Fast Facts: Core Deluxe Water Pillow Specifications
- Manufacturer: Core Products International Inc
- Model Number:FIB-294
- Size:25” x 16”
- Cover: 50% Cotton, 50% Polyester
- Made in: USA
The Core Deluxe Water Pillow
At first glance the Core Deluxe Water Pillow looks the same as any other…
Your standard polyester-cotton blend bed pillow.
Now at first glance, all seems well and good. But when you take a look at the pillow on the side, you will notice just how lumpy the filling is…
Yep. Lumps. On day one, fresh out of the packaging. Lumps. And not the lovely lady kind either.
Located along the side of the water pillow is a zipper…
And undoing the zipper reveals a hollow cavity, ready and waiting for you to insert the water chamber (the bladder).
As you can see in the above photo, this is a pillow that can only be used in one orientation. One side of the pillow has a lot more filling than the other, this is the side that you sleep on. The base of the pillow has barely any polyester filling at all.
If you look closely at the above photo you might notice a small bump at the bottom right of the pillow, on the inside.
This is actually a padded foam strip that runs the entire length of the pillow, on the underside. I will explain it’s use in a moment.
The Water Chamber
Included in the packaging is the very thing that makes this a water pillow, a fillable water chamber.
I liked that the Core Deluxe pillow water chamber had pre-set guides. Simply by filling the water chamber to the appropriate level, you can achieve your desired firmness.
Above I have colored the fill lines in the photo above, to make them easier to see.
Now before you begin filling the chamber, I strongly suggest you go outside. Filling up the chamber without spilling any water is quite an achievement.
The easiest way to fill the chamber is to use a funnel and slowly pour a jug of water into the chamber. Unlike other water pillows, the Core Deluxe does not come with a funnel included in the packaging. While most of you will have a funnel bouncing around your kitchen drawers, it might catch out those of you who only eat out.
Now comes the messy part, removing the water bubbles. If you don’t get rid of these trapped pockets of air, you will be more likely to hear the water inside your pillow sloshing around as you toss and turn throughout the night.
By placing the water chamber down on a flat piece of ground, work the air pockets up towards the plug hole. This is the messy part, and you will likely find water escapes out the plug hole as you work the air out.
Now all that’s left is to place the bladder inside your pillow!
It is here that the foam strip that runs along the pillow comes into play. When inserting the water chamber you want to make sure that the plastic plug is on the padded strip side of the pillow. The padding offers protection and makes sure that you won’t feel the hard plastic plug poking you in your sleep. The system worked surprisingly well.
Feel and support
Feel and support is a difficult to judge when it comes to water pillows. Given that you can adjust them to your level of comfort.
The less water you put in, the softer the pillow is and the more your head will sink in. The more water you put in, the firmer the pillow becomes.
But even so, I couldn’t get over the lumpy feeling of the polyester stuffing. The clumps of filling where very noticeable and proved to be a distraction when falling asleep. I just couldn’t get comfortable, which was not something I had experienced with other water pillows.
If you have ever had an old lumpy pillow that needed to be replaced, you will know exactly what sleeping on the Core Deluxe Water Pillow feels like.
Does the Core Deluxe Water Pillow Smell?
If you give the Core Deluxe Water Pillow a good sniff, you will notice that there is a faint polyester odor. Unless you have a sensitive nose, the smell is not strong enough to disrupt your sleep.
If you cover the pillow in with a pillow protector or pillow case, the smell is almost unnoticeable.
But if you are a super smeller, who can pick up odd odors from a mile away, you will be pleased to note that the smell will soon fade after leaving the pillow to air for a day or two.
Washing Instructions
Straight from the instructions..
Interestingly, the pillow tag also states that you can refluff the pillow in a dry cleaner on medium heat, with three tennis balls or a soft pair of shoes. I don’t know about you, but I wouldn’t ever throw a pair of shoes in dryer with my pillow.
The instructions then go on to state how to clean the water chamber…
Water Chamber: Change water periodically to maintain freshness. Rinse interior of chamber with mixture of bleach and water (1/2 cup bleach to one gallon water). Wipe exterior with damp cloth and air dry.
No mention of how long you should sleep on the Core Deluxe Water Pillow before the water should be changed. Mediflow, a different brand of water pillow states that water should be swapped once a year. But there is no harm done in changing it more regularly.
I would call this pillow the poor mans water pillow. But because it is priced the same as other water pillows that out class it in every way, such as the Mediflow and Chiroflow brands, the Core Deluxe Water Pillow really doesn’t have a whole lot going for it.
The Core Deluxe Water Pillow might be better than sleeping without a pillow, but not by much.
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