Which? Bed Reviews & how they pick mattresses to recommend?

Hi Simon,

Thanks for getting in touch and your kind words about our mattress information articles. We've got a combined 50 years worth of mattress making experience between us and we've been helping spread mattress education now for over 15 years. It can be a murky and sometimes misleading world when looking for a new mattress.

However, we feel with clear guidance on exactly what to look for you can apply our experience to any mattress and quickly assess its value, quality and suitability.

We're sorry to hear you've suffered from a failing Sensaform mattress from Bensons. The issue with one sided memory foam mattresses if the fast compression rate of the upper comfort layers. Latex on the other hand is far more robust and has a far longer lifespan in terms of settlement than synthetic foams.

How do Which? pick their beds?

You've raised a really interesting question about Which? magazine and how they select their products for review. Whilst Which? are independent and consumer champions its a bit unclear how they choose/select/shortlist the products they review.

We would love the opportunity to have one of our best sellers put through their paces against the usual suspects of bed in a box and the mattresses that the bed federation promote.

It would be nice to see Which? expand their reviews to also review some of the UK's best bed companies such as Vispring, Savoir, Abaca and ourselves to name a few. In all of our time as a mattress retailer we have never been approached by Which? to submit a mattress!

There is nowhere, that we can see on their website or in their magazine to request to submit a product for a review?

Most UK bed manufacturers, even the ones with a Royal Warrant never feature in their Top Tens! In fact, we would love Which? to get in touch and we can send them one of our best sellers to be put through their paces. That is if they ever decided to trial the full range of mattresses available on the market. It seems though that their selection criteria is something of a mystery and only covers a very narrow section of the mattress market.

We, like Which? pride ourselves on being independent and not under the control of any of the major bed conglomerates. You'll notice we don't use any affiliate marketing or kickbacks on the site to other retailers, mattress brands or external sites. We let our customers review our products freely and their feedback helps guide our already experienced product design process. We only sell our own mattresses that we design in house.

Anyways I digress, why do Which? recommend bed in a box mattresses when we so clearly don't.

The answer lies in the fact that Which? magazine covers an incredibly broad range of products, from reviewing lawn mowers, birdseed, contraceptives, TV's and even back in the 60's the best paper dresses to name a few! Meaning they need to have teams that have potentially a broad knowledge that's then supported by some industry 'experts'.

You'll also take note that none of their 2020 mattress models is priced over £1000.

Which given the fact that it's only at this price point that the higher quality mattresses appear (there's no feasible way even for the giants in the bed world to make any worthwhile markup trying to sell a true natural fibre mattress for less than £1000 you see as the pricing of the fibre and quality calico spring components simply won't allow).

See our handy table below of what can be expected in a mattress for certain price points.

What's more than likely is that they are tasked with reviewing only entry-level mattresses most of which hover around the £500 mattress mark. This, therefore, limits their search to the cheaper memory foam, bed in a box, rolled or synthetic pocket sprung and foam one-sided models. We always find it fascinating that most people will happily spend £1000+ on a lounge sofa set but refuse to also invest in their mattress in the same way.

6 out of 10 of Which? best buy mattresses for 2020 are one sided memory foam models.

Which is hardly representative of the mattress market in the UK. ie. Where are the solid core natural latex models? Pocket sprung two-sided offerings or Plant fibre models?

Issues with Memory Foam & Bed in a Box

You're right in pointing out that we don't sell memory foam or bed in a box. This is for two reasons.

Firstly we don't believe in crushing and rolling mattresses. In our experience, it damages them and also limited the quantity and quality of fillings you can use. This can only be done with a cheaper foam support mattress or cheaper pocket spring units. However high-end pocket springs simply cannot be contorted in this way.

Secondly, memory foam and synthetic hybrid foams have more drawbacks than benefits. We have tested and trialled them in the past, along with answering thousands of queries and problems about them. There are far better alternatives even by using polyester and blended synthetic fibres compared to the lifespan on memory foam. Our issue with memory foam is that the price tag doesn't reflect the quality or durability of the product. It settles really quickly and retains far more heat than any other mattress fibres leading to a large number of buyers unsatisfied with it.

So the quick answer is yes, we don't sell bed in a box or memory foam beds which Which? recommend. However, they are only recommending from a very basic price point so their search is somewhat limited.

I'd also be intrigued to see which industry experts they are using. What is their design background or which bed retailer have they worked for? How many people review their models? Also from what size of sample do they use? How do they get to their final ten?

If their expert(s) are from one of the big bed retailers they may have a bias towards a certain construction method that they have been targetted to create. It would be good to see if they have designers from different bed construction method principles. Our approach is to create mattresses that provide the best quality for the price point that customers have. In our experience that inevitably favours a pocket sprung or latex mattress as these far outperform synthetic foam alternatives.

Bed Suggestions for you:

Given your weight at 20 stone you're going to need a 1.6 firm spring tension. If you use a medium spring gauge (like most standard retail models) it won't offer enough support and the comfort layers will inevitably sag rather quickly as the spring over compresses.

In terms of the upholstery, it depends on what 'comfort feel' you both require. Mattresses can only be created with one feel across the entire top layer to ensure consistency in mattress depth and the material responsivity. Unfortunately, you can't have a soft feel top layer in one side and a firm in the other.

The two recommendations I would give you as a starting point are:

• Origins Pocket 1500 Latex (in a firm spring)
• Artisan 1500 (Also in a firm spring)

Do have a look at those and then get back in touch if you need further advice.

If you have any more mattress related questions Simon please get back in touch on info@localhost or 0161 437 4419.
Sleep well
John & Ryan