When we tested out the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress it was being sold for £279 in the single size or £349 in the double size. A king size was £379. We weren’t offered the option of a super king size version.

First impressions of the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress 

It’s fair to say that this mattress is at the budget end of the foam mattress market. However, it does a good impression of a more expensive mattress and looks to be well constructed (if rather simple). It is somewhat thinner than some foam mattresses, but we were keen to test it out to find out how it compared to the more expensive alternatives.

Firmness rating on the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress  

Dreams describe this mattress as being medium firmness. For me it was a little firmer than that. I would give it a rating of 8/10 for firmness with 1/10 being soft and 10/10 being firm. 

Firmness can feel like a slightly subjective thing, particularly when you are comparing a sprung mattress with a foam mattress. A memory foam mattress such as this offers practically zero bounce so it can initially feel very firm but then sinks in. I have also seen some research that shows how memory foam performs slightly differently at different times of year. Visco-elastic foam reacts to heat, so during a heatwave it tends to be slightly softer than it would be during winter. 

To gauge whether it is the right firmness for you, I would suggest doing the simple trick of lying on your back and putting your hand underneath your spine (The Spine Test). The ideal mattress for you is one that is neither too difficult or too easy to get your hand underneath. Try out a few mattresses and aim for one that feels somewhere in the middle of these two. 

For me, this Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress was a little too difficult to get my hand underneath. However, it was not far off being about right for me. I’m 6 ft tall and weigh 13 stone. If you are larger than me and also sleep on your back as I do, then it is more likely that this would be about right for you. 

I like to shuffle around when I’m testing a mattress and try it in every position. On my front and back it was very close to being a suitable firmness rating for me, but was was just a whisker too firm. On my side, I found it to be much too firm. 

Feel and design of the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress 

As you may be aware, a mattress using memory foam tends to have something of a sinking feeling to it. 

We felt that this mattress didn’t feel a million miles from a firm Tempur mattress. Some Tempur mattresses will cost you 5 or 10 times as much as this mattress so this is a high compliment. 

That sinking feeding isn’t for everyone and some people also find memory foam a bit too warm. More expensive memory foam mattresses tend to play around with the design to overcome this heat issue.

Personally, I quite like memory foam in a mattress but I have never got on well with memory foam pillows.

Support at the edges of the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress (The Custard Slice Test)

We have sometimes found that foam mattresses struggle to provide support right to the edges, in the way that a well-constructed pocket sprung mattress can. 

It’s always worth testing this for yourself by lying on the edge of a mattress on your side. If you end up on the floor of the showroom then it’s a bad sign.

For the price tag, I would say this mattress performed pretty well to the very edges. We did feel that we sunk in slightly more than we did in the middle of the mattress. However, we didn’t feel as though we were about to fall off and it actually performed a fair bit better than we expected.

The second test of edge support that we like to do is to sit on the mattress at the edges as this really does apply a significant amount of pressure. I call this the Custard Slice Test. It certainly sunk quite a lot more at the edges, but I didn’t feel it was too bad and certainly didn’t behave like a custard slice.

Motion transfer on the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress (The Wibble Wobble Test) 

Let’s get into some rather geeky discussions now about how mattresses perform when you get in and out. 

Ideally you want a mattress that doesn’t feel wobbly when your spouse climbs in or out of bed. We’ve found that 100% foam mattresses tend to be particularly good at this. 

That was the case with this Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress, which has got exceptionally good motion transfer (i.e. there is very little wibble-wobble). You can test this for yourself by shopping with someone else and lying side by side. Take turns to get in and out of the bed and see how much movement you feel. we didn’t feel much movement at all in in this mattress and felt we were unlikely to be woken up. 

Handles on the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress 

One of these stranger things that we always test when we are trying out a mattress is the quality of the handles. We like a mattress that is built to be moved. Even a single-sided mattress such as this needs rotating regularly and may also be moved from room to room. 

We tested the double version this mattress and we’re disappointed to find that it didn’t have any handles at all. In fairness, it is a very light mattress as it has no springs and is not as thick as some foam mattresses. However, we have found that mattresses without handles are quite hard to manoeuvre. 

Specification and final thoughts on the Dreams Workshop Robinson Memory Foam Mattress 

For the price tag, I thought this was a very good value mattress. It isn’t quite as thick and doesn’t have quite the same edge support as a more luxurious foam mattress brand such as Tempur.

However, for a budget mattress we found it to be solidly constructed and offered minimal levels of motion transfer. The lack of handles is disappointing but we could get over that.

Looking for more independent mattress reviews? You can browse all of our in-depth tests and brand comparisons in our full mattress reviews guide.