When Eve Sleep started up, they sold just one mattress. These were simpler times when children played in the street and only came in when the streetlights came on (Ed: not sure that’s right…it was only 2015).
Their one mattress was predictably called the Eve Mattress. It was one of several similar brands that disrupted the (literally) cosy mattress industry with flashy adverts, less confusing choices, long warranties and trial periods. You’ll have heard of some of the other brands, including Simba and Emma.
Things have moved on a little and Eve Sleep now make 10 different mattresses. This gives you a lot more choice, but it also makes thing a lot more confusing when they have long names like The Eve Wunderflip Ultimate Hybrid Sleep Mattress.
The one that you’ve seen on the telly is probably the Eve Original, which is sometimes just called the Eve Mattress.
This guide will take you on a thrilling ride examining what the Eve Mattress/Eve Original is like to help you decide if you should buy it. We’ll then see how it compares to the other mattresses made by Eve Sleep. Which upgrades are worthwhile? We’ll also look at some rivals to the Eve Mattress/Eve Original.
Hold onto your hats, this is going to be a thrilling ride. Well, it might not be thrilling but it will hopefully be useful and clear.
What type of mattress is The Eve Original Mattress?
Let’s start with the standard mattress sold by Eve.
The Eve Original mattress is a memory foam mattress. It costs £499 for a double mattress. Offers do come up from time to time so you might be able to find it cheaper.
Memory foam is a common alternative to a pocket sprung mattress, which is what most of us have been sleeping on for our whole lives. The idea is that you get more consistent support with memory foam, rather than the ups and downs which you can get with pocket springs.
You’ll find a range of opinions online, but one useful nugget is on the website of the charity Versus Arthritis. Their guide to buying a new mattress says that ‘many people find memory foam mattresses or toppers helpful’. Obviously, that advice is intended for people with arthritis but it’s still worth mentioning.
Eve Sleep mattresses are what as known as ‘bed in a box’ mattresses. They arrive squashed up into a box and expand when you open them up. It makes it a bit easier to get it up the stairs and it saves on storage and delivery costs for the company.
The science of memory foam
Various academic studies have looked at the benefits of ‘visco-elastic’ foam, which is another name for memory foam. Most have examined it within hospital and nursing settings. However, the findings are still useful when weighing up the benefits and downsides for your own bedroom.
For example, one study looked at the use of different materials on operating tables to help reduce the risk of pressure ulcers. None of the materials they tested completely eliminated the problem. However, the visco elastic ‘polyurethane mattress and the polyether mattress reduced interface pressure significantly better’ than the standard foam or gel mattress (DeFloor and Schujimer, 2000). That suggests that memory foam is better at spreading your weight out evenly and reducing pressure points when you’re lying in bed.
How the mattress layers work
Notably, the Eve Mattress/Eve Original doesn’t put the layer of memory foam on the top of the mattress. That sets is apart from some memory foam mattresses such as the Nectar Sleep.
Instead, the Eve Mattress’ memory foam layer is sandwiched between two different types of foam. Memory foam has a bit of sinking feeling and slow bounce back, which some people don’t like. However, this is less apparent on mattresses which use the viscoelastic layer further down.
The other theory behind having this structure is that you get the support of memory foam but don’t get the downside which is that memory foam can make you feel warm. Instead, you get a more breathable layer on top.
Keeping cool at night
Researchers have looked into the question of how your temperature during the night affects how well you sleep. Bischof, Madsen et al found a ‘correlation between the quality of sleep and the variations of temperature’. In other words, you sleep better if your body temperature is stable.
The same academics also found that ‘larger fluctuations of temperature in the bed are connected to a shorter deep-sleep time. (‘Sleep and the temperature field of the bed’, published in 1991). In simple terms, if you feel hot and then cold in bed then you won’t sleep well.
What about the other nine mattresses in the Eve range?
So what about the other nine mattresses that Eve Sleep produce? Are they also memory foam, I hear you cry? How on earth do I choose between them? Which upgrades are worth the money? Why do they have bizarre names?
I’ve split the choice into three options based on how much they typically cost:
Option 1: the cheapest Eve Sleep mattresses
At the budget end of the Eve Sleep range are three mattresses including Eve Original Mattress, Eve Wunderflip Memory Foam Mattress and Eve Wunderflip Lighter Hybrid Mattress. Prices for these vary depending on sales and special offers, but they are all around the same price when they are at their standard prices.
