Not all down is created equal, and higher quality down can lead to more comfort and better sleep. It would be nice if the nebulous concept of “quality” could be reduced to a single number. It’s not possible, but there are a couple of metrics you can use to better evaluate the quality of your pillow.
The first is fill the power. This measures the amount of air trapped in a single ounce of feathers. If one ounce of down (uncompressed) takes up 500 cubic inches, then it has a fill power of 500. This factor contributes to how fluffy the down is, as well as how much heat it traps. It can be difficult to trust this figure, because some products, such as down-filled jackets, are designed to retain heat, so the higher the fill power, the better.
With pillows, on the other hand, while more fill power means more fluffiness, it can also mean more heat is trapped, leading to an endless search for the cool side of the pillow. In some cases, you will find that pillow manufacturers have stopped including the fill number in their descriptions, specifically to avoid this confusion.
That’s where fill weight come in. This can often be confused with fill power, but instead refers to how a lot Down is in the pillow and is measured in ounces. So, for example, a pillow with a lower fill weight might have 12 ounces of down, while a pillow with a higher fill weight might have 20 ounces. Both fill the power and Fill weight can contribute to how fluffy or firm a pillow is.
Most pillow manufacturers will avoid displaying any of these numbers too prominently and instead offer selections for two or three levels of support. While we take these factors into consideration during testing, the best thing you can do when purchasing any pillow is to consider how you sleep (on your side, back, etc.) and choose the fill level that is most likely to support your head and neck. supported body. the way that suits you best.