Latest news with #IkeaValevåg
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Ikea Valevåg mattress review: a brilliant budget buy or too cheap for comfort?
My expectations for the Ikea Valevåg were, to be polite, limited. Ikea's mattress is less than a fifth of the price of a Simba Hybrid Pro – but somehow comes with the same 10-year guarantee. Seriously? Expecting a decade's worth of blissful sleeps from a Valevåg sounds like an attempt to wear the same £8 Primark jumper every day until 2035. But when I tested the Valevåg alongside several more expensive rivals, I realised it's not the mattress equivalent of fast-fashion tat. Its price belies a well-constructed product with pocket springs that provide consistent support and snoozable comfort. It can't compare with the pricey Simba or the best-in-show Otty Original Hybrid for ergonomic cosiness, but it's a brilliant buy for a guest room or a young person's bedroom. To make sure, I enlisted the help of my 22-year-old niece, Alex, in testing the Valevåg. Her reluctance to give it to charity after two months of sleeping on it – sorry Alex, them's the rules at the Filter – reassured me that it's a genuine bargain and not a false economy destined for landfill. View at Ikea *** I took delivery of a medium-firm Ikea Valevåg in a double size in December. I shared it with my husband for three nights before delegating responsibilities to Alex, who slept on it for two months. Together with other family members, we rated its firmness and overall comfort side by side against five other mattresses, and I ran lab-style tests to measure factors such as sinkage, edge support and heat retention. You can read more about our mattress testing exploits here. *** View at Ikea The Valevåg is one of seven sprung mattresses made by Ikea. It falls roughly in the middle on price, costing from £149 for a single to £359 for a super king, all available in firm or medium-firm tension. The double size I tested costs £219. The Ikea is the only pocket sprung mattress I've tested so far. All the others are hybrid mattresses that contain multiple layers of memory foam and springs. It does have an upper layer of polyurethane foam, which I measured to be 5cm deep, but with a density of 33kg/cu.m, it's not elastic enough to be classed as memory foam. Instead, it's 'reflex foam' and adds much-needed resistance and support above the springs. It also helps to create a flat sleeping surface beneath the polyester fabric cover, which isn't removable. Under the foam layer, the Valevåg has 249 steel springs per square metre, adding up to about 640 in a double size. Each spring is wrapped in a fabric pocket to help it move independently and isolate motion – in other words, so the whole thing doesn't bounce too much when you move around in bed. There's also a layer of felt below the springs to help maintain the mattress's structure. At 24cm deep, the Valevåg is the thinnest mattress I've tested, and this has a couple of advantages. First, it's much lighter than the chunky hybrids. Moving it up and down stairs on my own still took effort, but it's much easier to manoeuvre than its more luxurious counterparts. It's also perfect for a standard fitted sheet – a relief after I failed to squeeze my sheets on to the likes of the 31cm-thick Origin Hybrid Pro. Related: How to choose a mattress: the features worth paying for – and the ones that aren't Ikea's mattress would be relatively easy to flip over, but you don't have to. The Valevåg has a distinct top (sleeping) side and bottom side, more like a hybrid than a conventional sprung mattress. Instead of flipping, rotate it 180 degrees every few months to prevent indentations where you sleep. Ikea's description of the Valevåg as 'medium-firm' is spot on. My family scored it an average 6.8/10 for firmness, similar to the Simba Hybrid Pro. In my lab tests, the Valevåg sank a maximum of 34mm under 7.5kg of weight – closer to the softest mattress I've tested (the Eve Wunderflip Hybrid, which sank 40mm) than the firmest (the Origin Hybrid Pro, a mere 18mm). Both these mattresses are advertised as medium-firm, too. You can test the Valevåg's firmness at Ikea, but bear in mind that many other shoppers may have had a go before you, with a softening effect over time. If you'd rather test your own new version, Ikea gives you a 365-night free trial. Keep it in good condition with a mattress protector if you hope to avail yourself of the refund offer. *** Type: pocket sprungFirmness: advertised as medium firm, panel rated as 6.8/10Depth: 24cmCover: not removableTurn or rotate: not neededTrial period: 365 nightsWarranty: 10 yearsOld mattress recycling: £40 via the Mattress Recycling PeopleSustainability credentials: 2025 target of 20% recycled content in all Ikea mattress foams *** I expected my Valevåg to arrive fully expanded and ready for napping on, but Ikea has adopted the vacuum-roll packing style initiated by online 'bed-in-a-box' companies such as Otty. This means it's machine-compressed in the factory, then wrapped tightly in metres of plastic to stop it from expanding en route to