Two of them are 100% foam mattresses, but one of them also use some springs (the one with the word ‘hybrid’ in the title). It’s also worth mentioning that none of them are particularly thin, so these are certainly not cheap-and-cheerful mattresses. The thinnest is 24cm deep, which is perfectly respectable by anyone’s standards. I only raise an eyebrow when a mattress is less than 20cm deep, as they can be flimsy and uncomfortable.
They all come with Eve’s standard 200 day trial period and 10 year warranty.
The biggest difference between them is how firm they feel.
- The Eve Original is a one-sided mattress that is ‘medium’ firmness. This is the mattress that we have focused on so far in this guide.
- The Eve Wunderflip Memory Foam Mattress is a double sided mattress that is ‘extra firm’ on one side and ‘firm’ on the other side.
- The Eve Wunderflip Lighter Hybrid Mattress is a doubled sided mattress that is ‘firm’ on one side and ‘medium’ on the other side.
So, how do you pick between a 100% foam mattress and a hybrid mattress (i.e. 50% foam and 50% springs or something similar)?
Hybrid mattresses have a bit more of a bouncy feel to them. They will feel a bit more familiar if you’ve spent your life sleeping on pocket sprung mattresses (which most of us have). Mattresses that are 100% foam feel a bit less springy and have a little bit less ‘give’. You will sink into them, but your children won’t be using them as a trampoline.
Some solid advice on mattress firmness
Before we look at the rest of the Eve range, let’s look at choosing the right firmness level for your body.
Mattress firmness isn’t just down to personal preference. The general guidance is that heavier people need firmer mattresses than lighter people. This is so that they sink in the right amount to end up in a good sleeping position.
Also, people who sleep on their sides generally need softer mattresses than front or back sleepers. This is because side sleepers put more pressure on their shoulders and hips. A very firm mattress would leave them in an awkward position.
Just to confuse you in your mattress search, it is worth realising that there isn’t an industry wide agreement on how to measure firmness. So, one company’s firm mattress could be the same as another company’s soft mattress (although in reality it isn’t quite as dramatic a difference as that).
Luckily, Eve Sleep offer home trials on all their mattresses…which we’ll move on to later (that’s what’s known as a teaser in the movie industry…).
Option 2: the mid-priced Eve Sleep mattresses (an upgrade of about £200 on the Eve Original)
If you fancy a modest upgrade from the standard Eve Original mattress then you have the choice of four mattresses called Eve Original Hybrid Mattress, Eve Wunderflip Hybrid Mattress, Eve Premium Mattress and Eve Wunderflip Premium Memory Foam Mattress.
Just reading those names makes my head hurt, so let’s simplify it a bit.
These four mattresses are all a little bit deeper than the Eve Original mattress. They’ve either added more layers of foam or they’ve added some springs (hence the word ‘hybrid’). All of them use a bit of memory foam for comfort.
If they include the made-up-word ‘Wunderflip’ it means they are double sided, so offer two different firmness levels. Notably, they use more springs than the ‘hybrid’ mattress we mentioned in the previous section. This means they will be more supportive, particularly if you are heavier or larger than average.
The most significant difference between those four models is the firmness:
- Eve Premium Mattress is a 100% foam mattress that is Firm. It’s a little bit deeper than the Eve Original mattress but the general idea is the same.
- Eve Wunderflip Premium Memory Foam Mattress is similar, but it is double sided so that it is Firm on one side and Medium on the other. This gives you a bit more flexibility and is particularly useful if you have regular guests who are likely to complain about the bed being too hard or too soft.
- Eve Original Hybrid Mattress is a mix of springs and foam and is a Medium mattress. The spring count is higher than the cheaper hybrid mattress, so you will get a better level of bouncy support.
- Eve Wunderflip Hybrid Mattress is also a mix of springs and foam but it is double sided, so you can choose between Firm or Medium.
Option 3: the most expensive Eve mattresses (an upgrade of about £500 on the Eve Original)
Your final three options are a little more expensive again. These ones are called the (deep breath…) Eve Wunderflip Ultimate Hybrid Sleep Mattress, Eve Premium Hybrid Mattress and the Eve Wunderflip Premium Hybrid Sleep Mattress.
