Down comforters
The version of The Company Store’s Legends Hotel Premium Alberta Down Comforter (a former pick) that we most recently tested was of much lower quality than those we’ve tested in the past. And all of our picks felt and performed better. We also tried the Alberta comforter’s Light option, and it felt too thin.
The shell of The Company Store’s Legends Hotel Organic Cotton Down Comforter felt like it was made from very low-quality cotton, and the stitching looked shoddy. It was lofty but also heavy on our bodies.
The Snowe Down Comforter lacked a lot of the loft that made an earlier version great. The diminished quality, along with issues we’ve had with Snowe’s customer service in the past, make it hard to recommend this comforter.
We liked how light and warm the Parachute Down Duvet Insert felt during our preliminary tests in 2017. But at that time, it was more expensive than any of our picks. Now, it’s similar in price to a lot of comforters we like, so we may retest it.
The Casper Down Duvet is constructed with long, horizontal boxes that will almost definitely lead to uneven fill distribution and cold spots. Plus, its shell was noisy.
The Company Store’s Company Conscious Down Comforter is made with a mix of recycled down and brand-new down (also called “virgin” down). We love the idea of recycled down, but this comforter ended up shedding terribly. After using it for about two weeks, I started to remove the duvet cover, and the fluff tumbling out onto my bedroom floor was so prolific I had to take the whole thing outside. I also had to turn the duvet cover inside out and shake out a significant amount of down before washing it.
The L.L.Bean Classic Colors Down Comforter has 600 fill power and great reviews, but it’s so thin that it feels more like a summer-weight comforter.
Cuddledown’s 700 Fill Power Sateen Down Comforter felt too small and cool, and Cuddledown’s 600 Fill Power Primary Down Comforter was a skimpy 88 by 92 inches. It’s expensive considering it doesn’t have a true sewn-through design—the stitching stops 2 inches before the edge, allowing the down to shift around the edges.
In past years we have also tested the following now-discontinued comforters: the Allied Home Deluxe White Down Comforter, the Target Fieldcrest Comforters (the mid-weight was a former budget pick), the IKEA Hönsbär and Sötvedel comforters, the Crane & Canopy Classic Goose Down Comforter, the Balichun Goose Down Comforter, and the Downlite Hotel & Resort European Down Comforter.
Down-alternative comforters
The Company Store’s LaCrosse Premium LoftAIRE Down Alternative Light To Medium Warmth Comforter is the down-alternative version of the split “light to medium” down comforter in our Other good comforters section. It costs as much as many real down comforters we tried, but in past tests it ran much warmer and didn’t breathe nearly as well as the Utopia.
Riley’s Down Alternative Comforter felt as light as many down comforters we’ve tried. Its shell was noisy, though, and the polyester fill was flatter than that of other comforters.
Rest’s Evercool Cooling Comforter is cool on the skin if you’re a hot sleeper, but very thin and slippery. It also needs to be directly against the skin to best feel that cooling effect. We think it’s really more of a blanket than a comforter, and we recommend it in the Other good blankets section of that guide.
We tested the Buffy Cloud and Breeze comforters, but they were both extremely heavy and didn’t breathe at all—we woke up drenched in sweat
The Snowe Down Alternative Comforter felt too warm during our preliminary rounds of testing, and one of our testers noted that theirs had a slight vinegar smell.
We eliminated the Linenspa Down Alternative Microfiber Comforter early in our tests because its outer shell felt awful right out of the bag. Also, the comforter was heavy and felt flat.
In past years we also tested the now-discontinued JCPenney Home Classic Light-Warmth Down Alternative Reversible Comforter, the Costco SleepBetter Beyond Down Alternative Comforter, Bed Bath & Beyond’s Microfiber Down Alternative Comforter, the Target Warmest Down Alternative Comforter by Fieldcrest, and Target’s Made by Design Down Alternative Comforter.
Wool comforters
Authenticity50’s Comfort Temp Duvet is one of only two wool comforters we’ve tried so far, and we preferred the weight and feel of the pricier Coyuchi Climate Beneficial Wool Duvet Insert. This duvet has also had significant stock problems.
This article was edited by Daniela Gorny and Christine Ryan.