your door. My mattress was delivered by Ikea's own team, a nice change from the third-party couriers that handled my other test samples. Delivery took only three days, and Ikea kept me informed with text alerts, a four-hour window and a link to track the driver on a map. Unwrapping the Valevåg was marginally easier than the other roll-wrapped mattresses because there was no cardboard box, but the thick layers of plastic were, as ever, a pain to remove. Scissors are essential, as is a careful hand to prevent damage to the mattress. The mattress emerged from its wrapping looking quite flat, but it took much less time than its hybrid rivals to expand to full size. Ikea recommends you allow 72 hours for your mattress to fill out, but mine rose to the occasion within a day and a half, and its relative shortage of foam content meant that any 'off-gassing' chemical smell was reassuringly brief. *** View at Ikea There's plenty to love about the Valevåg: value for money, easy manoeuvrability, plump supportiveness and unpretentious composition (does a mattress really need eight layers of variously dense memory foam, infused with graphite and bamboo?). The key to a successful mattress, though, is good sleep – and my sleep tester had few complaints here. I spent a few nights on the Valevåg before handing over to my niece, Alex. I was used to sleeping on the Simba Hybrid Pro and then the Otty Original Hybrid, both superb high-end mattresses, so I was spoiled. It took me longer to get to sleep on the Ikea, and my husband and I were more aware of our movements. However, it offered consistent support and a degree of comfort that belied its price. Alex was even more impressed. You might expect a 22-year-old drama student to be unfussy about mattress quality, but during our initial family mattress-rating session, Alex worried that the Valevåg wouldn't be firm enough for her. Once the sleeping began, however, she liked its overall body support, which was balanced by enough 'give' for her hips and shoulders when lying on her side. She also praised the reflex foam layer, which made her feel 'lifted up, not sinking in the middle' – and bounced back when pressed. Mattresses containing a lot of memory foam can soften significantly in their first year or so, but this is unlikely to happen with the pocket sprung Valevåg. The breathability of the surface and pocket springs proved a hit. Alex had voiced her dislike of the 'moist spongy' feel of foamy mattresses, such as the Eve Wunderflip Hybrid, but found the Ikea 'more naturally bed-like', and this helped her sleep well on it from the first night. In my heat-retention tests, it cooled down faster than any mattress other than the pricier Panda Hybrid Bamboo, which is specifically designed to stay cool. The Valevåg would be a great choice if you experience night sweats or struggle to sleep on warm nights. Two months is not enough to judge a mattress's durability, but we had our ways. We walked all over the Valevåg to see if the springs would give way (don't try this at home – it invalidates many warranties), but it remained robust and supportive, with no twangs. There was no sagging in the sleeping surface after two months. *** When I slept on the Valevåg, I could feel the difference between it and the more expensive hybrids. It's firm enough, but it doesn't offer much ergonomic pushback. The combination of memory foam and springs in the Otty and Simba makes you feel powerfully supported in all the right places, and that's worth paying for if you need to improve your sleep quality and reduce aches and pains. Alex had no trouble sleeping on the Valevåg, but she does enjoy reading in bed for hours on end, and it didn't fully support the concentrated weight of her bottom when sitting up. Edge support is shaky, too. It doesn't completely give way when you sit on the side, but it would benefit from high-density foam around its perimeter. Another weak spot is motion isolation, so it wouldn't be a relaxing choice if you share your bed with a restless partner. Related: Otty Original Hybrid mattress review: the best hybrid mattress you can buy – and also one of the cheapest The fabric cover isn't removable for washing in the machine, which is a pity because it gets dirty easily. My cat Iggy sees test mattresses as giant scratching posts, and the Valevåg's claw marks are more visible than any others. Our walking on the Valevåg didn't seem to do much damage, but the easy wear and tear of the outside makes me wonder how robust the inside is. *** Compressing mattresses for delivery means they use less space in the warehouse and van. With more than 12m mattresses sold by Ikea every year, the resulting decrease in transport emissions must be significant. However, I wouldn't call it a sustainability win. The amount of plastic involved is enormous and doesn't feel justified, although that's true for all the mattresses I've tested. Doorstep recycling services generally don't collect soft plastic, so we had to take it to the local refuse and recycling centre to dispose of ours responsibly. Having to do this for every mattress