The Ergoflex Mattress is one of the lesser-known names in the UK mattress market. However, Ergoflex has a good reputation and certainly deserves a few seconds of your attention.
Reviews are amongst the best you’ll find and they have a lot going for them when compared to their rivals.
There are also areas where similar mattress brands offer more – most notably a longer warranty and a longer trial period. So, join us on a fascinating journey into the world of the Ergoflex 5G mattress (Ed: stop overselling it, not everyone finds mattresses fascinating).
What type of mattress does Ergoflex make?
Ergoflex only make one mattress – the Ergoflex 5G (£483 for a double mattress). It’s nothing to do with phone masts but gets its name because it is ‘fifth generation’ design.
It’s a ‘memory foam’ mattress, which is a material that is a popular alternative to the more traditional way of making a mattress. A few decades ago, pretty much every mattress was made with springs. A foam mattress was something your grandma had on her folding bed in the spare room. Then, along came ‘memory foam’ which is a type of foam which is particularly good for mattresses.
Nowadays, there are several award-winning memory foam mattresses on the market. Ergoflex 5G is one of them, but there are others such as Nectar Sleep and Simba Sleep. I’ll attempt to explain how Ergoflex 5G differs.
The arguments for memory foam
Various expert guides I’ve read suggest that a good memory foam mattress will offer a consistent level of support. It’s also a manmade material, so it doesn’t gather dust in the same way as a sprung mattress with natural materials. See more on the memory foam v pocket springs argument, if you have nothing better to do.
One study worth a mention was that conducted by a group of researchers in Sweden who investigated whether memory foam could help reduce pressure ulcers amongst patients recovering from hip operations in hospital. The theory was that memory foam (also called visco-elastic foam) is good at spreading out weight rather than creating high pressure points on your body whilst you sleep.
They found that ‘patients on standard mattresses tended to develop more severe pressure ulcers’ which appears to be an endorsement for memory foam. (‘Effect of visco-elastic foam mattresses on the development of pressure ulcers in patients with hip fractures’ by Gunningberg, Lindholm et al, 2013).
Ergoflex just make one mattress – but it’s a good’n.
The arguments against memory foam
The three main issues that are raised by people who don’t like memory foam mattresses are that:
- new ones can smell a bit for a few hours or days
- memory foam can make you feel a bit warm
- memory foam has a slight sinking and hugging feeling
However, it’s worth pointing out that brands like Ergoflex offer responses to each of these in their FAQ.
- Ergoflex say that there is ‘an initial memory foam odour’ but ‘it is entirely safe’ and it ‘usually dissipates significantly during the mattress recovery period (four hours)’. They also suggest washing the outer cover if it bothers you.
- According to Ergoflex, their mattress will keep you cool enough because it has ‘an open cell structure to allow air to circulate freely through their layers’.
- The slightly odd feeling of a memory foam mattress is a bit of a personal thing. However, as with a lot of other brands, Ergoflex offer a 30 day trial period so you can return it for a refund if it’s not right for you. We’ll waffle on about the trial period later on in this guide.
The innovation behind the Ergoflex mattress
It’s worth mentioning at this point that Ergoflex has a pretty good claim to being a mattress brand pioneer. For many years now, Ergoflex has been offering just one mattress and has delivered it squashed in a box (hence the name ‘bed in a box’). That business model has really taken off in the last few years, thanks to brands such as Emma, Eve and OTTY which you’ve probably seen advertised on the side of a bus.
As the data below shows, people began searching for Ergoflex back in 2007, whilst searches for ‘Emma mattress’ began 10 years later. The search term ‘Emma mattress’ quickly overtook ‘Ergoflex’ in popularity, but Ergoflex’s status as a pioneer is hard to dispute.
Ergoflex doesn’t quite have the same marketing clout as some of those big name brands, but the specification is one of the best in the memory foam mattress market for the price.
Image from Google Trends showing searches for ‘Ergoflex’ (blue) and ‘Emma mattress ‘(red). Note that Ergoflex searches started 10 years before ‘Emma mattress’ searches
How the layers measure up
One other thing to realise is that a ‘memory foam’ mattress isn’t made from 100% memory foam. Sorry if that comes as a shock to you.
