Hi everyone, after typing "Is there an alternative to the chillow" on google search engine, just to see if there was any new ideas or products on the market, Unfortunatly there still isn't, Until now.......
so I must be the only one to come up with this alternative.
This forum was at the top of the searched sites from google, so I thought it only fair to share my idea. many years ago I started using a chillow and have never had a sleepless night since, but found that after a few months the plastic 2mm joint/seem would eventually start to split and then leak. so leaving me to purchase another, and another, at a cost for £25 a time it was getting expensive.
I then put to use the grey matter in over coming this problem, and what I am about to share, may put the manufacturers of the chillow in to a major painc.
GO and purchase " SELF INFLATING CAMPING PILLOW "
Now before you go rushing out and buying one, make sure you buy the right sort, some pillows have a cheesy whatsit type foam filling, these do work but can feel a bit lumpy, Look for a pillow that has a one piece foam fill, and also a large welded seem around the outer edge.
NOW you will have to experiment with the amount of water to add because they are all come in slightly diffirent sizes.
The inlet to the pillow when you unscrew it fully, will stay on so as not to get lost while camping, If you give it a good tug it WILL come off, enabling you to have access to the 4mmish inlet hole.
I personally use a large syringe to fill the pillow with approx 2-3 litres of water that has been through a waterfilter, with a cap full of milton to prevent the water going horrible inside, its better to over do it because you dont really want to be pulling and pushing the cap back on too many times. Once full of water lift it up against a cupboard door (I have a handy one just over the sink) and start to roll the pillow up and because the inlet is situated right in the corner NO air can get trapped inside, tighten cap, unroll again and keep repeating till all the air is out. and there you have a cooling pillow at a quarter of the price and it will last 3-4 times longer than a chillow.
Another top tip I will share is that I use a piece (being of the same size as the cooling pillow) of the non slip webbing type product between the pillow and my cooling pillow to prevent it moving around whilst I sleep.
Thanks for reading this, and I hope its of help in getting a better nights sleep and saving MONEY in the process..