I tested was a chore, but most customers will only have to deal with the plastic from one mattress at a time. The Valevåg's steel springs, polypropylene pockets and polyester fabric are widely recycled, although again, you'd have to get them to a suitable recycling hub. The non-biodegradable polyurethane 'reflex foam' layer is more environmentally challenging. As with most mattress-makers, Ikea will collect and recycle your old mattress (whether or not it's an Ikea), and its £40 charge is fairly typical. I was impressed by the extent of information Ikea publishes about this process, including how each component is recycled or repurposed. Mattress recycling is just one of the services Ikea offers as part of its green goals, which are set in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Others include using zero-emissions vehicles for more than 90% of home deliveries by 2028, electrical recycling, and a platform for reselling your preloved Ikea furniture – although mattresses are excluded from this. *** The Valevåg is unarguably a brilliant buy. Its 10-year guarantee and 365-day free trial show that Ikea has confidence in its durability, although we'd recommend using a protective cover or three. This is no ergonomic, orthopaedic wonder mattress, but at a squeak over £200, it provides more than your money's worth of support, comfort and good sleep. View at Ikea *** Jane Hoskyn is a freelance consumer journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades of experience in rearranging bookshelves and 'testing' coffee machines while deadlines loom. Her work has made her a low-key expert in all manner of consumables, from sports watches to solar panels. She would always rather be in the woods
The Guardian
11-05-2025
- Lifestyle
- The Guardian
Ikea Valevåg mattress review: a brilliant budget buy or too cheap for comfort?
My expectations for the Ikea Valevåg were, to be polite, limited. Ikea's mattress is less than a fifth of the price of a Simba Hybrid Pro – but somehow comes with the same 10-year guarantee. Seriously? Expecting a decade's worth of blissful sleeps from a Valevåg sounds like an attempt to wear the same £8 Primark jumper every day until 2035. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. But when I tested the Valevåg alongside several more expensive rivals, I realised it's not the mattress equivalent of fast-fashion tat. Its price belies a well-constructed product with pocket springs that provide consistent support and snoozable comfort. It can't compare with the pricey Simba or the best-in-show Otty Original Hybrid for ergonomic cosiness, but it's a brilliant buy for a guest room or a young person's bedroom. To make sure, I enlisted the help of my 22-year-old niece, Alex, in testing the Valevåg. Her reluctance to give it to charity after two months of sleeping on it – sorry Alex, them's the rules at the Filter – reassured me that it's a genuine bargain and not a false economy destined for landfill. View at Ikea I took delivery of a medium-firm Ikea Valevåg in a double size in December. I shared it with my husband for three nights before delegating responsibilities to Alex, who slept on it for two months. Together with other family members, we rated its firmness and overall comfort side by side against five other mattresses, and I ran lab-style tests to measure factors such as sinkage, edge support and heat retention. You can read more about our mattress testing exploits here. View at Ikea The Valevåg is one of seven sprung mattresses made by Ikea. It falls roughly in the middle on price, costing from £149 for a single to £359 for a super king, all available in firm or medium-firm tension. The double size I tested costs £219. The Ikea is the only pocket sprung mattress I've tested so far. All the others are hybrid mattresses that contain multiple layers of memory foam and springs. It does have an upper layer of polyurethane foam, which I measured to be 5cm deep, but with a density of 33kg/cu.m, it's not elastic enough to be classed as memory foam. Instead, it's 'reflex foam' and adds much-needed resistance and support above the springs. It also helps to create a flat sleeping surface beneath the polyester fabric cover, which isn't removable. Under the foam layer, the Valevåg has 249 steel springs per square metre, adding up to about 640 in a double size. Each spring is wrapped in a fabric pocket to help it move independently and isolate motion – in other words, so the whole thing doesn't bounce too much when you move around in bed. There's also a layer of felt below the springs to help maintain the mattress's structure. At 24cm deep, the Valevåg is the thinnest mattress I've tested, and this has a couple of advantages. First, it's much lighter than the chunky hybrids. Moving it up and down stairs on my own still took effort, but it's much easier to manoeuvre than its more luxurious counterparts. It's also perfect for a standard fitted sheet – a relief after I failed to squeeze my sheets on to the likes of the 31cm-thick Origin Hybrid Pro. Ikea's mattress would be relatively easy to flip over, but