Silentnight Airmax Pillow reviewed

The Silentnight Airmax Pillow is a hollowfibre pillow with breathable air mesh side walls, sold on Silentnight’s own shop from £17 for one pillow or £26 for a pair. Silentnight rates it medium and pitches it at side sleepers who run warm at night. It is one of the cheapest ways to get a pillow designed around airflow rather than a plain fibre pillow with a cotton-look cover.

How the Airmax is built

The filling is hollowfibre polyester. What sets it apart is the band of open mesh fabric that runs around all four sides instead of a closed gusset. Silentnight says this lets air move freely around your head, and its product page describes “Airmax technology” as a pocket of air between the layers. In plain terms, the fibre can breathe out through the sides each time you move your head, so heat has an exit that a fully enclosed pillow lacks.

Silentnight measures it at 69 x 46cm. That is a few centimetres smaller than the usual 74 x 48cm British pillow, so a standard pillowcase will sit slightly loose. The pillow is hypoallergenic and machine washable. Argos, which sells the same pillow, gives the care label as a 40°C wash with tumble drying allowed, and lists the pillow at 0.6kg.

Feel and temperature

We place it at 5 out of 10, a true medium. Hollowfibre gives a soft first touch and then packs down under the head, so the support comes from the loft rather than from a resilient core. For a side sleeper with average shoulders that works well in the first months. Heavier sleepers, or anyone with broad shoulders, will probably end up folding it or pairing it with a second pillow.

Temperature is the reason to buy it. The Sleep Charity puts the ideal bedroom at around 16 to 18°C and warns that temperatures over 24°C are likely to cause restlessness (The Sleep Charity, sleep environment). A pillow cannot cool a hot room, but mesh sides stop the pillow itself from becoming a heat store, which is what makes many cheap fibre pillows feel clammy by 3am.

One thing to know before you buy

Retailers do not describe this pillow consistently. Silentnight calls it medium and suited to side sleepers, while the Argos listing calls it soft and suited to front sleepers. We follow the maker, but if you sleep on your front and want a flat pillow, the Airmax is not the obvious choice either way.

Silentnight backs it with a 2-year warranty and delivers bedding in 2 to 3 working days, with free delivery on orders over £49. There is no trial. Bedding can only be returned within 14 days if it is unopened, so decide on the medium feel before you break the seal.