Cubs Insider Takes the MyPillow vs. GhostPillow Challenge
If you’ve listened to 670 The Score for more than 5 minutes in the last year, you’ve no doubt heard all manner of ads for sleep products. Chief among those commodities for catching Z’s are the GhostBed and the MyPillow, both of which are hawked with varying degrees of fervor by numerous radio personalities. It’s kind of a running joke on the Twitters, but the repetitive nature of the adds eventually wore me down.
I’m not sure whether the claims that you should replace a mattress every 8 years is legit or whether — like changing your oil every 3,000 miles or brushing your teeth twice a day — it’s just a myth conjured up to sell more mattresses. Either way, our 10-year-old pillowtop had been looking a little rough for a while and my wife had mentioned getting a new one. As you may be aware, mattresses aren’t exactly cheap.
[beautifulquote align=”right”]I’m not ashamed to admit that the idea of opening up a rolled, folded, vacuum-sealed mattress factored in my decision.[/beautifulquote]So there I was, lying on said aged mattress and listening to The Score’s Mark Grote talk about how great the GhostBed is and how he’s previously spend thousands on other mattresses (I believe it because radio guys make even more than bloggers, as hard as that might be to believe). I checked the site and liked what I saw in terms of both the construction and cost of the beds (they’re well under $1,000 and they even do no-interest financing; also, you can get $50 off by clicking here). Plus, it shows up to your front door in a box. As a fan of gimmicks and gadgets, I’m not ashamed to admit that the idea of opening up a rolled, folded, vacuum-sealed mattress factored more than a little in my decision.
Comfort was obviously paramount, but my wife would be fine sleeping on piece of plywood with an egg crate laid over it, so I wasn’t too worried about how it would work. The mattress arrived in pretty short order (it’s still amzing to me that the fit a mattress in a box that small) and we got it unwrapped and onto the box spring. Truth be told, the “inflation” was a little underwhelming, though it was still cool to see how the whole thing was packaged. It’s more firm than the old bed and it’s taken some getting used to, but I have slept like a rock every night since we switched.
So now I’ve started thinking of getting some new pillows and I goofed around on Twitter, eventually pitting the ubiquitous MyPillow against GhostPillow (as in the makers of the bed). Both agreed to hook me up — representatives from both outfits were really cool and I enjoyed my interactions with them — for the purposes of a trial between the two, so I decided to test out the products and weigh in on which I preferred.
I want to stress here that I’m not getting anything out of this beyond the pillows. Neither outfit is paying me for any advertising or anything. Well, there’s a referral bonus on the GhostBed, but that’s available to anyone who buys one. Just wanted to get that out of the way.
The MyPillow felt a little odd at first due to the nature of the proprietary “three-piece interlocking fill.” I’m a stomach sleeper, so I was worried that the pieces of foam would feel weird and bumpy against the side of my face. Those fears were quickly alleviated, however, as I couldn’t really detect any irregularities. I mean, I could tell that it wasn’t a solid-state deal, just that it wasn’t off-puttingly odd.
The pillow had a fair amount of give but was very supportive once it settled, which was nice. I loathe the fluffy marshmallows you find in hotels all the time, but I don’t like the really firm slab pillows either. In that regard, the MyPillow was a a nice compromise.
[beautifulquote align=”right”]The MyPillow conformed to my head regardless of what position I was in.[/beautifulquote]My first two nights of sleep were great and I liked the way the pillow conformed to my head regardless of what position I was in. It sprang back when I shifted, cradling my head and neck the whole time. I have found that I have to sleep more toward the corner of most pillows, lest they puff up around my face and cover my mouth and nose to some degree. That was not the case with the MyPillow, which I could adjust easily.
Sarah, my wife, did not feel the same way about the MyPillow, which she felt was too insubstantial for her. Unlike me, she’s a side-sleeper and uses two pillows at night. And one of those has been a reasonably dense memory foam deal, so the switch didn’t really suit her. I suspected she might enjoy the GhostPillow better.
If I was judging strictly on packaging, the GhostPillow would have won hands down. It came in a distinct white box with a big logo. The cardboard was pretty heavy duty too, giving the immediate impression that what was inside was valuable. The heat and humidity of the afternoon meant that the pillow felt as though it had been lying in a steam room for a while, which was less than ideal. That quickly went away and I noticed that when I squeezed, cool air flowed through it.
[beautifulquote align=”right”]The GhostPillow feels like an absolute dream.[/beautifulquote]I was very much looking forward to taking this bad boy for a test sleep, but I discovered rather quickly that things weren’t perfect. The GhostPillow feels like an absolute dream: it’s firm but supple, cool and soft, very substantial. I wanted soooo badly to love it, I really did. Given my sleep position, however, I found that head was elevated a bit more than I preferred and that my mouth and nose turned too far into the pillow. As such, I had to sleep on the corner. Halfway through the night, I had to make the GhostPillow vanish.
But wouldn’t you know it, my wife adored the GhostPillow. She slept like a baby and raved about it the following morning, loving the firm support it provided. I’m sure I could grow to love it too, though I’m not willing to deal with taking it back from my wife. In fact, after falling asleep on her old pillow the next night, she woke up and immediately switched back to the GhostPillow. When I checked this morning, the old pillow was on the floor, its case placed on the GP (I had used Avengers and Spider-Man cases for the trial).
[beautifulquote align=”right”]Your individual sleep style and preferences are going to dictate which you will enjoy.[/beautifulquote]So which would I recommend to Cubs Insider readers? I don’t want this to sound like a cop-out, but I have to say both. It’s not that I want to avoid rendering a verdict, just that I think your individual sleep style and preferences are going to dictate which you will enjoy. Stomach-sleepers or those who like just a single pillow may prefer the adjustable fill of the MyPillow, while those who sleep on their sides or who double up might opt for the GhostPillow. To be honest, I really don’t think you can go wrong here either way. The MyPillow is my pillow, the GhostPillow is my wife’s. Boom.
Just be aware that good sleep ain’t cheap. MyPillow is running a 2-for-1 special, but it’s still $99.97 for a pair of queens. They also have a variety of other sizes, along with pillowcases, sheets, etc. The GhostPillows are a little saltier at $85 apiece, but they offer free shipping and a 101-day trial (MyPillow has a 60-day money-back guarantee).
What started out as me kind of cracking a joke about all the ads on Cubs radio turned into my wife and I getting some of the best sleep we’ve ever had. It’s funny how you don’t really think about that too much, but I’ve noticed a big difference in how I feel in the mornings since getting the new mattress and pillows. And it’s not about how much, but how quickly, deeply, and fitfully my slumber has been. That’s especially true when the Cubs have played into the wee hours, keeping me up much later than I’d prefer.
So click one of the links above and buy one of these pillows. Better yet, buy both and try them for yourself. I’m willing to guarantee that you’ll love at least one of them.
Do you have either a MyPillow or GhostPillow? Let me know your thoughts.
