Why our sleep experts loved it
The Simba Sleep Stratos Pillow is a luxury cooling fibre pillow with an adjustable height and a couple of genuinely useful features. I tested it in store rather than at home, so I can’t speak to long term wear but I did spend some time lying on it on my back and side with a standard mattress and my first impression was that it was well constructed, nicely padded and actually felt noticeably cool to the touch on the Stratos side. At about £60 for a single pillow it is firmly in the high end bracket rather than supermarket basics territory.
The marketing describes it as a cooling menopause friendly pillow with an adjustable recycled filling, and that does chime with my in person experience. The cool touch surface is particularly impressive when you first rest your cheek on it, and in general it felt like a supportive, medium loft pillow that you can fiddle with to taste by removing or adding fill to customise the height and support. It is not an impulse buy on a tight budget, but if you are after a specific cooling synthetic pillow that you can tweak to your personal preference, it is definitely in the running.
Construction & materials
Inside the Simba Stratos Pillow is Simba Renew, a 100% recycled polyester fibre filling. It is not one solid block of foam, but instead the interior is stuffed with clusters of soft, down like fibres. In the shop, the effect was lofty, bouncy and something that could be squashed and reshaped without going flat and dead straight away. The recycled filling is a nice touch in the sustainability stakes if you are trying to avoid virgin polyester.
The key practical point with the Simba Renew fill is that it is completely adjustable. There is a zip along the side which lets you open the pillow and remove or add handfuls of fibres to change the loft and firmness. Bensons include an extra drawstring bag for holding spare fill, which seems like a minor detail but actually makes the whole customisation process much more practical and less messy.
All of which sits inside a 100% soft cotton quilted cover. On first look, the cover feels smooth, reasonably thick and the light quilting adds a touch of surface plushness. It has a more luxury hotel style look and feel rather than basic hollowfibre appearance and when I picked it up the stitching and zip felt robust in the shop.
One side of the cover has been treated with Simba’s Stratos cool touch technology. You can quickly tell which side this is because it feels distinctly cooler and slightly sleeker to the touch. The idea is this side will draw excess heat away from the skin to help you stay at a more comfortable temperature through the night. The other side has a simpler cotton finish if you prefer a more neutral texture.
The cover is removable and machine washable at 40°C, and the whole thing can be tumble dried on low heat. Which means you can regularly freshen the surface without disrupting the inner filling that you have carefully adjusted to your preference. The pillow also comes in a reusable storage bag, which is a nice touch if you like to take your own pillow on holiday, and it has a 1 year guarantee if you want some purchase protection.
Finally, the Simba Stratos Pillow has been awarded MTick accreditation as a menopause friendly pillow and is endorsed by GenM for its potential to help with night sweats. It does not magically cure overheating, but it is a useful indication that the design has been approached with temperature regulation in mind.
Comfort & feel
In store, with the filling at its original level, the Simba Stratos Pillow felt like a medium to medium firm pillow with a fairly high loft. On my back, my head sank in slightly before being cushioned in a gentle cradle, rather than feeling like I was balancing on top or plummeting straight through. Side on, there was a decent height to bridge the gap between neck and mattress without feeling unduly hard.
The down like fibre clusters also give it a pleasingly squishy feel when you first settle down. You can plump it up by punching and patting into shape, and it springs back rather than collapsing into a pancake. It did not have the slow sinking sensation of memory foam, so if you love that slowly conforming, almost stuck in feel, this is a different experience. Instead here, the sensation is of a soft cloud like surface with a supportive core.
Given you can remove the Simba Renew filling, the comfort range is quite broad. At full it suits those who like a taller, more robust pillow. Remove a little and it softens and lowers a touch, which in my brief test felt better for back sleeping if you prefer your head closer to the mattress. Remove more still and you can create a much slimmer, squishier pillow that will be more comfortable for front sleepers who need minimal loft under the neck.
I only had a chance to try it over a short time in store so I can’t comment on weeks and months of nightly use, but the repeated lie down, get up and fluff back into shape it performed well. No obvious clumping or lumpy feel and the outer quilting helped keep the surface feeling even.
Performance & support
For side sleepers, the key support is to get the height right. As supplied, I found the Simba Stratos offered a decent amount of lift under the head and neck, and is on a par with a similarly priced premium Hypnos or Relyon fibre pillow in store. If you have broad shoulders you will likely like the default loft. If you are narrow shouldered and long necked, removing a little of the fibre will bring the neck into a more natural line.
Back sleepers in my opinion will do best with a medium fill level. At full it was verging on a touch high for some backs, with the chin nudged slightly towards the chest. Take out a couple of handfuls and it settles into a more natural position where your head feels gently supported without being propped up.
Front sleepers are always the most challenging to accommodate as most pillows are simply too high. Here is where the adjustability really proves its worth. Being able to remove as much of the filling as needed means you can go right down to a much lower loft, which should help keep the neck in a more neutral position. In store, after squeezing and compressing by hand imagining half or more of the fibres removed, it was easy to imagine it working well for stomach sleeping too.