you don't have to. The Valevåg has a distinct top (sleeping) side and bottom side, more like a hybrid than a conventional sprung mattress. Instead of flipping, rotate it 180 degrees every few months to prevent indentations where you sleep. Ikea's description of the Valevåg as 'medium-firm' is spot on. My family scored it an average 6.8/10 for firmness, similar to the Simba Hybrid Pro. In my lab tests, the Valevåg sank a maximum of 34mm under 7.5kg of weight – closer to the softest mattress I've tested (the Eve Wunderflip Hybrid, which sank 40mm) than the firmest (the Origin Hybrid Pro, a mere 18mm). Both these mattresses are advertised as medium-firm, too. You can test the Valevåg's firmness at Ikea, but bear in mind that many other shoppers may have had a go before you, with a softening effect over time. If you'd rather test your own new version, Ikea gives you a 365-night free trial. Keep it in good condition with a mattress protector if you hope to avail yourself of the refund offer. Type: pocket sprungFirmness: advertised as medium firm, panel rated as 6.8/10Depth: 24cmCover: not removableTurn or rotate: not neededTrial period: 365 nightsWarranty: 10 yearsOld mattress recycling: £40 via the Mattress Recycling PeopleSustainability credentials: 2025 target of 20% recycled content in all Ikea mattress foams I expected my Valevåg to arrive fully expanded and ready for napping on, but Ikea has adopted the vacuum-roll packing style initiated by online 'bed-in-a-box' companies such as Otty. This means it's machine-compressed in the factory, then wrapped tightly in metres of plastic to stop it from expanding en route to your door. My mattress was delivered by Ikea's own team, a nice change from the third-party couriers that handled my other test samples. Delivery took only three days, and Ikea kept me informed with text alerts, a four-hour window and a link to track the driver on a map. Unwrapping the Valevåg was marginally easier than the other roll-wrapped mattresses because there was no cardboard box, but the thick layers of plastic were, as ever, a pain to remove. Scissors are essential, as is a careful hand to prevent damage to the mattress. The mattress emerged from its wrapping looking quite flat, but it took much less time than its hybrid rivals to expand to full size. Ikea recommends you allow 72 hours for your mattress to fill out, but mine rose to the occasion within a day and a half, and its relative shortage of foam content meant that any 'off-gassing' chemical smell was reassuringly brief. View at Ikea Sign up to The Filter Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. after newsletter promotion There's plenty to love about the Valevåg: value for money, easy manoeuvrability, plump supportiveness and unpretentious composition (does a mattress really need eight layers of variously dense memory foam, infused with graphite and bamboo?). The key to a successful mattress, though, is good sleep – and my sleep tester had few complaints here. I spent a few nights on the Valevåg before handing over to my niece, Alex. I was used to sleeping on the Simba Hybrid Pro and then the Otty Original Hybrid, both superb high-end mattresses, so I was spoiled. It took me longer to get to sleep on the Ikea, and my husband and I were more aware of our movements. However, it offered consistent support and a degree of comfort that belied its price. Alex was even more impressed. You might expect a 22-year-old drama student to be unfussy about mattress quality, but during our initial family mattress-rating session, Alex worried that the Valevåg wouldn't be firm enough for her. Once the sleeping began, however, she liked its overall body support, which was balanced by enough 'give' for her hips and shoulders when lying on her side. She also praised the reflex foam layer, which made her feel 'lifted up, not sinking in the middle' – and bounced back when pressed. Mattresses containing a lot of memory foam can soften significantly in their first year or so, but this is unlikely to happen with the pocket sprung Valevåg. The breathability of the surface and pocket springs proved a hit. Alex had voiced her dislike of the 'moist spongy' feel of foamy mattresses, such as the Eve Wunderflip Hybrid, but found the Ikea 'more naturally bed-like', and this helped her sleep well on it from the first night. In my heat-retention tests, it cooled down faster than any mattress other than the pricier Panda Hybrid Bamboo, which is specifically designed to stay cool. The Valevåg would be a great choice if you experience night sweats or struggle to sleep on warm nights. Two months is not enough to judge a mattress's durability, but we had our ways. We walked all over the Valevåg to see if the springs would give way (don't try this at home – it invalidates many warranties), but it remained robust and supportive, with no twangs. There was no sagging in the sleeping surface after two months. When I slept on the Valevåg, I could feel the difference between it and the more expensive hybrids. It's firm enough, but it doesn't offer much ergonomic pushback. The