Instead, they all use layers of different types of foam. Some mattress brands put a layer of memory foam on top (e.g. Ergoflex 5G, Nectar Sleep) whilst others use the layer of memory foam like a filling in a sandwich with other types of foam above and below (e.g. Emma).
You can certainly spend a long time obsessing over density and other technical things, but one simple indicator of quality is to look at how deep the memory foam layer is.
The Ergoflex 5G is a 23cm deep mattress with a whopping 9cm deep layer of memory foam. It is labelled as Visco Elastic Memory Foam on the cross section image at the top of this page.
Meanwhile, the Silentnight 3 Zone memory foam mattress is a very popular and good value mattress (about £210) but it is an 18cm deep mattress with a 3cm deep layer of memory foam. That’s 6cm less memory foam than the Ergoflex 5G.
A lot of memory foam mattresses don’t give you the exact specifications, so you have to resort to either guessing or cutting one open. That’s easy enough if they have a removable cover, but less easy with some mattresses.
It’s fair to say that a 9cm layer of memory foam is unusually deep. Most ‘memory foam’ mattresses offer something more like a 3-5cm layer of memory foam.
How firm is the Ergoflex mattress?
According to Ergoflex, their 5G mattress is ‘medium/firm’.
You might assume that there was an industry standard for measuring how firm a mattress is. You might think that a ‘medium/firm’ mattress made by one mattress brand would be as soft as one made by a rival company.
Well my friend, you’d be wrong (Ed: great conversational tone, keep it up).
Unfortunately, there’s no consistency between different mattress brands which is why I prefer to go for a mattress which either offers a home trial period, or one which you can try out in a shop before buying it.
One other thing to mention about mattress firmness is that it isn’t just a question of personal taste. The general idea is to find a mattress which is the right firmness for your build and weight. Heavier people need firmer mattresses than lighter people. Also, people who sleep on their back need slightly firmer mattresses than people who sleep on their sides, because side sleepers can put too much pressure on their shoulders and hips if they have a very firm mattress.
You need to combine those two things to try and figure out the right firmness for you. For example, if you are a 19 stone forward in a rugby team who sleeps on their back then you probably won’t get enough support from a very soft mattress.
Most ‘bed in a box’ mattresses which offer home trial periods only offer one firmness level.
Which awards have the Ergoflex mattress won?
Most notably, the Ergoflex 5G has been given approval from independent expert testers (as of June 2020).
It also has something called CertiPur-US and OKEO-TEX 100 certification. Those are both awards which relate to the materials used. It’s a little complicated but the gist of it is that they don’t use unpleasant chemicals such as formaldehyde.
What reviews do customers give the Ergoflex mattress?
Customer reviews is an area where Ergoflex does particularly well. We searched for every mattress brand we could think of in 2024 on TrustPilot and found Ergoflex right near the top of our league table:
- Ergoflex – 4.8/5
- Dunlopillo – 4.5/5
- Simba Sleep – 4.5/5
- Happy Beds – 4.4/5
- OTTY – 4.4/5
- Sleepeezee – 4.2/5
- Nectar Sleep – 4.2/5
- DreamCloud – 4.2/5
- REM-Fit – 4.1/5
- Silentnight – 4.1/5
- Hypnos Beds – 4.1/5
- Dormeo – 4.1/5
- Harrison Spinks (manufacturers of the John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection, Somnus and Herdy Sleep) – 4.0/5
- Vispring – 4.0/5
- Eve Sleep – 3.9/5
- Sealy – 3.9/5
- Tempur – 3.7/5
- Casper – 3.7/5
- Mammoth – 3.1/5
- Emma Mattress – 3/5
(It’s worth noting that we couldn’t find some major brands. There’s also variation in how many reviews there are of each brand, but we excluded those which only had a handful to go on).
Reviews on Ergoflex’s own website are similarly glowing. Scores include:
- ‘99% for customer service’ and ‘98% for product satisfaction’ on Feefo.
- 4.8/5 on Review Centre
What trial period does Ergoflex offer?
The Ergoflex 5G comes with a 30 day trial period, so you can return it if you don’t like it. There are some Ts & Cs, such as needing to try it for at least 21 nights before asking for a refund. That gives a pretty narrow window for a return.
Personally, I’m a big fan of a trial period as you get a much better idea of how comfy a mattress is then you get from lying down for a few seconds whilst fully dressed in a bed showroom.
