Tempur mattresses have stood out for a number of years as they offer quite a different design and feel to most of the mattresses on the market.
We tested out the Tempur Pro Soft Smartcool Mattress.
This is one of the cheaper mattresses in the Tempur range, mostly because it is the thinnest one at 21cm deep.
The price tag is still quite significant compared to a lot of mattresses on the market. When we tested it the double was £1979 with the single at £1485, the king size at £2275 and the superking at £2569.
Firmness and feel of the Tempur Pro Soft Smartcool Mattress
We began our trial with this Tempur mattress by lying on our back. I can’t imagine many people buy a £2000 mattress without trying it first, but I would strongly recommend that you try out the Tempur mattress next time you are in a showroom.
The foam design means that they have a completely different feel to a sprung mattress. Instead of bouncing around you will find that you slowly sink into the mattress. At first, you may wonder at what point you will stop sinking.
That was certainly the case with this soft version, which I would say is probably designed for people who are somewhat lighter than I am (I weigh about 13 stone and I’m about six foot tall).
I began by putting my hand underneath my back whilst lying on the bed. This was quite a struggle to do, which is an indication that a mattress is a bit too soft for the user. If you find it very easy to put your hand under your back then the mattress is probably a bit too hard for you. It’s worth trying out a few mattresses until you get a bit of a gauge for what a middle ground feels like for your weight and build.
I then flipped onto my front and again felt the mattress was a bit too soft for my weight and build.
However, when I moved on to my side I was much more comfortable and felt that my hips and shoulders we enjoying a good level of support. This type of foam mattress has the advantage of offering consistent support with a lot less wobble than you get on a sprung mattress.
Motion transfer on the Tempur Pro Soft Smartcool Mattress
Motion transfer is the extent to which you feel someone else moving in the bed. This is particularly useful if you share a bed with someone who wakes up much earlier than you or who is inclined to pop to the toilet several times during the night.
This is an area where I have often felt that Tempur excels.
Tempur mattresses lack the bounce that you get from pocket sprung mattresses and offer very little motion transfer. To test it out for yourself, my favorite technique is to start with two people on the bed and to take turns to jump in and out of the bed with some enthusiasm. You can then give a rating of how much you could feel each other moving in and out of the bed.
Strength at the edges of the Tempur Pro Soft Smartcool Mattress
Another test I like to do is to move myself right to the edge of the bed to see how much support it offers.
In this case I did feel as though there was a fairly significant risk of me falling off the bed. The mattress compressed quite significantly at the edges and created something of a slope for me to slide off.
This is perhaps not surprising as the softer model is not really designed for someone of my weight and build. I have not had quite the same problem when I have tested out firmer versions of this mattress so don’t let it put you off too much.
Final thoughts
Many mattress brands have tried to copy Tempur over the years, but I’m yet to find a mattress that really feels quite the same. It must be said that a lot of people won’t like the feel of a Tempur mattress as it will be too much of a change from their current model.
Although this is the thinner version of the Tempur mattress, I would say that you still get a very positive experience. My opinion is that the differences with the thicker mattresses are quite marginal for someone of my weight and build.
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