, as it’s much smaller than a standard bed pillow and can be clipped to your pack with the included carabiner on the storage bag. You could even use it as a meditation cushion in a hotel room or during a yoga session to prop the hips.

The cover is soft and machine-washable

The fabric of the cover and carrying bag is made from a knit blend of polyester and viscose, and it feels like a soft T-shirt. After your trip (or a week or two of use around the house), you can toss the cover and bag in the wash on cold and tumble dry on low. After washing, the cover feels just as soft as it did before and goes back over the foam with ease.

What I don’t like about the Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow

It’s not the most convenient for plane use

If you’ve spent any time in an airport, you’ve seen travelers waiting for a flight wearing their neck pillows like padded yokes. The Anywhere Travel Pillow can’t be so conveniently worn, nor is it large enough to provide the around-the-neck support you’d get from a U-shaped pillow.

For portability, it needs to be stuffed into its small bag, which isn’t as easy as it should be. The bag comes with a clip to attach it to another bag, but that’s not ideal in a germy airport, bus, or car—so you may find you want to stuff it into your carry-on, too, taking up valuable packing space. While those U-shaped pillows aren’t as versatile, there's something to be said for the specific support they provide as well as the convenience of carrying it around your neck.

Finally, when you’re using the pillow, you have to stash the bag somewhere—and if you lose it, the uncompressed pillow is even more annoying to pack and won’t stay as clean.

The foam insert isn’t washable

While it’s great that the bag and cover can go in the laundry, the pillow insert itself is not washable at all. The best you can do is spot-clean it, so you better hope it doesn’t get spilled on during turbulence or drooled on by a deep sleeper or any number of other scenarios when it could get wet or dirty during travel. Not to mention, with heavy use, you’ll find you’ll want to replace it sooner than you might a fully washable pillow—and at nearly $100, that’s not a cheap proposition.

Is the Tuft & Needle Anywhere Travel Pillow worth it?

Yes, as long as don’t want to wear your travel pillow

The Tuft & Needle Anywhere could be a great option if you anticipate needing a compact pillow for a variety of reasons. As it closely mimics a bed pillow in a smaller form, you may find it useful for supporting your head while traveling, or for providing much-needed lumbar support when seated for hours at a time. It’s also convenient for sleeping on camping trips and even in hotel rooms if you prefer to use your own pillow for sanitary reasons.

However, if you’re looking for an optimal pick for plane, train, or bus travel, you may be happier with the Cabeau Evolution Classic Travel Pillow, which has the traditional U shape. The Cabeau also isn’t fully machine-washable (just the cover is), but it costs a third of the Tuft & Needle, so replacing it more regularly is easier to stomach.

If you’re after a more luxurious cocoon-like option that can go in the laundry, the Huzi Infinity Pillow has a moldable scarf-like design for the ultimate in cozy support that costs less than half of the Tuft & Needle option.

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Prices were accurate at the time this article was published but may change over time.