John Lewis Vispring Comparisons & alternative mattresses

Updated 2023: It’s important when you’re looking for a new mattress that you check out the competition to see exactly what you’re getting for your money. We always aim to provide as much detail on our own range of mattresses as possible along with the construction methods. We are after all the self-confessed mattress geeks and after 15 years of designing and building our own high-end mattresses, we are in a position to help explain competitors’ mattress models alongside our own mattress range.

• What questions you need to know when buying a Vispring bed at John Lewis
• Vispring Plymouth Supreme 1200 review
• Vispring Fursden Supreme 1500 Review
• Vispring Maristow Supreme 1700 Review
• Vispring Axminster Supreme 2500 Review
• Discontinued John Lewis Beds alternatives

What questions do I need to ask when buying a Vispring bed?

The main questions you need to ask when buying a Vispring bed at John Lewis are:

1. What is the GSM of this mattress (upholstery details)
2. What pocket spring count and type are in the bed? (Support specifics)
3. What are the mattress details and guarantee specifics? (Lifespan and quality checks)

As is with most mattress retailers though, sadly, the Vispring range at John Lewis doesn’t disclose the full GSM of the Natural fibre content. This is a real shame as it makes an exact like-for-like comparison impossible.

However, we can provide some alternatives and similar models to compare against the Vispring models at John Lewis. After all, this should help make the decision to buy a new handmade Luxury Mattress a little bit easier by saving you the time to compare beds accurately!

Before you start trying to evaluate the John Lewis Vispring mattress range it is important to understand why mattress upholstery GSM is so vital when looking at new mattresses. It’s also imperative you do a little bit of quick reading on the differences between spring units. Lastly, take care when you see ‘blends’ of fibres as it’s really tricky to tell whether it’s an even split (ie 50/50 of two fibres blended together) or one fibre is making up the bulk of the blend (90/10).

If in doubt, always ask the retailer to confirm.

You have to question why certain mattress retailers won’t disclose what exactly is in their mattresses, as we have always done

ViSpring Plymouth Supreme 1200

The Vispring Plymouth Supreme 1200 range of mattresses from Vispring has been designed with layers of natural materials alongside a pocketed Vanadium steel spring system. These mattresses are listed as handmade in Plymouth. They contain a total of 1200 springs in the kingsize model whilst offering a medium tension level of comfort.

The details of the Plymouth Supreme are shown below for comparison:

Our closest comparison in terms of feel to the ViSpring Plymouth Supreme 1200 is our Artisan Luxury mattress. Admittedly it is more expensive, but when you see the additional 5 layers of 100% natural fibres you can see why.

The Artisan Luxury is the softest in our range due to lofty amounts of Wool, Horsehair and Horsetail. We have used a single spring layer in this mattress to give it a bit more stability due to the softer feel of the upholstery layers. If you like the traditional feel of a softer sink mattress, this is the one for you!

The inclusion of Horsetail and Horsehair addresses the issue sometimes found with pure wool mattresses and settlement. If you’re just using soft fibres on top of a spring unit, you can find that the mattress settles far faster than if you include some more support layers such as Horsetail. Mattress care and maintenance can help reduce all settlement and should be followed diligently, especially in a mattress with upholstery that is entirely wool based.

Vispring Fursden Supreme 1500

Next up is the firmer feeling Vispring Fursden at John Lewis. Listed as a ‘range of mattresses from Vispring (that) are designed with layers of natural materials alongside a pocketed Vanadium steel spring system. It contains a total of 1500 springs in the kingsize model, and when we tested it in their showroom, it had a really supportive feel to it for those liking a firmer feel mattress. This is definitely for any back or front sleepers who need that extra support.

Our Artisan Bespoke model offers a similar feel to the Fursdon mattress. We have included an additional horsehair pad and use final 500 GSM layer of wool on the very top comfort layer. We believe this gives the mattress more support and longevity overall, but when you’re talking about such high GSMs, we really are splitting hairs!

This mattress provides a firm feel in the upholstery layer, ideal for those sleepers who don’t want to sink too far into the mattress whilst still having some give in the top layers.  It’s priced at £2545 for a kingsize February 2023. Whilst it feels similar to the Vispring Fursden, it’s a much heavier, deeper mattress, as there is more upholstery inside it.

Vispring Maristow Supreme 1700

The Vispring Maristow is John lewis’s true medium feel mattress from this brand. It features several natural fibre layers and 1700 springs. This two-sided bed will give you the good allrounder feel of medium comfort and a slight sink in the top upholstery layer.

The Artisan Naturals is the most popular mattress choice in our range and has a similar feel to the Maristow. Containing 85% natural fillings and a calico pocket spring unit making it a really high-end mattress.  This closely compares to the Vi-spring having a similar medium feel in the upholstery layers. We match this mattress up with a sprung edge divan giving it a similar feel to the Vi-spring Maristow Supreme and base if however you just buy the mattress and place it on a platform top or slatted base it will firm up the overall feel slightly. It is priced at £1760 for a king size, February 2023.

Vispring Axminster Supreme 2500

The Axminster Supreme 2500 is one of the Vispring dual spring or twin spring mattresses. These are a very acquired taste, with sleepers either loving the double spring or finding them too responsive. Some of our team love them, others can’t get on with them. So it’s worth trying one out in a hotel or guest house to save the heartache! This Vispring Axminster has a huge amount of upholstery in it for a true lively feel mattress when matched up with the 2500 double calico spring unit.

Our closest model in terms of construction and feel is our Artisan Bespoke 002 mattress. This mattress combines a two-tier handmade calico spring unit with 100% natural fibres. If you like a medium feel, with a softer, springier support and only the absolute finest will do, then this is the mattress for you.