combination of memory foam and springs in the Otty and Simba makes you feel powerfully supported in all the right places, and that's worth paying for if you need to improve your sleep quality and reduce aches and pains. Alex had no trouble sleeping on the Valevåg, but she does enjoy reading in bed for hours on end, and it didn't fully support the concentrated weight of her bottom when sitting up. Edge support is shaky, too. It doesn't completely give way when you sit on the side, but it would benefit from high-density foam around its perimeter. Another weak spot is motion isolation, so it wouldn't be a relaxing choice if you share your bed with a restless partner. The fabric cover isn't removable for washing in the machine, which is a pity because it gets dirty easily. My cat Iggy sees test mattresses as giant scratching posts, and the Valevåg's claw marks are more visible than any others. Our walking on the Valevåg didn't seem to do much damage, but the easy wear and tear of the outside makes me wonder how robust the inside is. Compressing mattresses for delivery means they use less space in the warehouse and van. With more than 12m mattresses sold by Ikea every year, the resulting decrease in transport emissions must be significant. However, I wouldn't call it a sustainability win. The amount of plastic involved is enormous and doesn't feel justified, although that's true for all the mattresses I've tested. Doorstep recycling services generally don't collect soft plastic, so we had to take it to the local refuse and recycling centre to dispose of ours responsibly. Having to do this for every mattress I tested was a chore, but most customers will only have to deal with the plastic from one mattress at a time. The Valevåg's steel springs, polypropylene pockets and polyester fabric are widely recycled, although again, you'd have to get them to a suitable recycling hub. The non-biodegradable polyurethane 'reflex foam' layer is more environmentally challenging. As with most mattress-makers, Ikea will collect and recycle your old mattress (whether or not it's an Ikea), and its £40 charge is fairly typical. I was impressed by the extent of information Ikea publishes about this process, including how each component is recycled or repurposed. Mattress recycling is just one of the services Ikea offers as part of its green goals, which are set in line with the UN's Sustainable Development Goals for 2030. Others include using zero-emissions vehicles for more than 90% of home deliveries by 2028, electrical recycling, and a platform for reselling your preloved Ikea furniture – although mattresses are excluded from this. The Valevåg is unarguably a brilliant buy. Its 10-year guarantee and 365-day free trial show that Ikea has confidence in its durability, although we'd recommend using a protective cover or three. This is no ergonomic, orthopaedic wonder mattress, but at a squeak over £200, it provides more than your money's worth of support, comfort and good sleep. View at Ikea Jane Hoskyn is a freelance consumer journalist and WFH pioneer with three decades of experience in rearranging bookshelves and 'testing' coffee machines while deadlines loom. Her work has made her a low-key expert in all manner of consumables, from sports watches to solar panels. She would always rather be in the woods
The Guardian
10-03-2025
- General
- The Guardian
Spreadeagled cats and gladiatorial warfare: everything I learned testing mattresses
I once noted here that testing heated airers is like weighing kittens. Testing mattresses is more like weight-lifting hippos. Manoeuvring these floppy giants around a small house would be hard enough for a normal person, but as a 53-year-old woman who never reached five feet tall, I wouldn't be anyone's first pick for a mattress-lifting team. The Filter's invitation to involve my extended family in testing the best mattresses delighted me because it meant they could do the lifting. They joined my husband, Alan, and our cat, Iggy, who favoured the Simba Hybrid Pro for radiator-adjacent spread-eagling and the Ikea Valevåg for claw sharpening. Before any testing could commence, Alan and I discovered that removing these beasts from their giant condom-like sheaths is part precision surgery, part gladiatorial warfare. Bed-in-a-box mattresses commonly weigh more than 50kg and come vacuum-packed so tightly that you have to be careful not to get knocked out when you cut the wrapping. None of the mattresses were wrapped in anything approaching sustainable, and if I'm ever sent one that doesn't come with a hatchback's worth of plastic, it'll receive serious review kudos. Having a houseful of mattresses expanding to full size and giving off a weird chemical smell (normal and temporary, but not pleasant) felt like what I imagine living with toddlers to be like. The same goes for the relief of off-loading them on to relatives. My family offered some disappointing feedback at first, with my dad and sister initially resistant to switching from pocket-sprung mattresses to spongy foam. Reports soon eased into broadly positive and occasionally ecstatic, punctured by moans about the 'pointlessly massive' Origin Hybrid Pro, which was too deep for a standard fitted sheet, and the magic staining powers of the Valevåg. 