These trials used to be very unusual but they’re now quite common, particularly amongst memory foam brands such as Ergoflex which are just sold online.
It’s worth pointing out that there has been something of an arms race in recent years with different mattress brands trying to out-do each other by offering longer trial periods.
Trial periods from rivals to the Ergoflex mattress
- the Nectar Sleep Mattress (£600) comes with a 365 night trial
- Emma’s Mattresses (£300-800ish) come with a 200 night trial
- the Simba Sleep Hybrid Mattress (£809) comes with a 200 night trial
- Sleepeezee offer a 60 night trial on most of their range, with the option to swap
Honestly, I think Ergoflex’s trial period is enough for most people to get an idea of whether you like the mattress or not. The argument for offering several months is that you get to try out a mattress in different seasons. You might find that a memory foam mattress is fine for you during the colder months but makes you too warm during a (rare) British heatwave.
Some warranties are more generous than others
One point that I’ve made at least 94 times on this website is that trial length is now the only factor to consider.
You also need to be sifting through the small print to answer these questions:
- If you return it, will you have pay a return postage fee? Lots of companies charge you £30+
- Can you get a refund, or will you be given an exchange? If so, is there a large range to choose from or will you be forced to accept a very similar mattress
- If you take an exchange, are you given the difference back for a cheaper mattress? Some mattress companies give you nothing back, some give you store credit (which has limited value) whilst others give you the money back.
- Are there are any hoops that you have to jump through? Some companies insist that you buy a mattress protector at the same time and use it, so that the mattress isn’t damaged when you return it.
I would encourage you to read Ergoflex’s terms and conditions of their trial period yourself, but my understanding is that:
- You need to try the mattress for 21 days
- Ergofex will ‘provide collection and refund the purchase price when the mattress is received and checked’.
- You can only have trial and return per household.
- You can’t take out the trial in ‘Northern Ireland, Northern Scotland, the Republic of Ireland, the Channel Islands, the Isle of Wight and the Isle of Man.’
- You can’t use the trial period if you run a hospitality business or as a landlord.
- They also won’t give a refund if the mattress ‘is soiled (or) damaged’.
- If you get a free item as part of the purchase then you have to pay to return those at your expense.
Our graph below shows warranty periods from a number of big names and rivals to Ergoflex. You’ll note that it scores low on the scale, but keep in mind that some mattresses don’t have a trial at all and that a trial with the option of a refund is more valuable than one which just offers a swap (often at your own expense).
What guarantee does the Ergoflex mattress come with?
The Ergoflex 5G comes with a 10 year guarantee, with a few Ts & Cs.
As with the 30 day trial period, this would have been an unusually generous guarantee a few years ago. Most traditional sprung mattress brands offer between 5 and 7 year guarantees with a few posher ones offering longer (Vispring offer 30 years with some of their mattresses, but they cost £1500+).
Most of Ergoflex’s rival ‘bed in a box’ brands now offer a 10 year guarantee such as OTTY and Eve Sleep.
However, Nectar Sleep (£600) and DreamCloud (£1649) both offer ‘forever’ guarantees with a few Ts & Cs attached.
A strong argument for the Ergoflex Mattress
Ergoflex make the case that they are ‘The ONLY mattress bed-in-a-box brand trading longer than their warranty period’. This seems like a valid point – a 20 year warranty is unlikely to be much use if the company has disappeared in five years.
Our graph below shows the warranty length for a number of brands which rival Ergoflex. You’ll see Ergoflex taking up a middle position with a warranty which is shorter than a couple of rivals and longer than a couple of rivals. These are the warranty lengths for the standard mid-priced mattresses from the brands and the details are correct at the time of writing.
Also, take a moment to read the smallprint of a mattress warranty as there’s notable variation. Find out whether you are entitled to a refund, replacement or a repair if there’s a defect. Also find out what would invalidate the warranty, such as using a base which doesn’t support the mattress sufficiently.
Where can I buy the Ergoflex mattress? Do they offer discount codes?
As far as I can tell, you can only buy the Ergoflex 5G mattress direct from Ergoflex. You can’t try it out in any stores so the idea is that you use the home trial period and return it if it isn’t right for you.
The best place to look for discount codes is on the Ergoflex website itself. We will post any discounts that we know of at the top of this page.
Will Ergoflex take away my old mattress?
