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5 best pillow top mattresses 2020
A pillow top mattress is one where a comfortable topper is permanently attached onto the mattress. Various materials are used for the comfort layer on a pillowtop mattress including natural materials such as latex and wool as well as synthetic fibres.
The appeal of a pillow top mattress is that you get solid support from a sprung mattress underneath along with a lovely squidgy layer on the top. The downside in some cases is that the top layer loses its shape so you might get sags and dips over time (don't we all?).
You can't usually turn over a pillow top mattress as the comfort layer is only on one side.
We've picked out five of the best pillow top mattresses, including award winners, mattresses with outstanding customer reviews and pillow top mattresses which offer the best value for money. We've included a mix of posh expensive pillow top mattresses as well as cheap pillow top mattresses.
Prices are for double mattresses and are correct at the time of writing.
The appeal of a pillow top mattress is that you get solid support from a sprung mattress underneath along with a lovely squidgy layer on the top. The downside in some cases is that the top layer loses its shape so you might get sags and dips over time (don't we all?).
You can't usually turn over a pillow top mattress as the comfort layer is only on one side.
We've picked out five of the best pillow top mattresses, including award winners, mattresses with outstanding customer reviews and pillow top mattresses which offer the best value for money. We've included a mix of posh expensive pillow top mattresses as well as cheap pillow top mattresses.
Prices are for double mattresses and are correct at the time of writing.
1. Sealy Posturepedic Nostromo/Teramo Latex 1400 Pocket Pillow Top Mattress - Soft/Medium firmness - £595
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Expert testers went wild for this Sealy mattress which has a latex pillow top. Latex is a natural material which is well suited for mattresses but is expensive to produce so tends to be used as a thin topper (except by posh latex mattress brand Dunlopillo which makes the whole mattress out of latex).
Anyway, back to Sealy which is part of the same company as the Silentnight and Rest Assured mattress brands. It's generally seen as the posher of those three brand names so many consider it the best buy for your money. Overall, the Sealy brand was scoring 3.4/5 on TrustPilot when we checked although that includes a big range of products so I would pay more attention to individual product reviews. This particular model was achieving a very impressive 8.9/10 from about 500 customer reviews. The Sealy Nostromo/Teramo has 1400 pocket springs, which is very good and will provide plenty of support. Most decent mattresses have 1000-2000 pocket springs. If you're very heavy you would get more benefit from a number nearer to 2000 but for most people 1400 is perfectly adequate. The warranty is five years, which is towards the lower end for the mattress market. It's made in the UK and goes by a couple of names (Nostromo and Teramo). There's some debate over the firmness of the the Sealy Nostromo/Teramo. The Sealy website describes it as soft, whilst Mattress Online say it is medium. This sort of ambiguity is common in the mattress market, as there's no industry wide agreed way of measuring firmness. However, having bored myself to tears by reading multiple reviews and descriptions of the same chuffing mattress, I'd say that most people describe the Sealy Nostromo/Teramo as between soft and medium. You're welcome. |
Is it the Teramo or the Nostromo? Either way, it's popular with customers
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2. Sleepeezee Perfectly British Mayfair 3200 Pocket Pillow Top Mattress - Medium firmness - £849
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The Sleepeezee Mayfair 3200 was a finalist at the bed industry's main awards in 2019, although I imagine you watched the live coverage on Sky Box Office just like me.
The brand is a good one too, as it has a Royal Warrant meaning that the Prince of Wales sleeps in a Sleepeezee bed. Well, I think it means they supply the royal household but that doesn't sound as impressive. Customers also rave about Sleepeezee, with an outstanding average brand score of 4.5/5 on TrustPilot (when we checked in 2020). There aren't a huge number of customer reviews online for this particular model, but the handful that we've found are all very positive. The specification is very strong. It's a whopping 35cm deep, making it one of the thickest mattresses on the market. You might want to buy a stepladder to get into bed if you're shorter than average. It uses pocket springs and has a lot of them. Cheap nasty mattresses use 'open coil' springs which wobble around like jelly on a bucking bronco, but a decent mattress like this uses pocket springs. If you want to get technical, it actually has a layer of 1200 normal sized pocket springs, plus another 2000 smaller springs. The main support comes from the normal sized springs, with the smaller ones adding a bit of extra comfort. The Sleepeezee Mayfair 3200 has other signs of quality such as:
Sleepeezee also offer a rather appealing 60 night sleep trial, so they'll swap it for another Sleepeezee mattress if you find it isn't right for you (check the terms and conditions) |
Sorry, trendy table lamps are not included with the Sleepeezee Mayfair
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3. Silentnight Mirapocket 1000 Geltex Pillow Top Mattress - Medium Firmness - £439
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Here's a mid-priced pillow top mattress which is worth a look.