The only trade off with a loose fibre design is that it will need the odd fluff and plump to keep the support feeling even. If you are the sort of person who hates touching a pillow and wants it to look exactly as it did the night before every morning, a solid foam style is probably better. But if you don’t mind an adjustable soft support that you can fiddle with to your liking, it does as it says on the tin.
Temperature regulation
This is the big USP for the Simba Stratos Pillow. The Stratos treated side has a very noticeably cool feel when you first touch it, even in the warm lights of the showroom. When I lay my cheek on that side, the cool touch effect was clear and distinct, and not something you get from standard cotton pillows. It is not an icy blast, just a subtle but tangible coolness that helps offset body heat.
The loose fibre construction helps with temperature too. Instead of a dense block of foam that can hold heat, the airy polyester clusters have little air pockets between them, which should let heat and moisture escape more easily. Paired with the cotton cover, this ought to make it more comfortable for hot sleepers than dense non breathable foam pillows.
Its MTick accreditation as a menopause friendly pillow is based on its potential to help with night sweats, and between the cool touch surface and overall build, it certainly comes across as a sensible option if overheating is one of your main concerns. You will still want breathable bedding and a suitable duvet to complete the setup, but as a cooling pillow it makes a convincing case.
Practical features
On the practical front the Simba Stratos Pillow is well considered. The zip off cover makes cleaning it a breeze, as you can machine wash the outer layer at 40°C and tumble dry on low without having to disturb the filling. That is especially useful if you have allergies or suffer with night sweats and want to wash your bedding regularly.
The included reusable storage bag is more than a marketing pitch. If you travel a lot and like to take your own pillow, it is a neat way to keep it clean in the car or suitcase. The extra little bag for spare fibres is a neat detail which keeps loft adjustment simple and also allows you to store the removed fill if you later change your mind and want to add some back in.
There is also the eco benefit of the Simba Renew filling being 100% recycled polyester, which adds a bit of sustainability angle that is not present with standard hollowfibre. That said, if you prefer natural fillings such as feather, down or wool, this is fully synthetic construction and will not satisfy that particular preference.
The 1 year guarantee is reassuring if fairly standard in this price range. The pillow is sold as a single unit rather than a pair, so kitting out a double with two Simba Stratos Pillows takes you to about £120 at full price. There are regular offers on Simba and other pillows at Bensons, but at full RRP this is definitely a considered purchase rather than a budget option.
Who it suits
Hot sleepers and those dealing with night sweats should have this pillow on their shortlist. The cool touch Stratos side feels genuinely refreshing, and the loose fibre fill should help avoid the sticky overheated sensation that some solid foam pillows can generate.
Back and side sleepers who like a medium to high loft pillow will do well with it, particularly if they are happy to play around with the fill level to dial in their ideal height. The default loft in store was a good all round medium firm for me, but tweak it to your needs.
Front sleepers who struggle to find a low enough pillow will appreciate the ability to strip out a lot of filling and create a slimmer, softer pad, which is very hard to do with fixed height pillows.
Shoppers looking for a premium synthetic pillow with a good quality feel will also be well catered for. In hand and under the head it has the heft and feel of other well known branded pillows in the same price bracket, such as Hypnos or Relyon, and the finishing touches are in keeping with that bracket.
Who it does not suit
If you are on a tight budget , the Simba Stratos Pillow will likely feel over budget, especially if you need more than one. You can pick up basic hollowfibre pillows for a tiny fraction of the cost, albeit without the cooling tech or loft adjustment.
If you are a fan of solid memory foam , you may well find it too soft and squishy. It does not give the slow contouring hug that memory foam pillows offer around the neck, and some people really prefer that type of support.
If you hate faff , the whole idea of having to remove and add fibres to adjust the loft will probably not appeal. You can use it as is straight out of the bag, but to really get the most out of it you do need to fiddle with the filling and that takes a bit of time and experimentation.
If you want natural fillings like feather, down or wool, this fully synthetic, recycled polyester design will not scratch that itch, even though it is more eco conscious than standard hollowfibre.
Final verdict
Based on my in store testing, the Simba Sleep Stratos Pillow comes across as a well made, thoughtfully designed cooling pillow that feels like it is worth the premium price for the right person. The construction feels solid, the Simba Renew recycled filling offers a good balance of softness and support and the adjustable loft means it can be tuned to suit almost any sleeping position.
The real star though is the Stratos cool touch surface which has a noticeably cool feel to the touch on contact and, in tandem with the breathable build, should be more comfortable for hot sleepers and those experiencing night sweats. Add in the washable cover, reusable storage bag, menopause friendly accreditation and 1 year guarantee, and you have a well rounded package.
Undeniably it is a little pricey for a single pillow, but not out of line with other branded cooling or hotel style pillows from familiar names like Hypnos and Relyon. If you just want something cheap to shove in a spare room guest bed, this is overkill. If, however, you are prepared to invest in a specific cooling pillow with adjustable comfort and a high end feel, the Simba Stratos Pillow is a strong, cool headed choice.
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