Pocket Spring Height Explained: What height/length should mattress springs be?

Hi Ira,

Thanks for your question on pocket springs, its a really good one.

There is a lot of marketing spin placed on mattress spring units. In fact, many retailers and mattress makers use the spring count to market and provide a point of difference between the thousands of mattresses available at any one time.

Here’s the truth….

Any spring count over 2000 is pretty much pointless and only used to compete for your attention. Spring counts of 3,000, 4,000 and even 12,000 are pretty much useless.

What these stupidly high spring counts actually mean is less upholstery, known as the comfort layers, in a mattress. These comfort layers are what provide you with the actual comfort, not the pocket spring unit.

The pocket spring unit should be tailored to your body weight, not the feel of the mattress you’re looking at. That is why all pocket springs should have their tension, (soft, medium or firm) chosen only by your bodyweight. They have no bearing on the ultimate comfort (soft, medium or firm) of a mattress. This always comes from the mattress upholstery placed on top of the pocket spring unit.

Why are spring counts so high in mattresses?

The simple point is that higher spring counts over 2000 are always at the detriment of comfort layers. So you’re opting for more metal less natural fibre in a mattress. All so mattress retailers can compete to grab your attention, whilst offering you a subpar mattress at the same time whilst increasing the costs due to these ‘insane spring layers’.

Have a look at our article on why these companies are using micro springs for example to hyperinflate spring counts. Micro springs by the way are the most unnecessary and pointless mattress invention of recent times. See below the dreaded micro springs. They compress almost instantly crushing and creating neither support or comfort.

What size pocket spring do I need in a mattress?
Again there is a big marketing exercise in the springs turns and lengths. However, the most important things to know is:

• What is the cauge of the wire? (ie 1.2, 1.4 or 1.6 – as this will dictate the bodyweight they support)
• What type of metal is used? (Steel is the basic and then vanadium coated steel is the best metal that can be used)
• What are they encased in? (Synthetic is the cheap entry-level polyester fibre or naturally breathable calico as seen in the highest-end mattresses)

Spring count should be between 1000-2000. Don’t get too caught up on it. Focus on the gauge, metal type and the encasements. These show the quality of the spring not an arbitrary number in the thousands.

In terms of the length of springs, 16cm is usually standard in high-end mattresses. Usually between 6 and 9 turns. Again anything above 6 turns is kind of superfluous. Retailers have made springs longer for marketing. 9 turn 20cm spring are actually really unstable.

We use the same spring type as Vispring. 6 Turns. 16cm long and in 3 different wire gauges. All our Artisan springs are Calico encased and vanadium coated.

So hopefully that helps you separate the marketing spin from the chaff!

We hope that helps and gives you further mattress buying guidance. If you have any more mattress related questions please get back in touch on [email protected] or 0161 437 4419.

Sleep well
John & Ryan