'It gets dirty if you just look at it,' said my niece, 22, although it should be noted that she lives in a student flat. What I really wanted from them was detailed feedback on how well they slept, although I worried that even the richest grumbling would be too subjective to be useful. I was reassured by a chat with sleep expert Kevin Morgan, emeritus professor of psychology at Loughborough University. 'Asking people, 'How would you rate the quality of your sleep last night?' using a 10-point scale is standard practice in research,' he told me. 'Insomnia is diagnosed exclusively on subjective experience of sleep.' Even so, I ran some lab-style tests for a more objective comparison. Careful use of Alan's bottom and other kit to measure key factors, such as sinkage and motion isolation, delivered some surprising and messy results. The budget Ikea Valevåg romped to glory in the heat-retention test, which required Alan to sit on a pre-heated spot (for ages while reading Moby-Dick, which did not help the time pass any faster). It bombed in the motion-isolation test, however, bouncing enough to topple a glass of water as Alan turned over. Alas, poor Valevåg. Claw marks, spillage, dirt and a student flat. Despite this onslaught (and after a good clean), it made its way to a gentler home via a local charity, but it took some persuading. Donating mattresses, even nearly new ones, is a hit-and-miss affair because they have to be pristine. For my next batch of mattress tests, I will invest heavily in cat-proof mattress protectors. The best air fryers, tried and tested for crisp and crunch 'Hands down my favourite bit of kit': 13 kitchen gadgets top chefs can't live without The best head torches: six tried-and-tested favourites for running, hiking and camping From resistance bands to squat-proof leggings: the pilates kit you need – and what you can do without Which brand makes the best plant milk? I tried 10 favourites, from oat to almond, to find out The bright days may come and go over the next few weeks, but there's no denying that spring is finally in the air. So we thought of everything you could need to blow away the winter cobwebs and embrace the warming, lengthening days. From a stylish trenchcoat for under £40 to sweet pea seeds (and a vase to put them in once they've flowered), a patio cleaner to a pair of sunnies, here's our roundup of everything spring. Hannah BoothEditor, the Filter Speaking of better weather, if you're a spring- and summer-months runner, check out our roundup of the best running shoes for men and women, as picked by runners themselves. We covered everything from shoes for beginners (a pair of bouncy Hoka trainers) to the best trainers for PB chasers, trail runners, marathon enthusiasts and more. Calling all parents: how do you get your kids outdoors? Whether you've got a pair of teens who rise at noon and avoid the sun like vampires or a toddler who hates walking, what's the one thing that enticed them from the house? Whether it's bribery and great snacks or the perfect off-road buggy for a baby, we want to know all your tips and tricks. Share your secrets by replying to this newsletter, or emailing us at thefilter@
The Guardian
06-02-2025
- General
- The Guardian
How to choose a mattress: the features worth paying for – and the ones that aren't
The average mattress is just six years old when it gets chucked out, according to the National Bed Federation. That's an awful lot of foam and springs going to landfill. Should you stick with an uncomfortable bed for the sake of the planet, or choose more wisely next time you go mattress shopping? The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. Learn more. We recommend the latter strategy, especially if you find a retailer who'll recycle the old one for you. A well-made mattress that has the right balance of support and comfort for your size and sleeping position can genuinely transform the quality of your sleep. It can also soothe aches and pains, help you sleep in peace next to a partner – and should last much longer than six years. But good, durable mattresses aren't cheap. Some of the premium models I've tested for the Filter cost more than £1,000 for a double. Today's mattresses cover a boggling range of types, including 'bed-in-a-box' options that are delivered directly from the factory. You can't try out these mattresses before you buy, but they come with long trial periods so you can sleep on them for months before deciding whether to keep them. That's arguably a better way to judge a mattress than being the 200th person to bounce on a showroom display bed. Here we'll run through the pros and cons of different types and reveal what to look for when you shop for your ideal mattress match. Pros: supportive in the right places; more environmentally friendly than can be too bouncy if you share with a partner; may sag in time. You can buy cheap 'open coil' sprung mattresses that contain