The Sierra Designs DriDown is a compressible pillow with some great features, overshadowed by a few drawbacks. It's comprised of a polyester pillow and an outer shell with a down topper. The down filling helps reduce the weight of this pillow and provides a very soft pillow top. So soft, in fact, that the pillow flattens out over the course of the night, giving little support. It also heats up quickly, making it less useful in the summertime. For sleepers who prefer a thin pillow, though, this could be a great choice.
Sierra Designs DriDown Pillow Review
This model is soft, small, and best for stomach sleepers who prefer flat pillows.
Price: $30 List | $22.46 at Backcountry
Compare prices at 2 resellers Pros: Soft surface, easy to use, versatile
Cons: Little support, gets warm quickly, flattens overnight
Manufacturer: Sierra Designs
Compare prices at 2 resellers Pros: Soft surface, easy to use, versatile
Cons: Little support, gets warm quickly, flattens overnight
Manufacturer: Sierra Designs
By Ross Robinson ⋅ Senior Review Editor ⋅ May 31, 2019
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Our Verdict
Compare to Similar Products
Our Analysis and Test Results
Performance Comparison
Quality construction is definitely there with this pillow, as we have found with many products from Sierra Designs. However, most of our testers found that this pillow missed the target of nighttime comfort.
Comfort
In terms of texture, the DriDown is very appealing right out of the box. It has a nice feel, is crafted with care, and feels great in your hands. The silky ripstop shell incorporates a quilted, 650-fill down, which gives the pillow a nice overall feel. When put to the test, however, the pillow performed just barely above average for comfort. The key reason is minimal padding, provided by the system's inner pillow, which compresses easily during the night. Additionally, the down topper retains heat. Some of our reviewers, who prefer cool pillows, felt this was a significant drawback. We like the pillow, but we wish it pushed back a little when it came to overnight, consistent support.
Soft and cozy, yes. But it also heats up quickly once you lay your head upon it.
Weight
In this metric, each pillow was weighed separately and then scored accordingly for weight. The Dridown landed right in the middle. Its lightweight blend of polyester and down is adequate for a backpacking trip. However, for trekkers more conscious about weight, this pillow may be on the heavier side when considering the pillows we tested, which are half the weight and offer far more support.
To reduce the weight and packed size of this pillow, pack only the outer shell and leave the inner pillow at home. Once at your campsite, stuff the shell with extra clothes, and you'll still have a duck down pillow top. We actually found this option provided a more supportive/dense pillow than the default version of the pillow. In this setup, it closely resembles the Therm-a-Rest Down Pillow.
Removing the pillow insert allows backpackers to cut weight and volume by stuffing the DriDown with extra clothes or jackets.
Ease of Use
Earning its highest marks for ease of use, the Dridown stuffs and unstuffs easily into its stuff sack and requires virtually no setup. Its smaller design allows the pillow to fit nicely into the hood of any mummy bag. That said, the silky rip-stop shell resembles the material used for sleeping bag shells, resulting in a slippery combination. We lost our Dridown more than once during night. Additionally, down doesn't wash easily, so this pillow requires a little extra care when cleaning the exterior shell.
While the Sierra Designs pillow is easy to use, you can notice the oily imprint left on the outer shell after a few days of use.
Packed Size
After calculating the packed volume for each of the pillows we reviewed, the Dridown is in the middle of the road for packed size, just where it landed in our weight rankings. Overall, this pillow is an average performer when it comes to packability and weight. Being a compressible pillow, it's important to note the Dridown packs tighter than any of the other compressible versions we examined. In part, this is due to its use of down. The major reason is the inner pillow simply doesn't have a lot of fill. As mentioned, you can leave the inner pillow at home and stuff this model with extra clothing from your pack to reduce packed size and weight.
The moderate packed size of the DriDown model. If you have a compression sack for your sleeping bag, we recommend tossing this pillow inside to save a bit of pack space.
Support
This pillow provides the least support of all contenders in this review. Throughout the night, the DriDown pillow flattens out to be quite thin. That said, the manufacturer didn't seem to cut any corners in its construction. It's well-made and has a great feel. Simply put, the DriDown is a very basic pillow with lower amounts of fluff. The result is a thinner pillow without much support. Thin-pillow lovers just might be in heaven with this pillow. For more support, consider pretty much any other model in this review.
The Sierra Designs' duck down and polyester fillers don't provide a great deal of support, especially for side and back sleepers.
Value
The DriDown model offers moderate value. Its versatility, low weight, and small packed size make it suitable for more than just car camping. Yet, it might only satisfy specific sleepers regarding comfort.
Eric Morken packs up the DriDown pillow into its stuff sack at a lakeside campsite in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.
Conclusion
With its highly-touted duck down filling, we expected the Sierra Designs DriDown to be a real luxury item. However, it fell to the middle of the pack in nearly every scoring metric. Although we like this pillow, it doesn't perform as well as the other products included in this review.
— Ross Robinson