This site uses cookies – see our privacy policy. Ads & links in bold may give us a small payment from the seller, at no cost to the buyer. However, this never affects our views – if we like it, we recommend it.
Choosing the best Silentnight mattress isn’t an easy task.
They’ve got a much bigger range of mattresses than most companies and are probably the most famous mattress brand in the UK.
Their range includes some very good value cheap foam and sprung mattresses and some more luxurious mattresses.
Overall, Silentnight was scoring 4.1/5 on TrustPilot when we checked, which is very respectable.
Your main options when you’re looking for a Silentnight mattress are:
Silentnight ‘Mirapocket’ mattresses
This is a fancy term for a pocket spring mattress, which is what most of us sleep on. A pocket spring mattress provides a good level of support and feels familiar. Some are straightforward pocket spring mattresses whilst others have a top layer of memory foam or latex to give it a bit more cushioning. Generally speaking, pocket sprung mattresses have better stability then cheaper open coil mattresses.
Research by Shen, Chen et al in 2012 found that stability has a notable impact on how well you sleep. I’d say it’s worth upgrading if you can afford it. They found ‘The percentage of deep sleep and sleep efficiency were low when subjects slept on mattresses with poor stability’ (Shen, Chen et al, 2012).
Silentnight ‘Miracoil’ mattresses
These are the cheaper alternative to a pocket spring mattress. I’d avoid these and upgrade to ‘Mirapocket’ if you can afford it, unless you’re just looking for a cheap mattress for the spare room.
Besides price, the other good reason that you might choose an open coil sprung mattress is that it’s much easier to recycle it once you are finished with it. A report by the National Bed Federation in 2019 found that only 19% of mattress materials are currently recycled. It explained that the huge rise in popularity of pocket sprung mattresses in the last 10-15 years has created a bit of a problem for the recycling industry.
An open coil mattress uses one piece of metal which is twisted into several spring shapes. It can be removed and recycled pretty easily. Meanwhile, pocket sprung mattresses are often made of 1000-2000 tiny springs which are encased in fabric. Recycling companies have to somehow remove the tiny springs. That either involves getting a special machine or removing them by hand.
Silentnight’s cheap memory foam mattresses
These provide consistent all-over support and are a good budget option. They’re sometimes called the ‘Mattress Now’ range.
Silentnight’s posher memory foam mattresses
These are called Silentnight Studio and are their ‘bed in a box’ mattresses which uses different types of foam. They are similar to the Nectar Sleep and Emma mattresses.
There are multiple variations such as ‘pillow top’ Silentnight mattresses which have a soft topper and ‘eco’ mattresses which use recycled plastic bottles. However, those are the main categories of Silentnight mattresses.
For anyone who doesn’t religiously read Furniture News magazine, you might like to know that the Silentnight Eco Comfort range was runner up in the mattresses and divans category at the Furniture Awards 2019.
Before we move onto our top 5, here are the good and bad points about buying a Silentnight mattress.
Pros and cons of buying the best Silentnight mattress
Pros:
- Biggest name in the UK mattress market
- Huge range, including cheaper and mid-priced mattresses
- Several award winners in the range, including accolades from Which? and Good Housekeeping
- Choice of pocket sprung, foam mattresses or hybrids
Cons:
- Most don’t come with a trial period. Those that do are more limited than trials offered by a lot of bed in a box brands.
- Warranties tend to be 1-5 years, which is shorter than similarly priced foam mattresses
- Cheaper foam models are quite thin
We’ve picked out five of the best Silentnight mattresses based on specifications, customer reviews, value for money and awards. Prices are for double mattresses and are correct at the time of typing.
1. Silentnight 3 Zone Memory Foam Mattress – soft/medium tension – £199
If you’re after a budget Silentnight mattress with good reviews then you might like the Silentnight 3 Zone Memory Foam mattress. It arrives rolled up and then unfurls at home. The mattress is constructed from different types of foam, with a thin layer of memory foam on top. It scores 4.2/5 on Amazon from 8000+ reviews.
This is the 3 Zone model which is 18cm deep, or you can get a 7 Zone version which is 20cm deep and a little bit firmer. Most luxury mattresses are about 25-30cm, but this should do the job as long as you aren’t particularly heavy.
Memory foam gives you more of a ‘hugging’ and ‘sinking’ feeling than you’d get with a sprung mattress. Some people find that memory foam feels a bit warm, but that it offers more consistent support than springs.
This model was given an award from expert testers back in 2012. It comes with a 3 year warranty which is quite short for a mattress. But then again, it’s a double mattress for less than £200 from a brand you’ve actually heard of…
The benefits of a zoned mattress
There is some interesting science behind a mattress using ‘zones’. It was explored in some depth by a team of researchers in Iran in a paper called ‘Spine alignment in men during lateral sleep position: experimental study and modeling’ (Leilnahari, Fatouraee et al, 2011).
The research looked at ‘sleep surfaces with different zonal elasticity’ and suggested they are ‘a more appropriate choice for heavier men with pronounced body contour’. The participants were all men, hence the recommendation being gender specific.
They also add that ‘Observing the amount of required stiffness obtained for the sleep surface, can have a significant effect on keeping the spine healthy’.
The theory is that ‘Soft surfaces cause the increase in low back pain due to incorrect support of vertebral column…Thereagainst, mattresses with high stiffness lead to shoulder pain, and cause the decrease in sleep quality and improper distribution of body loads’. A mattress with varying ‘zones’ aims to overcome this.
