Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw review: helped me sleep comfortably during a heatwave

RRP: £45 | Check price at Amazon

How I tested

I tested the Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw over two months in my own home, including two separate heatwaves.

I used it every night instead of my usual duvet in a bedroom without air conditioning, where temperatures ranged from 23°C to 28°C. During testing I paid particular attention to how comfortable it felt throughout the night, whether it stayed in place while I slept, how useful the reversible design was and how well it held up after washing.

Related: Best cooling blankets

My verdict

I'm not someone who expects cooling bedding to work miracles. If your bedroom is 28°C, you're still going to know about it. But after using the Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw through two heatwaves, I found it made a noticeable difference.

The biggest change was that I stopped feeling like my bedding was adding to the problem. I still had something cosy over me, but I didn't get that heavy, sweaty effect I usually get with a duvet on hot nights.

The silky cooling side feels lovely when you first get into bed, while the cotton jersey reverse is softer once you've cooled down. I also ended up using both sides far more than I expected, turning it over during the night depending on how warm I felt.

What surprised me most, though, was that it actually feels like proper bedding. I've tried lightweight cooling blankets before and they've often felt too flimsy to replace a duvet. This doesn't. It has enough weight to feel comforting without feeling heavy, and it stayed in place all night instead of slowly sliding off the bed.

If you usually give up on your duvet every summer but still want something over you while you sleep, I'd happily recommend it.

Why I wanted to try the Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw

As someone who naturally sleeps hot, I'm always slightly sceptical of products that promise a cooler night's sleep. I already use bamboo sheets and a silk pillowcase because they help me stay comfortable, so my expectations were fairly high.

What interested me about the Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw was that it isn't trying to be another lightweight cooling blanket. It's designed to replace your duvet altogether during warmer weather, which sounded much more useful to me.

Read next: Best cooling towel

What's it actually like to sleep under?

The first thing that struck me was the quality. It feels much nicer than I expected for the price.

One side has a silky, cool-touch finish that feels genuinely refreshing when you first climb into bed. The other is a soft cotton jersey that's a bit cosier without feeling overly warm. Although the cooling side is made from synthetic fibres, it never felt plasticky or slippery.

I swapped my duvet for the throw throughout both heatwaves, and I quickly found it was about the right thickness for sleeping in warm weather. It gave me the comforting feeling of sleeping under a blanket without making me feel like I was wrapped up in something that was holding onto heat.

One thing I hadn't expected was how useful the reversible design would be. Most nights I'd start with the cooling side against me, then sometimes turn it over later once the room cooled down. It sounds like a small thing, but I ended up doing it quite often.

I also appreciated the weight. It's substantial enough to stay put overnight, which isn't something I can say about some of the thinner cooling blankets I've tried. Those usually end up in a heap on the floor by morning. This one stayed where I'd left it.

After two months of use, I machine washed the throw. It dried overnight and still felt just as soft afterwards, with no noticeable change to the cooling fabric.

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Does it actually keep you cool?

My bedroom doesn't have air conditioning, so it wasn't exactly an easy test. During the review period, temperatures ranged from 23°C to 28°C. I slept with the window open and a fan running, but there was only so much either could do.

The cooling effect is strongest when you first get into bed. Sliding underneath the silky side genuinely feels refreshing after walking into a warm bedroom. As the night goes on, that cool-touch feeling becomes less obvious, although I'm not convinced that's because the fabric stops working. I suspect you simply stop noticing it after a while.

Either way, I slept better than I normally do during very hot weather. I still got warm on the hottest nights because the room itself was warm, but I never found myself kicking the bedding off because it felt too much.

For me, that's probably the biggest compliment I can give it.

Read next: Best cooling blanket

Is it worth the money?

At £45, I think the Silentnight Restore Cooling Throw is priced fairly.

It isn't going to turn a hot bedroom into a cool one, and I'd be suspicious of any product that claimed otherwise. What it does do is make sleeping in a warm room much more comfortable than sleeping under a standard duvet.

The quality feels excellent, it washed well during testing and it folds away neatly once summer is over.

If you want something to use alongside your duvet all year, I'd probably choose a thinner cooling blanket to use as a layer instead. But if you're looking for something to replace your duvet when the temperature climbs, I think this is the better option.

I'll certainly be getting it back out the next time we have a heatwave, which is probably the strongest recommendation I can give.

About the author

Poppy O'Neill is a Content Editor at Mumsnet and a mother of two. She researches and reviews the products Mumsnetters swear by, with a particular focus on home essentials like steam irons, vacuum cleaners and heated throws.

From a highly recommended retractable washing line to the best quiet fans money can buy, and Mumsnet's favourite dehumidifier to the steam generator iron that'll cut your ironing time in half, she loves to deep-dive into research and find the very best products on the market.