No, Ergoflex won’t take away your old mattress unfortunately.
If that’s important to you then you’ll find that some bed in a box brands offer mattress collection for a fee such as Nectar Sleep.
One thing to keep in mind is that it might be worth keeping your old mattress for a few days whilst you try out the new one. Otherwise you might be left sleeping on the sofa for a while if you decide to return it. I’m sure you’d already worked that out for yourself…
What are the most popular alternatives to the Ergoflex mattress?
The memory foam mattress market is a busy one, but we’ve picked out a couple of alternatives to the Ergoflex 5G.
Nectar Sleep (£600)
This mattress is arguably the most similar rival to the Ergoflex 5G as it is also described as ‘medium/firm’ and it also has a deep layer of memory foam. It’s another ‘bed in a box’ which arrives squeezed into a vacuum sealed box and then expands when you open it. You get a longer trial period and warranty than Ergoflex, with a full year to try it out and a ‘forever’ warranty. Reviews on TrustPilot are 4.2/5, which is a little bit lower than Ergoflex.
Tempur Pro Smartcool (£1499+)
Tempur is the poshest and probably the most famous memory foam brand. They have an unrivalled history and pedigree as pioneers of memory foam materials. However, they cost three or four times as much as their rivals. You get a 10 year guarantee and a 100 night trial period, although do have a proper read of the terms and conditions.
You can customise the mattress in a couple of ways.
Firstly, you can make it deeper and more luxurious. The standard version is the Tempur Pro Smartcool but there’s a mid-priced version which is a bit deeper called the Tempur Pro Plus Smartcool. The most expensive model is the Tempur Pro Luxe Smartcool, which is deeper again.
Secondly, you can choose the firmness level of the mattress, from soft to extra firm.
Our comparison: how does the Ergoflex compare to rival mattresses?
We’ve lined up the Ergoflex 5G side by side with several of its rivals. We selected mattresses that also offer a trial period so you can try them at home. All these mattresses are also known as a bed in a box, which refers to the way they arrive.
At the time of writing, the Ergoflex scores the highest on the brand score.
The trial period is one area where the Ergoflex 5G appears to be the worst performer amongst our selection. However, the headline figure doesn’t tell the whole story.
If you don’t like the Ergoflex 5G then you can send it back and receive a refund. Some other mattresses such as the Studio by Silentnight have longer trial periods but don’t offer a refund as your fall back position. Instead, you get to swap it for another mattress. Personally, I’d rather have Ergoflex’s shorter trial with the option of a refund.
The range of sizes available with the Ergoflex 5G mattress is good but not spectacular. There’s no sign of a small double/queen mattress which is a relatively popular size in the UK. There’s also no option for a long single mattress, which are what some people use on adjustable beds so that they can form a super king size mattress by laying two side by side.
On price, Ergoflex 5G is somewhere in the middle in our selection but remember that the ‘bed in a box’ mattress market is fiercely competitive and you can often get up a discount.
Our side by side table
| What’s it called? | How much is it? (Double) | Warranty and trial | How firm is it? | Brand score (TrustPilot) | Sizes available |
| Ergoflex 5G | £483 | 10 years, 30 night trial | Medium/Firm | 4.8/5 | Single, Double, Euro Double, King, Euro King, Super King |
| The Simba Hybrid | £809 | 10 years, 200 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.5/5 | EU Single, Single, Small Double, EU Double, Double, EU Queen, King, Super King |
| Nectar Sleep Memory Foam Mattress | £600 | ‘Forever’, 365 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.2/5 | Single, Double, King, Super King |
| Emma Next Gen Premium Mattress | £659 | 10 years, 200 night trial | Medium | 3/5 | Single, Small Double, Double, King, Super King |
| Eve Original | £649 | 10 years, 365 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.2/5 | Single, Small Double, Double, King, Super King |
| OTTY Hybrid Mattress | £699 | 10 years, 100 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.4/5 | Single, EU Single, Small Double, EU Double, Double, EU King, King, Super King, Emperor |
| REM-Fit 400 | £576 | 15 years, 100 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.1/5 | Small Single, Long Single, Single, EU Single, Small Double, Double, EU Double, King, EU King, Super King |
| Eve Original Hybrid | £699 | 10 years, 365 night trial | Medium/firm | 4.2/5 | Single, Double, King, Super King |