Verdict
For those that love a feather pillow but prefer a synthetic option, the Simba Hybrid pillow is for you. Its soft open-cell Nanocubes give softness and support, and you can take out any you don’t want in order to adjust the pillow’s feel and height. Excellent heat dissipation and a washable cover make this a brilliant alternative to feather pillows.
Pros
- Customisable height and softness
- Very comfortable
- Supportive
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FillingNancubes give a soft feather-like feel, and you can remove extra ones to adjust the pillow’s height and comfort. -
Trial30-night trial for all Simba pillows.
Introduction
I like the feel of feather pillows, but they’re not an option because of the way that animals are treated to collect the feathers.
For years, I’ve been hunting for a synthetic version that gives a similar experience, only cruelty-free. Finally, the Simba Hybrid Pillow delivers what I want.
Supremely comfortable, completely customisable and brilliant at maintaining its shape, this is the best pillow that I’ve ever used.
Design and filling
- Adjustable filling
- Chunky body
- Two-sided
Out of the box, the Simba Hybrid Pillow expands up into a super-chunky pillow. It’s so large in its default configuration that it’s almost too large to get into a regular pillowcase. In this configuration, the pillow is quite firm, yet it has a trick.
Open up the zip, and inside are the Nanocube fillings: open-cell foam cubes. Thanks to the mesh bag in the box, I could empty some of the Nanocubes, making the pillow slightly less firm and more attuned to my preferences.
Each Nanocube is a clever bit of engineering, compressing down when pressure is applied but springing back into its original shape when left alone.
As with the open-cell technology on Simba’s mattress products, such as the Simba Hybrid Pro, the Nanocells are designed to be comfortable and supportive while improving airflow.
Around the side of the pillow is a turquoise strip. With this side up, you sleep on the Stratos layer. Comprised of phase change material, it absorbs, stores and releases heat on demand, helping remove heat.
Flip the pillow over, and there’s a cotton top certified by the Better Cotton Initiative (BCI), a non-profit that’s there to improve the lives of the growers and the environment.
As it’s hard to see which way up the pillow is when inserted into a case, I recommend checking before making the bed up. Finally, there’s a microfibre layer that sits between the surface and the Nanocubes.
While the Nanocubes aren’t washable, the pillowcase is, as is the microfibre case for the cubes. Just find somewhere safe to store the cubes while you wash.
There’s a 30-night trial of this pillow, so you can give it a go for a decent period before you decide to keep it or return it.
Comfort
- Nice and bouncy
- Easy to fluff up
- Excellent heat control
From a pure comfort point of view, the Simba Hybrid Pillow is as close to a feather pillow as I think you can get with a synthetic fill. The Nanocubes gave a level of softness, and I gently sank into my pillow. It’s a far more comfortable and natural feeling, to me, than a harder memory foam pillow.
Unlike microfibre pillows, which tend to lose their shape and require a bit of fluffing, the Simba Hybrid Pillow largely retains its shape, springing back into position. After a few nights’ sleep, the pillow can sag a little, but I recommend giving it a shake and a fluff to get it back into its best position, reorganising the Nanocubes inside.
I measured my head at a height of 12cm from the mattress when lying on my side, which is about the right height for keeping my neck straight while sleeping. That’s a good combination: the pillow gives that sink-into feeling, yet is supportive enough to keep my neck straight. Of course, you can adjust the pillow to suit different preferences and sleeping positions.
I preferred this pillow on its Stratos heat-management size. Using a thermal camera, I took a picture after lying on the pillow for ten minutes, then a photo every minute after that. After four minutes, the outline of my head was virtually gone, showing that this pillow dissipated heat well.
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Should you buy it?
If you want a feather-like experience in a synthetic form, then this pillow is the best that you can get.
If you want something firmer and more supportive, then a traditional memory foam pillow might make more sense.
Final Thoughts
If you like everything about feather pillows but prefer a cruelty-free, anti-allergy option, then the Simba Hybrid Pillow is incredible. To me, this adjustable pillow gives the highest level of comfort and is the closest that man-made materials can get to giving a feather-like experience. After using this pillow extensively for weeks, I wouldn’t use any other.
How we test
We test every pillow we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main pillow for the review period
We use a thermal camera to see how quickly the pillow can dissipate heat for a comfortable night’s sleep.
We measure how far off the mattress our head is kept, to check how supportive the pillow is
We measure how far off the mattress our head is kept, to check how supportive the pillow is
FAQs
Yes, it’s extremely comfortable and the closest we’ve come to a feather pillow in synthetic form.
You can remove Nanocubes from the inside to adjust the firmness and pillow height.
Sustainability
TrustedReviews holds the fact that global warming is not a myth as a core value and will continuously endeavour to help protect our planet from harm in its business practices.
As part of this mission, whenever we review a product, we send the company a series of questions to help us gauge and make transparent the impact the device has on the environment.
We currently haven’t received answers to the questions on this product, but we will update this page the moment we do. You can see a detailed breakdown of the questions we ask and why in our sustainability info page.
