We’ve tested lots of Silentnight mattresses over the years, but this may well win an award as being the largest at 35cm deep. This mattress is colossal thanks to a top layer that sits on top of the main mattress.

When we put the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress through its paces, it was being sold for £899 in the single size. It was £1199 in a double size, £1399 in a king size and £1699 in a super king size. That puts it towards the upper end of the Silentnight range. Generally we consider Silentnight to be a mid-market brand. 

Firmness rating of the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress

It is sometimes a little tricky to give a firmness rating on a mattress that uses a topper design such as this. That is because you get a feeling of firmness from the mattress itself and then a softness from the topper, which is stitched onto the mattress. 

Overall though, I would give it a rating of 7/10 for firmness with 1/10 being soft and 10/10 being firm. 

I must admit, I do quite like a mattress with a topper design as it can combine firm support for your back with a comfortable softness, which is like being given a hug. 

To test out the firmness in a more scientific way, you may like to do the test that we did on this mattress called The Spine Test. We always lie on our back and put our hand underneath with the palm facing down. 

A mattress that has a notable gap under your spine is probably too firm for you as your spine isn’t being supported in its natural position. A mattress that is too soft will be one where you struggle to get your hand underneath. 

The Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress was about right for my weight and build. My hand went in relatively easily but not too easily. Of course, this will vary depending on your own weight and build (I weigh 13 stone and I’m 6 ft tall). Generally speaking, people who are lighter than me would go for a softer mattress. People that are heavier than me would go for a firmer mattress. 

I tried the mattress on my front, back and side to see how it felt in different positions. For me personally it felt about right on my back and my front but was too firm if I were to lay on my side. The risk is that my shoulders and my hips would have too much pressure on them. 

Edge firmness and the Custard Slice Test on the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress

Testing a mattress across its entire width is essential. It gives a much better indication of how strong and well constructed a mattress is then you would get from just lying in the middle. 

We tested this out by lying on our side at the very edge of the mattress and found that it performed very well. We didn’t feel unbalanced or that we might fall off the mattress. Next,we followed up this test by sitting on the edge of the mattress. In our test, it didn’t compress too significantly, which is another good sign. We call the latter of the two tests the Custard Slice Test as some mattresses reacts in the same way as a custard slice would if you sat on it with all the filling splurging out the sides. That certainly wasn’t the case with this mattress.

So far then, this mattress was rating highly with us. 

Motion transfer (or the Wibble Wobble Test) on the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress 

We then moved on to a couple of tests that look at how robust a mattress is and give an indication of how it will perform in the real world. Again, this is a test that I would encourage you to do when you are mattress shopping. 

We like to get two people to lie side by side on a mattress and then take turns to get in and out. If you can feel the other person moving then the mattress has got a poor motion transfer rating. If you can’t tell when they are moving then it is exceptionally good. In this regard, the Silentnight mattress rated well. We didn’t find that it had much sideways movement or Wibble Wobble. 

Overall, we felt the mattress had a notable robustness to it. The top of the mattress is constructed in what is known as a tufted finish. These are the buttons that you see on top of some mattresses. Higher quality pocket sprung mattresses often use this design as it gives a good strength. 

Handles on the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress

We now move on to the seemingly tedious test of the handles on the mattress. I’m a total nerd when it comes to mattresses so I always like to take a good look at the handles. 

I have an unproven theory that handles are a revealing window into the quality of a mattress. If they are well stitched onto the side of the mattress, then I think it’s a good sign that the rest of the mattress is well stitched together. It’s also a practical point. A heavy mattress such as this will need moving and could rip if the handles are not strong enough. 

This mattress is single-sided because of the topper it has, but you will still need to rotate it round.

A few years ago, I used to much prefer mattresses that were doubled-sided. However, I recently read claims by the mattress industry that said it is something of a myth that a double-sided mattress will last longer. I’m yet to find any academic studies on this so I will avoiding making judgements!

Final thoughts on the Silentnight Balmoral Ultragel Mirapocket 3000 Mattress

As you’ll gather, we like this mattress a lot. The firmness rating is about right for me. I would emphasise that this is less relevant as it needs to really match your own weight and build. However, it did perform very well on key tests such as strength towards the edges and motion transfer (or the Custard Slice and Wibble Wobble Tests as we like to call them). 

I would say again that this is a very deep mattress and you may find that your standard fitted sheets are no good for it. That’s only a minor point of course, but it is something to budget for. 

This is an expensive mattress by Silentnight’s usual standards, but I do think that it is a considerable upgrade on some cheaper models.