(As an aside, I’m convinced that I saw Wunderflip at Glastonbury in the 90s).
These three all use springs as well as foam, as you’ll have gathered from the use of the word ‘hybrid’. For this price, the spring count goes up, and they start adding mini springs as well as the bigger springs that do most of the work.
Again, there is some variation in their firmness level, which is may well make your mind up. Here’s a summary:
- The Eve Wunderflip Ultimate Hybrid Sleep Mattress is the most expensive Eve mattress. It includes an extra layer of mini springs for comfort, as well as the larger springs for support. It is double sided, so it is firm on one side and medium on the other side. It also has a layer of latex, which is a natural material that is good at supporting you whilst keeping you cool. I’m not really sure why the word ‘sleep’ has snuck into the name of this mattress. Isn’t that what you are meant to do with them all?
- The Eve Wunderflip Premium Hybrid Sleep Mattress also has a mix of mini springs and larger springs. It’s also double sided, with a firm side and a medium side. The only difference I can spot with the Eve Wunderflip Ultimate Hybrid Sleep Mattress is that it doesn’t have a latex layer.
- The Eve Premium Hybrid Mattress is a one sided mattress with lots of springs and plenty of depth. It is firm.
What reviews do customers give The Eve Mattress?
Reviewers on Amazon give it an average score of 4.3/5 from 700+ reviews (it isn’t available to buy from official outlets via Amazon, but you can still read the reviews).
Overall, the Eve Sleep brand scores 4/5 on TrustPilot after 14,000+ reviews. Of course, that is the score for the brand rather than the Eve Original mattress but it’s still a useful figure.
How does the Eve Mattress compare to rival mattress brands?
For the purposes of comparison, we dug out TrustPilot scores for all of the UK mattress brands we could find (i.e. ones which are available to UK customers). Here’s the list, as of 2024 with Eve Sleep underlined to save you three seconds of searching:
- Ergoflex – 4.7/5
- Simba Sleep – 4.5/5
- Dunlopillo – 4.5/5
- OTTY – 4.4/5
- Happy Beds – 4.4/5
- Sleepeezee – 4.2/5
- DreamCloud – 4.2/5
- Nectar Sleep – 4.2/5
- Emma Mattress – 4.2/5
- Hypnos Beds – 4.1/5
- REM-Fit – 4.1/5
- Silentnight – 4.1/5
- Dormeo – 4.1/5
- Eve Sleep – 4/5
- Harrison Spinks (manufacturers of the John Lewis & Partners Natural Collection, Somnus and Herdy Sleep) – 4.0/5
- Vispring – 3.9/5
- Sealy – 3.9/5
- Tempur – 3.7/5
- Casper – 3.7/5
- Mammoth – 3.1/5
A few boring but important notes about these figures:
- Scores are for a whole brand. A company like Eve Sleep has a small range, whilst Silentnight has a huge range which includes dozens of pillows, bedsheets and so on. The score is also for customer service and anything else the reviewer wanted to include rather than just the comfort of the mattress.
- We put them in alphabetical order if they had the same score. We used the ‘TrustScore’.
- Some companies had thousands of reviews whilst other only had a few. We ignored those with just a few reviews.
- Some of the best mattress brands around don’t seem to be on TrustPilot (well, I couldn’t find them).
- These figures are correct as of 2024 but they will change a bit over time.
Which awards has The Eve Mattress won?
Eve’s mattresses, including their original mattress has won a number of awards, including Which? Awards and a score of 5/5 from RealHomes. The company also won an award at the Junior Design Awards in 2018 and The Eve Premium Mattress was named as one of the UK’s best mattresses by the Independent newspaper.
What guarantee and home trial period does The Eve Mattress offer?
Eve Sleep mattresses come with a 200 night trial period, so you can try it out at home. If you don’t like it, they’ll collect it and give you a refund.
There are some terms and conditions which you need to read, but it’s straightforward enough and is similar to trials offered by a number of other mattress brands. It’s worth noting that the return is only free within the first 40 days. If it’s between 41 and 200 days then you have to pay the return cost.
