This pillow works ok as a regular memory-foam  pillow. I have originally purchased it for my husband, who said it did nothing in terms of cooling effect for him, so we swapped pillow, and I haven't noticed any benefits of the "ventilated gel memory foam " either (we live in Midwest).  The 'contour'/shape of the pillow is not noticeable at all (the profile needs to be more pronounced for a pillow this size ).
On the plus side: large size, feels like firm, nice memory-foam.