Discussion/feedback thread for CPAPfit Pillow beta testers

[yaconsult]

This post contains a survey that will not appear on phones.

Bret gave me permission to start a thread for beta testers to share their experiences with the CPAPfit Pillow that he recently shipped to beta testers.
I need to emphasize that, as beta testers, we were shipped a special version of the pillow that also included extra hulls and extra foam that was packaged separately.

I normally use two foam pillows so I did not remove any of the original packing that the beta pillow shipped with and am, in fact, I'm considering adding even more, probably foam.

I am curious how many others in the beta test modified their pillows and in what way they did so?

In addition to the poll, please feel free to add your comments. The goal is to provide Bret with feedback on the filling that worked best for most people. So if you experimented with adding and removing materials, let us know what you thought and what the end result was. If you thought it was perfect as it came out of the box, let him know that too.

I would like to thank Bret, aka SleepGuy, for providing pillows to the beta testers and hope that we can give him some useful feedback!

[postitnote]

This post contains a survey that will not appear on phones.

Bret gave me permission to start a thread for beta testers to share their experiences with the CPAPfit Pillow that he recently shipped to beta testers.
I need to emphasize that, as beta testers, we were shipped a special version of the pillow that also included extra hulls and extra foam that was packaged separately.

I normally use two foam pillows so I did not remove any of the original packing that the beta pillow shipped with and am, in fact, I'm considering adding even more, probably foam.

I am curious how many others in the beta test modified their pillows and in what way they did so?

In addition to the poll, please feel free to add your comments. The goal is to provide Bret with feedback on the filling that worked best for most people. So if you experimented with adding and removing materials, let us know what you thought and what the end result was. If you thought it was perfect as it came out of the box, let him know that too.

I would like to thank Bret, aka SleepGuy, for providing pillows to the beta testers and hope that we can give him some useful feedback!

My pillow came prefilled but there were no extra hulls or foam pieces which is fine because I removed some of both. I did get a bag to put extras in and some instructions.

[yaconsult]

My pillow came prefilled but there were no extra hulls or foam pieces which is fine because I removed some of both. I did get a bag to put extras in and some instructions.

Were you part of the most recent beta test or did you buy your pillow or get it in a previous test. I believe the pillows for this most recent test were sent out about a month ago and included big bags of extra foam and extra hulls.

[postitnote]

My pillow came prefilled but there were no extra hulls or foam pieces which is fine because I removed some of both. I did get a bag to put extras in and some instructions.

Were you part of the most recent beta test or did you buy your pillow or get it in a previous test. I believe the pillows for this most recent test were sent out about a month ago and included big bags of extra foam and extra hulls.

I got mine a few days ago. I didn't contact Bret correctly the last time so got in on the newest test this week. Oh he gave me the Amazon code to but it for free (4 cents).

[Pugsy]

My pillow came prefilled but there were no extra hulls or foam pieces which is fine because I removed some of both. I did get a bag to put extras in and some instructions.

Same here. No extra hulls or foam but I didn't need any as I had to remove a gallon or so to get the pillow to suit me. Not a big deal. Took 2 nights is all. First night I didn't quite remove enough hulls but got it perfect the second night with removal of about another quart or so. I lost count of the cup removal.

That reminds me I need to go leave a review at Amazon. I had one almost ready last night and we lost power briefly and that meant also loss of internet and then I didn't get back to Amazon.

I think everyone knows that I have been using some version of Bret's buckwheat pillow since summer of 2009 when I got the old Regenisis version back when it only came in the one standard size.
Then I got the new design pillow a while back and then I got the foam to add to it later when he was re-designing things.

And now got this very latest design that came pre-filled and I didn't think it was possible to improve things but I was wrong. This one is even better...essentially no buckwheat noise (not that the slight noise with the others bothered me) plus it seems to be overall a little lighter weight (which makes changing the pillow case so much easier) yet still gives me the firmness I need to keep my cervical spine happy. The quilted cover also seems to be of a little better quality but again the other covers I didn't feel were of sub par quality.

For newbies who don't know my history...I have some pretty ugly degenerative disc disease in my neck and have had surgery and vertebrae removal and I have a metal plate in my neck. So having proper alignment of my head and neck to my spine in general is critical to me. If I sleep with my neck not just right I get some killer headaches and neck pain. I have to compromise a bit with overall firmness and height of the pillow because I sleep both on my sides and my back.

Of course the hulls let me make a little "nest" for what little mask I use when I am on my side but I love this pillow so much that even if I wasn't using cpap I would use this pillow because of how it helps my cervical spine issues.

[Darth Lady]

My pillow came prefilled but there were no extra hulls or foam pieces which is fine because I removed some of both. I did get a bag to put extras in and some instructions.

Same here. No extra hulls or foam but I didn't need any as I had to remove a gallon or so to get the pillow to suit me. Not a big deal. Took 2 nights is all. First night I didn't quite remove enough hulls but got it perfect the second night with removal of about another quart or so. I lost count of the cup removal.

I didn't get extra hulls/foam either. I am removing hulls; took some out last night and will take some more tonight (I have the previous version and it took me about 3 nights to get it the way I wanted). So extra hulls don't matter to me, but the hulls tend to pack down and be a bit hard, so extra foam might make a difference.

EDIT: FWIW, this pillow seemed to come with less foam compared to hulls than the prior version did, at least in my case.

