In-depth Comparison (2024): Weekender Ventilated Gel Memory Foam Pillow vs. Pacific Coast Double DownAround Pillow

Solid Memory Foam

The Weekender Ventilated Memory Foam Pillow is a good option for back-sleepers who want a firm pillow instead of a soft pillow, though I consider the pillow too firm to be comfortable for stomach-sleeping and side-sleeping. Like the Tempur-Pedic Tempur-Cloud, the Weekender is a solid memory foam pillow, but the contrast in materials is noticeable. The Weekender also isn't adjustable, unlike the Saybrook and Coop memory foam pillows.

I measure the loft at 5 inches, and the pillow barely compresses when I lay my head down passively. Though it compresses slightly more than the Pillow Cube, which is also a solid memory foam pillow, there is almost no compression compared to the Tempur-Pedic. I'd say the Tempur-Pedic is extra soft memory foam, the Weekender is extra firm, and the Pillow Cube is beyond-too-firm-for-my-taste. The firm support from the Weekender pillow feels pretty good when I sleep on my back, but the angle isn't quite right when I sleep on my side. Because the loft can't be adjusted, I don't recommend this pillow for side-sleepers. The firmness can also apply too much pressure against my face when sleeping on my side or stomach. This is uncomfortable for my jaw.

The memory foam comes with holes throughout the pillow, which provide ventilation. Solid memory foam pillows are in general the least breathable category of pillows, so the ventilation is meant to address that issue. Personally, I still feel heat trapped against my face, so the ventilation doesn't completely solve the problem.

Like the Tempur-Pedic, the Weekender pillow comes with a removable cover, but the cover is much thinner, which leads me to give it a lower score on perceived quality of construction. In combination with the pressure it applies against my face, the lower perceived quality of the materials leads me to recommend investing in a higher quality pillow since this is a purchase that will see regular use. However, for back-sleepers who are looking specifically for an extra firm pillow, the Weekender can be a great option.

Down and Feather

The Pacific Coast Double DownAround Pillow is a down and feather pillow that uses a double-chamber design like the Chamberlain Down Dual-Chamber Pillow. However, I see a huge difference in quality.

Most notably, even though the Pacific Coast pillow uses a dual-chamber design that keeps feathers in the inner chamber and down in the outer layer, I can still feel the quills from the feathers when I lie down. In contrast, the Chamberlain Down pillow feels like sleeping on air because the down layer feels more robust. I suspect this is because of a difference in the size of down clusters used by each pillow. The Pacific Coast website lists the down fill power, which measures the size of the down clusters, at 550 in the Double DownAround Pillow. The Chamberlain website lists the fill power at 600+, which means that the down clusters are larger in the Chamberlan Down Dual-Chamber Pillow. Larger clusters tend to be better at trapping air and providing loft.

In the Pacific Coast pillow I have, feathers are sticking out of the stitching along the seams, as shown in the picture below. This gives me low confidence in the construction quality of the pillow.

Another consideration is that I can hear a rustling noise inside the Pacific Coast pillow I have when I push down on it. The noise is relatively loud, and I'd compare it to the crinkling of a plastic grocery bag in terms of loudness and nature. The sound appears to originate from the inner chamber. Since a pillow is something I put my ear against when I sleep, the last adjective I'd want to use to describe it is "noisy." I can hear a crinkling in the Puredown pillow and Chamberlain Down pillow fabrics if I rustle them and concentrate on listening, but I wouldn't consider noise to be an issue for those two pillows. The Pacific Coast pillow I have is much louder to my ears and in a completely different league of noise.

The Pacific Coast Double DownAround Pillow comes in a Soft, Medium, and Firm version on their website as of my time of purchase. I ordered the pillow from Amazon, and I didn't see the firmness specified in the listing when I purchased. I ended up receiving the Soft version, which I prefer to use for stomach-sleeping. It's possible that the Medium and Firm versions can work for back-sleeping and side-sleeping, but based on my experience with the perceived construction quality of the Soft pillow, I don't intend to try the other options.

Finally, it's worth noting that the Pacific Coast pillow, like all down and feather pillows, would require regular fluffing to restore the loft. Because down and feather pillows work by trapping air, which escapes after an extended period of sleeping, down and feather pillows benefit from a fluff that pumps air back in.