one long looped wire, but if you plan to sleep in any kind of comfort you should go for pocket sprung instead. These mattresses contain hundreds or even thousands of sturdy springs, each sewn into a fabric pocket to isolate any movement. This creates a robust but pleasingly bouncy foundation that supports and cushions you where needed. The isolation of each spring also helps absorb the movements of a partner, although not as well as foam. Pocket sprung mattresses are said to have less environmental impact than foam or hybrid since their manufacture normally uses less plastic and they contain more natural fibres. This also allows the air to circulate and helps to stop you from overheating as you sleep. Best value pocket sprung mattress Ikea Valevåg £219 (double) at Ikea Pros: balance of comfort and orthopaedic support; isolates movement can trap heat and feel clammy; takes some getting used to. Some mattress foam is plain old polyfoam, the kind used for chair seats and as a comfort layer on top of the springs in pocket sprung mattresses. Memory foam is more expensive and much denser than polyfoam, so it offers excellent support – very firm, in some cases – as well as cushioning and pressure relief. It also does a fine job of absorbing movement. Memory foam's ability to mould to your body can make it feel marshmallowy and airless. Some people love this sensation but others do not, and it can lead to issues with overheating. Another option is latex foam, which is naturally breathable and hypoallergenic but costs more than standard memory foam. Many all-foam mattresses contain layers of different kinds of foam, including polyfoam, latex and various densities of memory foam. Most claim to offer medium-firm support, but one thing I've learned from years of testing mattresses is that 'medium firm' can mean anything from squishy to board stiff. The only way to be sure you get on with a foam mattress is to sleep on it for a while. Helpfully, many memory foam mattress manufacturers give lengthy trials. Best memory foam mattress with a 365-day trial Nectar memory foam mattress £499 (double) at Nectar Pros: best balance of cushioning, support, breathability and motion can get very expensive and heavy; wide variations make it hard to choose your ideal match. Cross a pocket sprung mattress with a memory foam mattress and you get a hybrid. Exactly how the foam, springs and other components fit together differs from mattress to mattress, with some premium models wrapping thousands of extra-tall springs in layers of latex foam, high-density memory foam, grid-shaped foam, bamboo-infused cooling foam and natural wool. Many also add a layer or two of 'microsprings' that nudge up the comfort level by allowing them to contour to your body. The idea of a hybrid is to have all the pros of springs and foam with none of the cons. There's no such thing as the perfect mattress, however – only the perfect mattress for you, so hybrids inevitably vary in their firmness, cushioning, temperature control and motion isolation. I've been reviewing the best and best-value hybrid mattresses for the Filter, and they've offered a surprising variety of pros and cons, with different models clearly excelling in different areas. My overall favourite is the Otty original hybrid. It's firm but incredibly comfortable, with great motion isolation and breathability – and it's more affordable than a couple of its rivals. Best hybrid mattress Otty Original Hybrid £674.99 (double) at Otty Sign up to The Filter Get the best shopping advice from the Filter team straight to your inbox. The Guardian's journalism is independent. We will earn a commission if you buy something through an affiliate link. after newsletter promotion One person's perfect mattress is another's back ache. (Commiserations if you're one and your sleeping partner is the other.) One of the reasons I'm so in favour of buying a mattress with a long trial period is that it can take a few nights or even weeks to judge how well a mattress's level of firmness suits you. There are a couple of ways to predict how well you'll get on with a new mattress, though. First, lie on your back and try to slide your hand under your lower back. If there's plenty of room, the surface is too hard. If there's no room at all, it's too soft. Now lie on your side in a sleeping position and ask someone to take a photo. If you can draw a straight-ish line along your spine and to your knees, then your spine is able to 'align' and the mattress is a good match for you. If the line curves up or down, your spine can't lie straight and you'll be uncomfortable. The ideal firmness of your mattress differs according to your natural sleeping position. If you sleep mostly on your side, you need extra cushioning for your hips, knees and shoulders (pressure points). A very firm mattress won't work for you, especially if you have muscle or joint issues such as hip pain. If you sleep on your back or front, you can get away with a firmer surface. No one will benefit from a mattress that's too firm or too soft, though. 