Eve Sleep previously offered a 100 night trial but it is now 200 nights. For a while, it was 365 nights. I’m not sure why it keeps changing but some other mattress brands have done the same recently.
Home trial mattresses obviously give you a much better idea of how well you’ll sleep on a mattress than you would get from five minutes in a showroom.
The Eve Warranty
You also get a 10 year warranty with the Eve Original/Eve Mattress and the other Eve Sleep mattresses. Again, there are some terms and conditions to read. For example, if you use a bedstead (rather than a divan base) then you have to use one ‘where the gaps between the slats are greater than 75mm’ or the warranty won’t be valid. You might like to read our bedstead v divans guide if you’re trying to pick a base for your mattress (or you might prefer to give up and watch some telly – it’s your call).
A 10 year warranty is very good in the mattress industry, although it’s now quite common amongst this type of ‘bed in a box’ which have been trying to out-do each other in recent years with longer trial periods and warranty lengths. For example, Nectar Sleep (a memory foam mattress) and Dreamcloud (a pocket springs and memory foam mattress) both come with a ‘forever’ guarantee and a 365 night trial. Obviously there are terms and conditions to such things.
Pocket spring mattresses offer somewhere between one year and 10 year warranties usually, with some big names only offering five years. That’s half the length of the Eve Sleep warranty for the benefit of those currently reaching for calculator. Posh brand Vispring offer a whopping 30 year warranty on some mattresses but they can cost two or three times as much as an Eve Sleep mattress.
Where can I buy The Eve Mattress? Which is the cheapest option?
As a general rule, you’ll get the best deal from a ‘bed in a box’ mattress brand by buying from them directly. Most of them do discount codes from time to time, such as on Black Friday and Boxing Day.
Previously, you could also by Eve from Argos and Amazon, but that isn’t currently an option.
Where can I get a discount code for The Eve Mattress?
Discount codes for the Eve mattress mostly appear on the Eve Sleep website, often around sale times like Black Friday and Boxing Day.
We’ll add them at the top of this page when we know of them.
Will they take away my old mattress if I buy The Eve Mattress?
Yes, Eve Sleep will take away your old mattress. Most mattress companies offer this, but there are a few that leave you to wrestle it into the car or persuade the council to take it away.
However, you do need to pay £35 for it to be picked up. Obviously it’s worth remembering that if you get your old mattress taken away and then return the Eve Mattress under the trial period then you will be left sleeping on the floor. You probably figured that our yourself.
What are the alternatives to The Eve Mattress?
As mentioned earlier, there are several alternatives to the Eve Original which are made by Eve Sleep themselves, including The Eve Premium Mattress and The Eve Premium Hybrid Mattress which are more expensive and The Eve Lighter Hybrid Mattress which is cheaper.
However, there are other mattresses around the same price as the Eve Original/Eve Mattress which have similar designs and come with long warranties and trial periods.
Options include:
Nectar Sleep Mattress (£600)
Medium/firm. This mattress comes with a whopping 365 night trial and a ‘forever’ guarantee which is the joint longest we’ve found for a mattress. It uses a ‘smart memory foam’ layer on top rather than burying the memory foam deeper into the mattress. The Nectar Sleep brand scores 4.2/5 on TrustPilot which is similar to the Eve brand.
Nectar Hybrid Mattress (£750)
For a similar price you can upgrade from the Nectar Sleep Mattress to the Nectar Sleep Hybrid Mattress. Astute readers will figure out that this means that you can get a layer or teeny tiny springs which work alongside the foam layers.
You still get Nectar’s rather appealing 365 night trial period which allows you to check if it’s right for you on Christmas Eve and during a summer heatwave. Foam mattresses perform a little differently depending on the room temperature, so this can be a useful process.
Buyers of this mattress also get Nectar’s ‘Forever’ warranty and the promise that it is manufactured in a ‘carbon neutral’ way
to ignore
foam layers above
Simba Hybrid (£809)
Medium/firm. Another ‘bed in a box’ with a long trial period (200 nights) and a 10 year guarantee. This one uses a layer of mini springs for a bit of extra comfort as well as foam. Much like the Eve Mattress/Eve Original, this one sandwiches the layer of memory foam between other foams. The Simba brand scores an average of 4.5/5 on TrustPilot.
Review scores and prices are correct at the time of writing.