[SleepGuy]

This post contains a survey that will not appear on phones.

Bret gave me permission to start a thread for beta testers to share their experiences with the CPAPfit Pillow that he recently shipped to beta testers.
I need to emphasize that, as beta testers, we were shipped a special version of the pillow that also included extra hulls and extra foam that was packaged separately.

I normally use two foam pillows so I did not remove any of the original packing that the beta pillow shipped with and am, in fact, I'm considering adding even more, probably foam.

I am curious how many others in the beta test modified their pillows and in what way they did so?

In addition to the poll, please feel free to add your comments. The goal is to provide Bret with feedback on the filling that worked best for most people. So if you experimented with adding and removing materials, let us know what you thought and what the end result was. If you thought it was perfect as it came out of the box, let him know that too.

I would like to thank Bret, aka SleepGuy, for providing pillows to the beta testers and hope that we can give him some useful feedback!

Thanks for this feedback, yaconsult! Let me clarify because I have two different things going on right now.

In April several people (including you) agreed to do beta testing for the CPAPfit pillow to help me understand the optimum hull/foam ratio for the pillow. That's why the beta trial came with a full pillow plus separate extra bags of foam and hulls. Since then, we have released a new, custom quilt in the Form-Fit brand (available only on Amazon) that is thicker, quieter, more comfortable, etc. That quilt is not yet available in the FormFit brand through it's the same product. I just have older inventory to work through that's already packaged etc. in the CPAPfit brand. People in the second (most recent) trial (like postitnote) were given a free Form-Fit brand pillow.

Any and all feedback is welcome. Thanks for your patience as we continue to improve this product.

[postitnote]

My wife is using it for the past night and said she has to fight off the cats as they apparently really like it (Might have an additional market - Cats).

That's what I said re cats/pets. My year old cat is in love with this pillow! I swapped him a feather pillow but he still lays on the new pillow if I'm not in bed. It's crazy! Wonder if the hulls have a scent cats enjoy?

[jlaw3x7]

I sent an email to get in on the beta test. Got no reply. Bought a pillow. Sent a great idea for product improvement (embedded foam in the layers of the pillow case itself) which was written off. And offered to share more ideas as well but I could not get in on this additional foam offer. It seems I would need to pay for that too... I guess my thoughts and opinions just aren't worth that much to sleepguy. (Yes I am feeling jilted).

[Shawnkc10fe]

I received a pillow with extra hulls and foam along with the pillow. I have been through about 4 different cpap pillows and by far this is the best one of all! I love the pillow with the ratio of hulls and foam as shipped. The pillow formed very well with my mask and has helped greatly to reduce leaks! Will probably buy Brett's new pillow and use this one for travel. This pillow contributed greatly to my cpap compliance! Thank you Brett

[Cardsfan]

I got my pillow late yesterday. Still working on "setting it up", removing hulls. I've removed about half so far. Going to use it for the first time tonight. It seems a little hard, but that's just my first impression.
I am impressed with the quality of the pillowcase. More to follow.

[SleepGuy]

I sent an email to get in on the beta test. Got no reply. Bought a pillow. Sent a great idea for product improvement (embedded foam in the layers of the pillow case itself) which was written off. And offered to share more ideas as well but I could not get in on this additional foam offer. It seems I would need to pay for that too... I guess my thoughts and opinions just aren't worth that much to sleepguy. (Yes I am feeling jilted).

Dear jlaw3x7--

Sorry about that. You contacted me between offers. Additional foam is available at nominal cost on Amazon. Send me an email if you want a link. You are on my list for future offers.

[cancun]

I got the latest Form Fit pillow yesterday and used it last night and I slept well with it last night. I took sixteen cups of hulls out. I am a side sleeper and my leak rate was low. I usually lay on more than one pillow at a time and decided to try this one by itself and it was good (of course had other pillows around it). I am going to use a few more nights before giving the review on Amazon.

Thanks Bret.

I only removed foam because it was too difficult to separate the foam from the hulls otherwise I would not have removed any foam.

[Cardsfan]

Am I the only one who thinks this pillow is too hard? No matter how much stuffing I take out, it is still too hard.

[yaconsult]

Am I the only one who thinks this pillow is too hard? No matter how much stuffing I take out, it is still too hard.

Did you take out mostly hulls, or both hulls and foam? What I'm asking is did you adjust the mixture of hulls and foam or just take out a mixture of both?

I had a thought that some kind of "strainer" that could be used to scoop out foam but not hulls would allow the two materials to be separated more easily would be useful but I think the goal may be to find the optimal mix that will work for the majority of people without adjusting. How many people will want to fine tune their pillows? I have no idea.

I got the first beta pillow as Bret described it above. It came with a big bag of extra hulls and a big bag of extra foam. I also thought it was a bit firm and have so far added half of the big bag of additional foam to the pillow and then mixed it up with my hand.

Now, I have used foam pillows for years so part of it may just be that I am used to softer pillows.

I am going to try adding the second half of the bag of additional foam to the pillow. It already came fully packed so this might be too much filling for most people but I'm a big guy and previously used two of the "wave-style" foam pillows whereas most people would only use one. So I am probably not a very typical user.

I guess Bret has to try to figure out what the majority of his potential customers will want and then offer options for those who want it firmer or softer.