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I am someone that has had sleep issues for many years, and it is one of the factors that gave me the final nudge to lose weight and get fit. My sleep has improved but it isn’t great, and I am always on the lookout for ways to improve my quality of sleep. I practice good sleep hygiene, maintain my circadian rhythm, avoid caffeine after 9 am plus many other tweaks.

A mattress is one of the main variables in the quality of your sleep, the often-cited fact of you spending a third of your life in bed means you should invest properly in your mattress.

Memory foam-based bed-in-a-box mattresses have blown in popularity in recent years, I have already reviewed the Rem Fit mattress, and there are dozens of other similar mattresses from companies such as Casper, Emma, Eve, Leesa and more.

The popularity of these mattresses is probably down to the fact they are cheap to make and easy to transport, making the profit margins good for manufacturers. That being said, many of these mattresses are fantastically reviewed and they give consumers an economical way of acquiring a decent quality mattress. Furthermore, bed in the box styles allows companies to offer trial periods for their mattresses, something that is very hard to come by with pocket spring options.

Simba is one of these companies, and I would say is one of the best known and reviewed memory mattresses on the market. They define the mattress as a hybrid mattress which combines memory foam with up to 2,500 20mm conical pocket springs enclosed in a 100% polyester pocket. It comes with free delivery, a 10-year guarantee and a 100-night sleep trial.

Construction

The exact construction of the mattress is as follows:

  • Top layer (cooling + comfort) – 5cm of latex foam. This top layer of latex foam is designed to provide much of the cooling, bounce, and comfort for the mattress.
  • 2nd layer (contour) – 2cm of foam encased microcoils. With a thin layer of microcoils, this layer works to provide most of the contour to the sleeper. These coils also assist in adding bounce and response to the mattress.
  • 3rd layer (support) – 3cm of memory foam. By placing a layer of memory foam between the foundation and microcoils, the 3rd layer is able to act as a softer transitional layer in addition to the support and deep compression support for the mattress.
  • Bottom layer (foundation) – 15cm of support foam. This bottom layer provides much of the shape for the mattress and acts as the foundational base for the mattress as a whole.

It is also worth noting that the cover of the mattress is removable and you can wash it if you want. It is probably worth buying a decent mattress protector though, it makes keeping things clean easier, plus if there is a chance you might send it back you probably don’t want to spill coffee or something else directly on it.

A king-size, which I have, costs £699 on pretty much every website it is sold on. Competing brands all charge about the same price typically £650 to £699. Due to the competitive nature of this business, you can quite often get some form of discount, one of the competing brands is currently doing 25% off, while Simba is presently doing an offer where you can get a Fitbit Alta HR, Lumie Bodyclock Glow 150 or Amazon Echo Dot. Alternatively, you can use the refer a friend system and get £50 off.

Online Reviews

Looking at various websites it is almost universally loved with the Simba site stating 26K+ reviews with an average of 4.8 out of 5.  John has over 12k reviews with a rating of 4.8 on average and Argos also has over 12k reviews and also with an average rating of 4.8. Amazon has fewer reviews but out of the 147 it does have it scores a 4.4 out of 5 with 88% of them being 5 stars.

I always like to delve into the negative reviews of Amazon, and thankfully there is nothing glaringly bad about the Simba. Some people moaned that it was too soft, others too firm, and a few mentioned the chemical smell. Obviously, firmness opinions are purely subjective so this is no reason to avoid Simba and is one of the reasons why it is great you a trial period.

Delivery and Set up

Delivery is via UPS for the free option, and it should arrive in 1-3 days. It comes packaged up in a box and I was quite surprised to see how small the box. With this mattress, it is tightly rolled up lengthways making it much smaller than the Rem Fit box. It also weighs just 30kg which is quite light as far as beds go. The box that was delivered to me was quite tatty and had brown tape on some of the edges. Sending a 30KG box through traditional courier services will probably mean a box always gets bashed about a bit.

The small box does mean you can get it into your room easily all I needed to do was place it on my bed and use the supplied slicer to cut open the plastic packaging. The slicer gadget is shaped so you don’t snag your mattress by mistake and it makes cutting open the packaging easy.

