CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

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SleepGuy
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CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by SleepGuy » Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:13 am

My name is Bret. After my diagnosis I found CPAP to be almost impossible to use. So I started creating ways to help me use my CPAP and have turned these hacks into products.

I have had great success here at cpaptalk meeting awesome people who have helped me refine these products. Mostly I provide free product to qualified people in exchange for honest feedback.

One of my products, the CPAPfit pillow, shows great promise. It reviews very well and most people seem to love it.

The pillow shell is semi-rigid quilted material in a wedge cut with a 5 inch gusset on the sleeping edge.

The filling is buckwheat hulls.

One of the refinements I have discovered in the past year is the blending of shredded polyurethane foam (soy based) with the hulls. The two materials have almost opposite qualities and therefore work well together. The hulls provide support (they absorb and transfer weight). However, they are dense, hard, and noisy. Foam is almost 100% air. It provides no support but does seem to provide (a) cushion - comfort; (b) increased stability; (c) decreased noise; (d) decreased weight; and (e) increased form-fitting of the filling since it adds a little resilience to the otherwise non-resilient filling.

One of the variables that I am trying to better understand is the optimum ratio of hulls to foam.

I am looking for up to 10 volunteers to help me better understand the hull/foam ratio and how I can improve the product in that respect to make it so that each individual can customize the product for their personal preference.

Right now the pillows ship with 25% foam and 75% hulls (by volume).

If you are selected I will send you a free pillow, filled with standard filling, as well as a separate 6 qt bag of hulls and a separate 6 qt bag of foam. The pillow ships with a large storage bag for excess materials.

I am really looking for people with high "pillow IQ," meaning people who have kind of made pillows something of a hobby, who have tried a variety of pillows over the years but have not yet found the perfect pillow.

To apply, please send me an email explaining your pillow experience: sleepguy@comcast.net

If you already have/use the CPAPfit pillow (or the older brand, Regenesis), you can still participate. Just let me know about that.

Thanks for your consideration.

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LSAT
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by LSAT » Fri Apr 24, 2015 8:33 am

I have the pillow...I use the pillow every night...I love the pillow. I personally think the 25/75 ratio is perfect. A few years ago I purchased, and used, the pillow with 100% hulls. I thought that was good, but, once I tried the 25/75 I realized that 100% hulls were too hard.

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Pugsy
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Pugsy » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:39 am

I also have this pillow (part of an earlier demo test) and I love it. I got the hulls only with the newly designed pillow and then got the foam later to add so I don't know what ratio I came up with. So I can't really comment as to what ratio works best since I don't have anything to start with that is/was a known value.

I don't need another pillow and my situation with my cervical spine issues is a little different in that I really prefer a lot of firmness and the noise of the hulls never has been an issue for me as I previously used the original Regenisis pillow that was hulls only for years.
So unless Bret can't come up with enough suitable candidates (though I am sure he will) I won't be asking to try this one and will leave it to maybe help someone else out.

A bit of my history for those newbies that don't know. My cervical spine is eat up with arthritis and I have had surgery and vertebrae removal and a metal plate in my neck. Many, many years of trying different bed pillows to help with the neck pain even before sleep apnea and cpap need raised it's ugly head..
Even if I didn't use a cpap machine I would still use this pillow as it has been the best thing for my neck that I have ever tried and trust me...I was the queen of bed pillow trials for many years.

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poppi2
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by poppi2 » Fri Apr 24, 2015 9:48 am

I've got this pillow. I love it.

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Julie
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Julie » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:12 am

Hi, I've never used one of your pillows, have worried a bit about hulls alone being unforgiving, but would very much like to see how one with foam works. I am in Canada, but would be happy to pay for shipping if that's an issue... let me know what's what. Thank you!

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chunkyfrog
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by chunkyfrog » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:24 am

I also have a pillow from the trial last year. (Thank you again, Bret!)
I found the original mix a bit firm to my taste, and the gusset too wide for my short neck,
but the foam and the quilted cover quiets the hulls wonderfully.
Is the ratio based on volume? I assume so, and I will be changing my ratio as well,
--and reporting back, if it will be any help.

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Lazer1234
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Lazer1234 » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:47 am

SleepGuy wrote: Right now the pillows ship with 25% foam and 75% hulls (by volume).
Hey!
I do not understand this word, someone who can explain in other words?

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Pugsy
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Pugsy » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:51 am

He uses buckwheat hulls.
Used in a lot of various bed pillows.

Lazer1234 wrote:
SleepGuy wrote: Right now the pillows ship with 25% foam and 75% hulls (by volume).
Hey!
I do not understand this word, someone who can explain in other words?

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OkyDoky
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by OkyDoky » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:54 am

Lazer1234 wrote:
SleepGuy wrote: Right now the pillows ship with 25% foam and 75% hulls (by volume).
Hey!
I do not understand this word, someone who can explain in other words?
Hulls are the outer covering of a grain. In this case buckwheat.
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Lazer1234
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Lazer1234 » Fri Apr 24, 2015 10:59 am

Ok, wheat. It is whole grain?

Image

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Hope you have patience with that, sometimes it can get a little crazy.
/Lazer1234

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Lazer1234
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Lazer1234 » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:00 am

OkyDoky wrote:
Lazer1234 wrote:
SleepGuy wrote: Right now the pillows ship with 25% foam and 75% hulls (by volume).
Hey!
I do not understand this word, someone who can explain in other words?
Hulls are the outer covering of a grain. In this case buckwheat.
Thanks!

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Mask: TAP PAP Nasal Pillow CPAP Mask with Improved Stability Mouthpiece
Humidifier: S9™ Series H5i™ Heated Humidifier with Climate Control
Additional Comments: APAP 7,8 - 20 EPR 3 No Ramp ResScan 5.1 SleepyHead 0.9.8.1
Everything I write I translate through Google Translate.
Hope you have patience with that, sometimes it can get a little crazy.
/Lazer1234

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OkyDoky
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by OkyDoky » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:06 am

[quote="Lazer1234"]Ok, wheat. It is whole grain?

Buckwheat is a little different and in the pillows they use the hulls only not the grain.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckwheat
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chunkyfrog
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by chunkyfrog » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:12 am

My in-laws ate a cereal made of buckwheat groats, called kasha.
It is a delicious, nutty seed, although I believe it is a pseudo-grain.
The shells are resilient, and have been used in bedding for millennia.

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yaconsult
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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by yaconsult » Fri Apr 24, 2015 11:56 am

Is there any aroma of buckwheat? Has anyone ever awoken to find themselves chewing on their pillow?!

On a more serious note, these pillows sound interesting. I currently use two memory foam pillows from Sleep Innovation that I got at Costco, one on top of the other.

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Re: CPAPfit Pillow - beta testers wanted (free product)

Post by Pugsy » Fri Apr 24, 2015 12:02 pm

yaconsult wrote:On a more serious note, these pillows sound interesting. I currently use two memory foam pillows from Sleep Innovation that I got at Costco, one on top of the other.
If you like and need that much vertical height then I doubt you would be happy with the buckwheat hull pillows unless you add something underneath it to make it taller...they aren't very tall (why I like them because I can't use a tall pillow) and certainly wouldn't come close to the height of 2 memory foam pillows.

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