The Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress is one of the cheaper pocket sprung mattresses you will find in Dreams. We wanted to see how it compares to pricier models so tested it out recently. 

When we tested the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress, it was being sold for:

• £429 in single size
• £499 in double or small double size
• £569 in king size
• £629 in super king size

Firmness rating of the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress

Dreams describe this as a medium tension mattress. For me, it felt a little closer to medium-firm. I would give it a rating of 7/10 with 1/10 being exceedingly soft and 10/10 being exceedingly firm. 

For my personal needs, and my weight and build, it was about the firmness level that I look for. I sleep on my front and weigh 13 stone. 

However, if I slept on my side I would say it was a little too firm. When laying on my back I carried out our usual Spine Test, which is to see if the spine stays in a natural position or if it is put slightly out of shape by the level of support. 

You can test this for yourself by putting your hands underneath your spine whilst lying on the mattress and seeing what sort of gap or pressure there is on your hand. You’ll need to try a few mattresses to get the hang of this, but you really want a mattress that doesn’t leave your spine unsupported, but also doesn’t allow you to sink in too far. 

As I said, this mattress was about right for me and I felt quite well supported. 

Edge support on the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress (and the Custard Slice Test)

Lots of mattresses can do a good job of supporting you when you’re lying in the middle of the mattress. It’s more difficult to provide support to the very edges.

We always test this out by lying on our side on the very edge of the mattress. This mattress performed a little better than I was expecting. There was some compression and a slightly different feel at the edge of the mattress than in the middle, but not as much as I thought there might be. 

The next test is the one I call the Custard Slice Test. We sit on the edge of the mattress and see if it behaves like a custard slice or if it holds its own shape better. In this case, I felt there was quite significant compression. That is not a big surprise on a mattress towards the lower end of the market and it’s not really a big deal unless you spend a considerable amount of time tying your shoelaces on the edge of your bed. 

Motion transfer (or The Wibble Wobble Test) on the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress

Sharing a bed with someone is perilous. It’s particularly problematic if you share a bed with someone who gets in or out or shuffles around a lot. We like to test out how a mattress behaves by lying side by side and moving around or getting in or out of the bed. 

I was expecting there to be quite a lot of sideways movement and wibble wobble on this mattress. However, it outperformed my expectations. Yes, there was a little motion transfer and movement but overall I thought it did pretty well.

Design and construction of the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress

For those of you that are wading your way through a confusing mattress market, let me spell out the basics. 

Most mattresses you will come across are either sprung or made from foam. Others use a bit of both and are described as hybrid mattresses. 

Within the sprung category of mattresses, you can either get an open coil mattress or a pocket sprung mattress. My advice is to go for pocket sprung if you can afford it. This mattress is one of those pocket sprung mattresses. The number of springs on this mattress is a little below what I would normally look for. The king size version has 800 springs but I usually set a minimum for a mattress that I am buying of 1000. With a lower number, you sometimes feel a little less supported. 

To be honest though, this mattress outperformed what I was expecting considering the budget specification.

The top layer of the mattress

One other thing worth mentioning is that this mattress has a flat top to it, which is generally known as a quilted finish. As you look around the showroom, you will generally find that more expensive mattresses sprung have got little buttons on top, which are known as a tufted finish. These can give a mattress a little more strength and are generally seen as a sign of robustness in a pocket sprung mattress. 

Handles on the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress

Finally, we were pleased to see a robust set of handles on this mattress. You don’t need to turn it over, but it’s still important that a mattress has well constructed and strong handles that will allow you to move it around without ripping or damaging the fabric. 

Final thoughts on the Dream Team Tadley 800 Pocket Memory Mattress

This mattress of course, is not the world’s most luxurious. It has a relatively modest specification that is reflected in its relatively modest price. The spring count is quite low, but it does at least use the pocket sprung technology that most of us are used to.

Despite that, we felt it performed quite well on our edge test and provided a decent level of comfort.

See our guide to budget mattresses that will cost you about £200.