'If it's too soft, you'll find it almost impossible to maintain a good posture when you're asleep,' says Simon Durrant, director of the Sleep Research Centre at the University of Lincoln. 'But if the mattress is too hard, it will lead to awkward sleeping positions and soreness, and as a result, you'll wake up more often.' Your size comes into it, too. Petite bodies don't sink into cushioning as readily as larger ones do. If you're small, you need a bit more softness to get comfy; if you're big, you need a firmer surface to make you feel supported. Jack Sprat and his wife would certainly struggle when mattress shopping. However big or small you are, don't skimp on bed size. The Sleep Charity says bigger is better, and I tend to agree, subject to the size of your budget and living space. If you can stretch out in bed, you'll sleep better and run less risk of stiffness or joint pain – and if you sleep next to someone, you'll both welcome the extra room. Size, firmness and price are probably the main factors you'll have in mind when you choose a mattress, but there are other things to consider. A warranty of 10 years or more is a good sign that a mattress is built to last. The minimum I'd advise spending on a double is about £500, unless it's for the kids or a spare room. Most warranties will guarantee that the mattress won't sag significantly or have broken springs and burst seams within a decade – just don't jump on it, as this will void the warranty. All bed-in-a-box mattresses come with a trial period during which you can send the mattress back, no questions asked, as long as you've taken care of it by using a mattress protector. Trials range from 100 days (Panda) to 365 nights (Ikea and Nectar); most are 200 nights (Simba, Eve, Origin). A washable removable cover is a must-have if the mattress contains memory foam, which can trap heat. Most good hybrid and foam mattresses have soft fabric covers that you can unzip and throw in the washing machine at 40C. Another useful extra is a cooling layer, which helps counteract the balmy effect of foam. No mattress can actively reduce your body temperature – it's not like putting your sheets in the fridge – but layers that contain breathable materials such as wool, bamboo and graphite can prevent overheating and help you sleep in comfort, especially if you're struggling with the sweaty effects of menopause or medication. One feature I'm less sold on is zoned support. A zoned mattress offers different levels of tension in different areas to correspond with the bits of your body that need support and cushioning. The trouble is, we're all different shapes and sizes. Unless you're bang on average and stay very still while you sleep, the mattress's zones are unlikely to correspond perfectly with yours. Then there are double-sided mattresses that come with a choice of firmness. I've tested only one of these so far, the Eve Wunderflip Hybrid, and I found the two sides to be similarly soft. Switching between them wasn't just a matter of flipping the mattress over, either; you had to detach and reattach a heavy foamy comfort layer. And what if you and your partner disagree on which side to use? Better to pick a mattress that suits you both. If you can't agree on firmness and are determined to share a mattress, there are dual tension mattresses, made up of two halves, each with a different firmness level. Dormeo's Dual Core mattresses are a good example. They attach using a zip, so it's more comfortable and secure than pushing beds together in a twin hotel room. Most mattress brands offer to collect and recycle your old mattress when delivering the new one, but I'm torn on whether this is worth paying for. You're often charged £40 or more, and in my experience, the mattress delivery guys aren't always forewarned that they're collecting. Your local council may be able to recycle your mattress more cheaply and efficiently. A mattress has one job, more or less: to help you sleep in comfort. 'A good mattress can't guarantee a good night's sleep, but a bad mattress will often lead to a poor night's sleep,' says the Sleep Research Centre's Durrant. You can certainly improve your chances of sleeping well by choosing well. The relationship between good sleep and your choice of mattress gets more pertinent as you get older. 'Younger people are more robust to the effects of a less-than-ideal mattress,' says Durrant. 'As we get older, we take longer to get to sleep and wake up more, which makes us more aware of our mattress and its comfort. Also, as we age we're more prone to feeling stiff and sore after a few hours in bed, so we're more dependent on a good-quality mattress.' It can be hard to know whether a mattress is perfect for you after one night, let alone five minutes in a showroom. Also bear in mind that a new mattress can feel weird at first, especially if you've switched to hybrid or foam after years on a sprung mattress. But if you're still struggling to get used to a mattress after a couple of weeks, don't be shy about taking advantage of that free trial – and then another one, and another one – until you find your perfect match.