It's made by Silentnight, which is probably the most well-known name in the UK mattress market. The brand offers mattresses, duvets, pillows and various other sleep related things and scores a respectable 4.3/5 from thousands of customers on TrustPilot. The Mirapocket 1000 pillow top mattress has got 1000 pocket springs - not as many as some but enough to provide a good level of support unless you're large enough to take up two seats on an aeroplane. As well as the pocket springs and the pillow top layer it also has a layer of something called 'geltex' which is a type of fancy foam which aims to offer a bit of consistent support. It makes our top 5 thanks to outstanding customer reviews, which are averaging 9.3/10 from more than 100 reviews, at the time of writing. |
A mid-priced medium mattress for fans of alliteration
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4. Sleepeezee Memory Comfort 1000 Pocket Pillow Top Mattress - Medium/Firm - £369
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The cheapest pillow top mattress in our top 5 is another one from Sleepeezee. As mentioned earlier, the brand has a Royal Warrant and outstanding reviews on TrustPilot.
The 1000 Memory Comfort model is less than half the price of the Sleepeezee Mayfair but it offers a lot for the money. As well as a layer of pocket springs, it also has memory foam and a pillow top. Memory foam doesn't appeal to everyone as it has a bit of a sinking feeling, but most mattress experts say that it offers a good level of consistent support compared to springs. It's obviously working well alongside the softer pillow top layer as it was scoring more than 9/10 from more than 300 reviews when we checked. The main differences between this cheaper Sleepeezee model and luxurious Mayfair model are the number of springs and the fancy natural materials such as Cashmere. A high spring count is more important if you're on the heavy side, but for most people the support of 1000 pocket springs will be enough. It is certainly far better than 'open coil' or 'traditional' springs which are what your grandma has on her wartime spare bed. This model is a medium/firm tension mattress, meaning it might suit someone who sleeps on their back. Side sleepers usually go for softer mattresses than back sleepers so that their shoulders and hips sink into the mattress a bit more. Luckily, this one comes with the same Sleepeezee 60 night trial so you can swap it for another Sleepeezee mattress if it isn't right for you (check the smallprint). The other main difference compared to the more expensive Sleepeezee Mayfair mattress it that this model comes with a 5 year warranty instead of 10 years. |
A good value pillow top mattress from a posh brand
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5. Hypnos Premier Luxury Pillow Top Pocket Sprung Mattress - Soft tension - £1249
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Hypnos deserve a mention as it has been named as the best mattress manufacturer on more than one occasion at the National Bed Federation's awards. For anyone taking notes, they won in 2014 and 2017 and were runner up in 2018.
They're one of the posher brands in the UK mattress market and according to the official blurb they are 'the only bed maker to actively supply all of the Royal residences including Buckingham Palace, Windsor Castle, St.James Palace, Balmoral Castle, Sandringham House, The Palace of Holyroodhouse and Kensington Palace'. So, you could well be sleeping in the Queen's bed, if you see what I mean. The Hypnos Premier Pillow Top model has all the signs of quality that you'd expect when you spend more than £1000 on a mattress including:
This mattress is described as being softer than most, so it's best for people who sleep on their side as it will allow their shoulders and elbows to sink in and keep their spines straight. Soft mattresses are also more suited for lighter people, as a heavy person will sink in to the mattress too much. When we checked, the Hypnos brand was scoring 3.6/5 on TrustPilot whilst this mattress was scoring just below 5/5. |
Hypnos beds have royal approval
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