Bensons for Beds Review: Pure Indulgence Mattress Comparison

The Bensons for Beds Pure indulgence is a pillow top mattress that is also listed as a natural fibre mattress containing Bamboo, Alpaca, Pashmina and British Highland wool. However, as is usually the case the amounts of these layers is not disclosed, making it very difficult for us to say exactly what’s inside. Without knowing the GSM of a mattress it’s really a guessing game for both us, the mattress experts and you the consumer when trying to compare mattresses.

We have compared the Bensons for Beds Indulgence to our Artisan Naturals model to show you how to undertake a side by side mattress comparison.

Bensons for Beds Review

Let’s see what analysis we can carry out though with the details they provide on their website on this ‘Premium divan bed set handcrafted by Staples‘:

• Extravagant pillow top incorporates layers of coarse and soft wool for extra support and comfort
• 2900 premium pocketed springs to give ultimate support
• Sumptuous layers of Natural Bamboo, Alpaca, Pashmina and British Highland Wool
• Upholstered in fine Belgian fabric
• Posture Perimeter Plus for true edge-to-edge support
• Made in Britain
• Exclusive to Bensons For Beds
• 5-year guarantee

Extravagant Pillow Top

The pillow top means this mattress is a non-turn model. The retail price for this King size mattress is £1349 at Benson’s for Beds as of June 2018.

Pillow top mattresses have become increasingly popular in the past few years, It is likely that you are seeing them advertised everywhere if you are searching for a new mattress. Before choosing a pillow top mattress, however, you should consider both the benefits and the drawbacks.

Pillow Top Benefits

Pillow top mattresses have an extra layer of padding between the sleeper and the springs within the mattress giving the user a softer layer to sink into.

Pillow Top Failings

Pillow top mattresses cannot be flipped. The Pure Indulgence model is a single sided mattress. Single sided mattresses still require rotation although they do not need turning. Single sided pillow top mattresses are well known for creating indentations. The biggest downfall is once this happens there is no way to resolve the problem because you cannot remove that top layer in the same way you could with a mattress topper, so essentially when that top layer loses its shape your whole mattress is done for, hence why the life expectancy is a lot shorter at 5 years compared to our Artisan Naturals model that comes with a 10 year guarantee.

2900 Pocket Springs

Bensons for beds lists the number of pocket springs in this mattress which helps give you an idea of the responsivity of the mattress. A rule of thumb is that a king-size mattress should at least have 1000 pocket springs moving up to 2000 in a kingsize. 2000 is the maximum springs you can contain within a kingsize. Another rule of thumb is the lower the spring count the thicker the wire vs the higher the thinner the wire so they can take up the same space of the mattress. i.e the space inside a kingsize mattress is fixed so the wire thickness has to change to accommodate this dependent on the number of springs.

Wire thickness has a bearing on the tension of the mattress. We go into that at great lengths here though on our pocket spring article. A heavier sleeper will require more support than say a lighter sleeper and the number of springs has a marked effect on this.

So for the Bensons indulgence to have 2900 pocket springs will mean a dual-layer of springs, for example, 2000 regular pocket springs with another row of 900 on top micro-springs.

Without the spring gauge or tension, it is impossible to make any meaningful comparison. Secondly, Bensons don’t state what kind of pocket springs these are. Are they synthetic spun-bond cases or Calico? If they were Calico surely Bensons would list this as its a premium pocket spring?

Our Artisan Naturals features 1600 Vanadium coated Calico pocket springs that are hand-tied. We can provide these in either a soft, medium or firm spring gauge.

Layers of natural Bamboo, Alpaca, Pashmina and British Highland Wool

The Bensons Indulgence certainly sounds high end with the fibres listed. These natural fibres are both responsive and high wicking meaning that they are breathable. However, there’s no GSM listed which is a real shame as this makes any comparison impossible. Is there 1000GSM of Bamboo? 100GSM? Is it a blend or pure Bamboo? What is the GSM of the Highland Wool?

We have detailed here the benefits of natural fibres and what the expect from a price point. It’s important to note that some mattresses state they contain Alpaca for example but in reality, its such a meagre amount that it is worthless. Anything under 200GSM is going to be a thin layer that’s only in there so retailers can list the mattress as ‘containing’ said fibre.

You need to be able to compare like for like and below is our Artisan Naturals upholstery table listed with the GSM. We have seen evidence of some major bed retailers having tiny portions of natural fibres blended into polyester synthetic pads, just so they can claim their mattress contains ‘natural fibres’. Sometimes even multiple fibres in tiny amounts so they can claim multiple natural fibres. For example, you may see contains ‘Cashmere, Mohair, Bamboo and Wool’ when in reality its a small amount of each in one synthetic pad. This is why seeing the GSM is the only way to know.

We’re not for one minute saying Bensons undertake this practice. However, we are making consumers aware that the term ‘natural fibres’ can sometimes be misleading especially if its a blended fibre. If in doubt always ask the retailer to qualify and confirm the amounts.

Upholstered in fine Belgian fabric

There’s a vast market for mattress upholstery and covers ranging from natural cotton to synthetic stretch polyester. We have a really detailed guide here on whats out there. Again, without knowing whether its a damask, cotton, polycotton, viscose or synthetic polyester cover its impossible to compare.

We use a Belgian Damask Viscose cover on all of our Artisan range.

Posture Perimeter Plus for true edge-to-edge support

We’re guessing that this ‘perimeter plus’ is a row of firmer springs for a true edge. Again Bensons doesn’t tell you how many rows of these springs to be able to compare. Is it one row? Two?

We also zone the perimeter sides (2 rows) of the mattress with a slightly firmer spring than the main tension to aid the edge support. This stabilises the mattress when sitting on the edge.

All quality mattresses should have perimeter support, to stop any roll off or instability around the edge of the mattress.

Made in Britain

This is great to see. Not only does it support the UK mattress industry but it also means that the carbon trail of the mattress from Bensons will be significantly lower than a bed that’s been imported from either China or the middle east.

We manufacture our entire mattress range in Yorkshire, all made by Hand here in Great Britain.

Guarantee on the Bensons for Beds Pure Indulgence

The Bensons Pure Indulgence comes with a 5-year guarantee. Whereas our Artisan Naturals comes with a 10-year guarantee. Twice that of Bensons. We have written extensively about the difference between a warranty and guarantee so it’s important to read up on that to know what kind of guarantee you’re getting.