Discontinued Vispring John Lewis Mattress Models and Alternatives:

If you’re looking to replace a John Lewis Vispring mattress, you may have found that some of the older models have now been discontinued. But don’t panic, we have a historical list of their models to help show you what the comparisons would be. Prices below were from Jan 2019 on the John Lewis website, where these Vispring models can be compared. We have listed the comparisons on Kingsize (5′ x 6’6″ / 150cm x 200cm) mattress models.

• Vispring Honiton
• Vispring Woolacombe
• Vispring Modbury
• Vispring Axminster Superb 2019
• Vispring Fursdon 2019

Vispring Honiton Mattress

The Vispring Honiton uses a twin-up or dual layer calico pocketed spring system. This means that two layers of equal sized calico encased pocket springs are layered on top of each other. This gives a more ‘lively’ feel to a mattress which can feel more reactive than a single layer of springs. These should not be confused with the cheaper micro springs which we have critiqued. The Honiton then layers a number of Blended fibres such as Horsehair, Wool and Cotton. This gives it a soft to medium feel in the upholstery layer with a responsive spring system.

Our closest comparison to this model is our Artisan Bespoke 002 which again is a soft- medium feel in the top upholstery layer. The spring tension is always dictated by your weight and we offer a soft, medium or firm spring suitable for different weight brackets. Read more on spring gauges and bodyweights here to help.

Vispring Woolacombe Mattress

The Vispring Woolacombe has a really soft feel in the top upholstery layers due to the high wool content. It also uses a dual spring layer as its support. It’s a pretty straight forward construction with layers of wool built up on top of the spring unit giving a softer sink with lively support. This is similar to the previous Vispring Devonshire, one of the softest Vispring mattresses ever made.

Our alternative to the Woolacombe is our Artisan Luxury mattress,

Vispring Modbury Supreme Mattress

The Modbury is one of the more frequent models we get asked about from John Lewis. It is a medium feel, utilises one row of calico encased pocket springs (available in the 3 standard tensions) and features Horsetail blended with Platinum Certified Shetland Sheep Wool, Silk & Mohair (frustratingly the GSM is not given). It has 100% natural fillings and is two-sided as all high-end mattresses should be.

Our closest comparison to the Modbury is our most popular model, the Artisan Bespoke 004 also 100% Natural fibre with 3600gsm. We don’t blend the 1200gsm of Horsetail as it simply shouldn’t need to be in our view. The Wool and Cotton blends we use are 50% (50/50). All other fibres are pure and not blended. It’s the first mattress in our range to introduce Natural Plant fibre in the form of Bamboo.

Our Artisan Bespoke 004 in a kingsize weighs in at 61kg compared to the Modbury at 54kg. This helps to give an indication of the difference in the amount and potential GSM of the fillings.

Vispring Axminster Mattress 2019 (Discontinued model)

The Vispring Axminster is the most expensive model that Vispring make for John Lewis featuring a twin up spring unit and then 3 layers of Natural Fibres. Again no GSM is given and it’s a bit disappointing to still be seeing blends at this price point, especially with no breakdown of the blended fibres. It’s a medium feel mattress with 4 rows of hand side stitching which shows just how deep this mattress is. It’s definitely one for extra deep fitted sheets!

In this model, Vispring moves away from British Wool for Shetland using the Platinum Shetland Wool & Cotton Blend (unknown GSM). It still uses a similar layering methodology compared with the Vispring Honiton, just nearly twice the price.

We have two different comparisons and alternatives to the Axminster.

The first is our Artisan Bespoke 003, again a dual spring layer provided by Vanadium calico encased pocket springs, 2508 with 100% Natural Fibres. We prefer to avoid blends in high-end fibres, such as horsehair. This model includes 1200gsm of pure Horsetail, 400gsm of Bamboo and lastly 1000gsm of pure Alpaca (one of the softest high wicking fibres on the planet for unrivalled temperature regulation). Amongst Wool & Cotton 2000gsm overall and a Coir 1000gsm insulator layer. Weighing in at a whopping 5600gsm.

The next model is one of the worlds first Plant-based Luxury Mattresses; the Artisan Sublime. We’ve taken the best of Natural fibres to create this incredible mattress. Containing Organic Flax 1200gsm, Bamboo 800gsm and Coconut Coir 1000gsm plus 2,400gsms of Alpaca and Horsetail. This mattress has a soft feel in the top upholstery layer and a deep sink before medium support. The support is provided again by a twin up spring system with 2508 vanadium coated calico pocket springs.

Vi-Spring Fursdon 2019 Mattress (discontinued model version)

The Vi-spring Fursdon is one of Visprings softest mattresses from John Lewis. It’s primarily made of New Zealand Wool, Cotton & Alpaca soft layers with Horsehair layer. Giving a very soft feel in the top layers. It too is similar in feel to our Artisan Luxury above. This retails for £1,919 in a Kingsize in John Lewis 2019.

This mattress uses blends of New Zealand wool with other natural fibres, probably to help keep the fibres loft in stable composition. As these are incredibly soft fibres that can be known to settle quickly without additional support. The Cotton, Alpaca and Bamboo are blended with the New Zealand Wool. You have the drawback though f not knowing what the blend is and whether or not the Wool fibre is the dominant one. ie reducing the overall natural benefits and properties of the Bamboo, Alpaca or Cotton.

The horsehair layer in this Vi-Spring mattress aids in giving support to the softer layers above and below it. The closest comparison is our Artisan Luxury mattress. We use Horsehair & Horsetail in between the Artisan Luxury’s softer Wool layers to help reduce settlement and provide longevity to the mattress.