Panda Cloud Bamboo Duvet Review
A synthetic duvet under a bamboo cover, and the useful thing here is how to compare duvets at all.
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Verdict
A synthetic duvet under a bamboo cover, and the useful thing here is how to compare duvets at all. Tog describes warmth and says nothing about weight, breathability or how long it will last, and those are what separate a good duvet from a bad one at the same tog.
Buy it if
You want a washable, allergy-friendly duvet and you have matched the tog to your bedroom rather than the season.
Avoid it if
You want the lightest duvet at a given warmth. High fill power down does that better than any synthetic.
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| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Fill | Synthetic, washable |
| Cover | Bamboo-derived fabric |
| Tog | Describes warmth only. Not weight, breathability or longevity. |
| Washability | Machine washable, which down usually is not |
| Choose tog for | Your bedroom, not the season |
The scores
A sound washable duvet, and tog is the least informative thing on the label.
Reasonable. Cheaper than down and washable, which down is not.
Warm enough, with more weight than a premium down duvet needs.
Better than a cheap polyester duvet under a bamboo cover. Short of down.
The genuine argument for a synthetic duvet.
Synthetic fills compact over years. Expect to replace sooner than down.
Adequate. Worth checking against your own requirements.
Heavier than high fill power down for the same warmth.
Tog is the least useful number on a duvet
Tog measures thermal resistance and nothing else. Two duvets at 10.5 tog keep you equally warm and can be completely different products.
Weight. Reaching a given tog with a light, lofty fill produces a duvet that drapes. Reaching it with a dense fill produces one that presses down. Some people like the second and most do not, and tog does not tell you which you are buying.
Breathability. A duvet that traps moisture feels clammy and therefore hot, regardless of its tog. The sensation people describe as too warm is usually humidity rather than temperature.
Longevity. Synthetic fills compact and clump with use and washing. A duvet that was 10.5 tog when new is less than that after five years, and it does not announce it.
For down, the figure that does the work is fill power, which measures how much space a given weight of down occupies. High fill power reaches a tog with less weight. Most retailers do not print it.
Choose tog for your bedroom, not the season
Seven to 10.5 is the useful range
The standard advice is a 4.5 tog for summer and a 13.5 for winter. That advice predates modern insulation.
A well-insulated flat or a newer house frequently does not drop far enough at night to need 13.5, and people end up throwing off a duvet they paid extra for. Seven to 10.5 tog is the most broadly useful single duvet for a UK home.
And the point worth repeating: if you wake up hot, change the duvet before you blame the mattress. It costs a fraction as much and it is more often the cause.
If your bedroom genuinely swings, an all-season set of two duvets that button together gives three warmth levels from one purchase, and the two can be used separately, one each.
Washing a duvet properly
The argument for a synthetic duvet is that it goes in the machine. That only helps if your machine takes it.
Roughly a 7kg drum manages a single, 8 to 9kg a double, and you want 10kg or more for a king. A duvet absorbs a great deal of water and gets much heavier wet, so a drum that fits it dry may not spin it.
Dry it thoroughly, with a couple of clean tennis balls to break up clumping, and give it longer than you think. A duvet put away damp will go musty from the inside and there is no fixing it.
A correction worth making
Commonly repeated, and wrong
Duvets are compared on tog, which measures thermal resistance and nothing else. Two duvets at the same tog can differ completely in weight, breathability and how long they hold that rating. A duvet that traps moisture feels clammy and therefore hot regardless of its tog, and synthetic fills compact with use so a 10.5 tog duvet is less than that after five years without announcing it. For down, fill power is the figure that does the work, and most retailers do not print it.
Should you buy it?
Yes if you want a washable, allergy-friendly duvet, and check your machine capacity because the whole argument rests on it.
Choose 7 to 10.5 tog for your bedroom rather than the season. And if you wake up hot, change the duvet before blaming the mattress.
Questions people ask
Does tog tell me how good a duvet is?
Only how warm it is. Two duvets at the same tog can differ completely in weight, breathability and how long they hold that rating. A duvet that traps moisture feels clammy and therefore hot regardless of its tog.
What tog duvet should I buy?
Seven to 10.5 for most UK homes. The 4.5 and 13.5 pairing predates modern insulation, and a well-insulated home frequently never drops far enough at night to need 13.5.
How do I wash a duvet?
Check your machine takes it: roughly 7kg for a single, 8 to 9kg for a double, 10kg or more for a king. Dry it thoroughly with clean tennis balls to break up clumping, because a duvet put away damp goes musty from the inside.