2. Silentnight Classic 1200 Pocket Deluxe/Sofia – medium to firm tension – £399
Much like Puff Daddy, this Silentnight mattress goes by a few different names including Sofia and Classic 1200. It’s a solid mid-priced choice if you want the familiar feel of a pocket spring mattress.
It’s won a couple of big awards and customer reviews are very positive, averaging 9/10 from 1000+ reviews at the time of writing.
The 1200 number refers to the number of pocket springs on a king size model. That’s a perfectly decent number which will provide a good level of support for an average sized person. If you are much heavier than average then you may be better going for a mattress with a number closer to 2000 such as the Silentnight London Stratus mattress (£489).
It’s nice and deep at 28cm and it is double sided. That means that it should last longer if you remember to flip it over regularly.
It comes with a 5 year warranty which is good for a pocket spring mattress, though not spectacular. Pocket spring mattresses tend to come with a guarantee of between 1 and 10 years (with the exception of Vispring which offers 30 years) whilst ‘bed in a box’ mattresses usually come with between 5 years and ‘forever’ (in the case of the Nectar Sleep mattress).
Silentnight’s Classic 1200 is a mid-priced mattress with great reviews
3. Studio By Silentnight – medium firmness – £599
Studio by Silentnight is the company’s answer to the large number of trendy ‘bed in a box’ mattresses which have arrived in the UK mattress market in recent years. You’ve probably seen names like Nectar Sleep, Simba and OTTY promoting their mattresses with slick adverts and websites.
These mattresses all offer something quite similar, and it’s certainly appealing if you prefer buying online. Instead of dozens of similar mattresses, these companies usually offer one, two or three mattresses.
They often get very good reviews and have won awards. They’ll post the mattress to you squashed up in a box and you can try it out at home once it’s expanded. You’ve then got several weeks or months to decide if you want to keep it. You can either return it or swap it, depending on what the brand’s policy is. They also offer long warranties most of the time.
Studio by Silentnight follows this pattern and like most of the other bed in a box brands, it uses layers of foam. Some ‘hybrid’ brands like Simba Hybrid, OTTY and Brook + Wilde use springs as well as foam.
Good reviews and a more established name than its rivals
Studio by Silentnight gets positive reviews of somewhere between 4 and 4.5/5 from customers on Silentnight’s website and Mattress Online. It’s also been given the thumbs up from expert mattress testers.
Silentnight is a more established mattress brand than others offering this type of mattress. On the downside, the warranty length is shorter than most at five years. Also, whilst you get a 60 day trial with this one your only option is to swap it for another Silentnight mattress. The likes of Nectar Sleep, OTTY and Emma offer a refund if you’re happy.
You’ll find that a lot of people suggest memory foam mattresses like this are a good choice if you suffer from an allergy to dust mites. For example, foam mattress brand Dormeo says that because foam mattresses are made from ‘inorganic fibres’ they don’t provide ‘life sustaining food‘ for dust mites and so they ‘will therefore avoid them’.
However, an academic study in Norway found that dust mite feces was much more commonly found on foam mattresses than it was on sprung mattresses (‘House-dust mites and mattresses’ by Schei et al in 2002).
You’ll find plenty of foam mattresses are approved by the charity Allergy UK, who say that the key is to find a mattress which says the key is to use an ‘allergen proof barrier cover’.
4. Silentnight London Stratus 2000 – medium firmness – £489
We’ve picked this Silentnight London Stratus mattress for those who like a mattress which offers both pocket springs and memory foam (sometimes called a hybrid mattress).
This particular one has a high pocket spring count which will offer a very good level of support. A thin layer of memory foam on top adds a bit of cushioning and all-over support.
The downside of having a topper layer of something like memory foam or latex is that you can’t turn the mattress over, as the topper is only on one side. That can lead to dips and sags over time. However, you can still rotate it round.
This one gets very good reviews of 8.9/10 from 400+ customers so it’s obviously doing something right.
It comes with a five year warranty.
5. Silentnight Geltex Ultra 3000 Mirapocket Mattress – firm – £719
Finally, we’ve picked out one of the more expensive Silentnight mattresses – the Geltex Ultra 3000, which sounds a bit like a pair of flashy running trainers.
So, what do you get for your money compared to a cheap Silentnight mattress?
For a start, this is a huge mattress at 37cm deep. If Rob Brydon bought this mattress he’d probably need to take a run at it. You’ll need extra deep fitted sheets or you’ll end up injuring yourself whilst changing them. The thickness is because it’s got two layers of springs and a layer of ‘Geltex’ which is a sort of fancy foam (‘an innovative combination of extremely elastic gel and air-permeable foam’ if you want to be technical).
As you’d expect for this price, it uses pocket springs which are far superior to open coil springs. In all there are 3000 springs, with 2000 on one layer and 1000 on another. In case you’re interested, the number of pocket springs you see on a mattress description is the number that you get on the king size version – you get far less on a single. Be honest, you’re not really interested are you?
Too firm for some?
It’s worth noting that this is a firm mattress. The general advice is that heavier people need firmer mattresses than lighter people if they’re to get the right level of support.
Also, if you sleep on your side you’ll get better support from a softer mattress than if you sleep on your back. This is because side sleepers need a slightly softer mattress so there isn’t too much pressure on their hips and shoulders. The idea is that you take both factors into account when deciding on what firmness you need from a mattress.
Is this the best silentnight mattress according to customers?
When we checked, reviews were amongst the best of all the Silentnight mattresses with an average of 9.1/10 on Mattress Online after more than 250 reviews.