Once rolled out you are presented with a very thin mattress that visibly starts to expand. You need to leave it for a while to do it thing. At this point you will probably notice the chemical smell, this is something that comes with all memory foam mattresses and also many other styles too. This is to do with mattresses being immediately sealed after manufacture so they don’t get a chance to off-gas any of the chemicals uses in the process prior to this. It sounds quite off-putting but it is generally regarded as safe, you should give the mattress a few hours to breathe before making your bed and using it though. I found that the faint smell did linger for a few days but it eventually fully dissipated.

Once left for a while you will have a mattress that is supposed to be 25cm thick, I measured it and it is probably right, my measurement was under but I wasn’t super accurate about it. This is reasonably thin, but not uncommon for this style of mattress. Pocket Spring options such as the Soak&Sleep one I am still reviewing are typically over 35cm while the Rem Fit 400 is 30cm. I didn’t find the thickness of the mattress to cause any issues while I used it though.

Comfort

Simba claims this to be medium/firm I would be inclined to say it closer to medium than firm though as previously stated, firmness is subjective, and it is also dependant on size and weight. I am 6’1 and 13st7lbs /189lbs/82.5kg.

I found the medium firmness quite good for me, I am currently reviewing the Soak&Sleep Latex which is also classed as medium/firm, and I find it a little too firm. With this, you get a nice squashy feeling without completely sinking in. This is also a good style for people that sleep on their side, as it allows the weight on your joints to be alleviated. This should also work nicely for back sleepers.

Memory foam will become softer over the first few weeks so if you find it a touch too firm to start, don’t give up on it yet. Many people suggest using a mattress for at least a month before making your final judgment of it, hence why the 100-day train period is great.

Heat

One of the most significant problems with memory foam is that it retains heat far more than pocket springs or latex. There is not much breathability to it, and the contour shaping nature of it makes it even worse. Pretty much every company I have checked the state that their memory foam mattress is great for warm sleepers due to some tricks they have used. The Rem Fit has a gel layer and while liked it at first I eventually had to move it to the spare room as it is far too hot for me to sleep in.

Simba has a top layer of Simbatex which contains natural cooling balms and combined with the breathable sleep surface and grooved support base, all help to ventilate and cool the mattress.

I approached this review expecting to sleep very hot, and planning not to be negative about it if this happened, but to just highlight the fact. However, I was pleasantly surprised to find I did appear to sleep cooler than the Rem Fit. It has been used in November and December, plus I sleep with the window open at all times, so I can’t say for certain that if you are a warm sleeper you won’t have issues. But for me, so far so good, and I am an exceptionally hot sleeper.

In comparison to the Rem Fit, during these colder months, I can sleep with a summer quilt on, with the Rem Fit I used a combination of two thin throws. In comparison to the Soak&Sleep which is latex and pocket sprung which should be much cooler, I would say the difference is too small for me to tell.

Conclusion

First of all, if you are on the lookout for a new mattress the bed in a box with free trial format should be the top of your list to try out. These mattresses are often cheaper than their latex and pocket sprung alternative, and the free trial means there is no risk in trying it out. If you went with a pocket spring design and after a month you don’t like it, more often than not, it is tough luck you are stuck with it. Even though I am a very hot sleeper, I would still recommend this route to start with regardless of how you sleep.

In terms of the Simba hybrid mattress, I also think this should be the top of your list of mattresses to try out. It is priced about the same as most other models but looking at consumer reviews across the internet including John Lewis, Amazon, Trust Pilot etc it appears that Simba is both the most review and best-reviewed model on the market.

During my use I preferred it to the Rem Fit model I previously used, I think it is cooler to sleep in but due to the time of year my subjective opinion is likely already a little skewed. I also find it more comfortable than the latex and pocket spring Soak&Sleep mattress I am also reviewing. Prior to these I used to use a cheap pocket spring with a memory foam layer, it still cost around £350 but it was so bad you could feel the springs underneath you as you moved about. Spending that little extra will go a long way to ensuring a comfortable and good quality sleep for years to come.

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Simba Hybrid Mattress Review

Summary

The market leader for a good reason, this is a well made and comfortable mattress. I personally know several people with it and they all love it.

Overall
90%
90%
  • Overall - 90%
    90%

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