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A closer look at the Casper mattress

Casper is one of several trendy mattress companies which have appeared in the last few years offering just one product.

The idea - as far as I can tell - is to simplify the confusing mattress buying experience. Traditionally, you wander the showrooms picking from several dozen white rectangles whilst trying to stop the children embarrassing you.

Casper and other "bed in a box" mattresses aren't generally found in warehouse showrooms on business parks but they hope you're willing to take a punt on their only mattress based on customer reviews, industry awards and the offer of a free return. Most of these mattresses offer a 100 night free trial, which is the case with Casper.

Casper has won several awards in the last few years, including one from Time Magazine (one of the best inventions of 2015). Reviewers from the Independent have called it a 'best buy' whilst customer reviews on Amazon UK are at 4.4/5 from more than 80 customers (as of July 2018).

Instead of a layer of springs (the traditional way of making mattresses), the Casper mattress has four layers of foam.

They call it 'hybrid foam', which means the layers are made up of "latex foam...memory foam...transition foam (and) base foam". At this point I've probably drifted into excessive jargon but the general idea is that foam offers consistent support all over whereas springs are more variable.

Various experts also suggest that foam bounces back to its original shape over time better than springs which start to sag and dip sooner (don't we all). If you're interested, you can see the graph on this site, which says memory foam and latex foam have better longevity than springs (the graph uses the phrase 'innerspring' which is the US term for a sprung mattress).

Other points in favour of a foam mattress over springs are that they don't collect dust as easily as natural fibres, which means that foam mattresses are less likely to set off dust mite allergies.

Many foam based mattresses have memory foam on top, whilst Casper is amongst those which change the order round with memory foam buried deeper within.

The reason for this is to try to overcome the common issue with memory foam of feeling too hot as it moulds around you so you overheat.

With the Casper mattress, the top layer is latex foam, which in theory is more breathable. I received my mattress during a (British) heatwave and I personally didn't notice being any hotter than I was on my sprung mattress, so it seems to have done the trick.

One other advantage which Casper has over traditional pocket sprung mattresses is that it arrives in a box which is about 1 metre high (for a double size). That makes it far easier to get it upstairs without treading on the dog or knocking over a family heirloom.

The air is sucked out in the factory, so you peel off the plastic cover and listen to it hissing away as the air is released. After a couple of minutes it is up to its normal size.

Most reviews and guides rate the Casper mattress as being medium firmness. On Amazon it is described as being 'medium soft' whilst most guides give it a score of 6 or 7 on the firmness scale, with 1 being soft and 10 being firm.

For me, the Casper mattress achieves a level of comfort and support which is just right for my 11-12 stone - I didn't sink in too much but I don't lie on top, which really should be the aim when you are picking a mattress and trying to achieve a well supported spine.

Sweet dreams!

We were sent a free mattress by Casper, but the words are written by us.