Simba Hybrid Pro review: Our favourite hybrid mattress

Bed-in-a-box mattresses offer convenience and value for money. What’s more, the best mattresses come with almost no financial risk, thanks to lengthy money-back guarantees. I rarely hand out a Best Buy award to this type of mattress, however, for one simple reason: thanks to the synthetic materials used in their construction, they’re not especially practical if you’re the sort of person who gets warm at night.

The Simba Hybrid Pro aims to overcome this problem by using a layer of wool directly below its top cover. After using it during a recent heatwave, I found it delivered a supremely comfortable night’s sleep. Is it worth the extra money? As the most comfortable bed-in-a-box mattress I’ve ever slept on, I’d have to say yes.

Simba Hybrid Pro review: What you need to know

The extra layer of wool isn’t all that separates the Pro from the regular Simba Hybrid. It also has a thicker top cover that acts as a sleeping surface and two layers of micro springs beneath its open-cell foam layer.

As with the regular Simba Hybrid, there’s then a transition foam layer beneath the springs that also offers edge support and, finally, a supportive foam foundation that’s zoned to offer different levels of support below the shoulders and hips. To make moving and turning the mattress less arduous, it has two handles on each side. Simba recommends you do this once a month when you first receive the mattress and then every three to six months.

As you’d expect, given those extra two layers, the Simba Hybrid Pro is 30mm thicker than the regular Simba Hybrid. That makes for a mattress that’s 280mm thick in total, which is suitable for most fitted sheets. The only caveat is that the top cover of the Pro isn’t removable, so it would be wise to invest in a decent cotton mattress protector too.

Crucially, the Pro comes with a 200-night money-back guarantee, which is more than double the length offered by many of its rivals (with the exception of Nectar and Emma). That means you can try the mattress for a whole year and, if you don’t like it, you can return it for a full refund.

Simba Hybrid Pro review: Price and competition

Sadly, the extra comfort afforded by the additional layer of springs and wool comes at a considerable extra cost. Following a number of price increases on Simba mattresses, the Hybrid Pro now starts at £999 for a single mattress and rises to £1,239 and £1,419 for double and king sizes.

Discounts of up to 25%, and sometimes even 35%, are not uncommon on the Simba website, but this mattress is undoubtedly more expensive than equivalent premium models from other brands. Eve’s Premium and Premium Hybrid mattresses, for instance, cost £1,096 and £1,128 in king size. That said, the Hybrid Pro isn’t Simba’s most expensive mattress, with a new premium mattress: the brand’s latest premium model is the Hybrid Luxe, which will cost you a hefty £1,909 for a king.

The best alternatives and where to buy them:

• Simba Hybrid | Buy now from Simba
• Eve Premium | Buy now from Eve
• Eve Premium Hybrid | Buy now from Eve

Simba Hybrid Pro review: Comfort and performance

The standout feature of the Hybrid Pro is that layer of wool and, somewhat to my surprise, it’s instantly apparent when you first lie on the mattress, despite it being buried below a thick top cover.

The most obvious difference it makes is the extent to which it lifts you up compared with the foam found in the top layer of most hybrid mattresses. There’s a tautness you don’t find in foam comfort layers and, as such, there’s much less of a sinking feeling, which is definitely a very good thing.

The texture is notably different, too, and with the springs layers below, there’s also much more bounce than you find in the majority of bed-in-a-box mattresses. That’s impressive when you consider they’re not especially long. With the open-cell foam layer above them, these do a great job of ensuring that the mattress accommodates a variety of different sleeping positions too. Indeed, I found it as comfortable sleeping on my side as
on my back.

So how does the mattress perform in the warmth stakes? It’s difficult to judge this kind of thing when ambient temperatures change from night to night but I slept on the Hybrid Pro for several nights of a June heatwave with a 7.5tog feather duvet and had no particular problems with overheating. It got rather snug on a few occasions but, overall, I felt the top wool layer and micro springs did a good job of preventing the uncomfortable, enveloped feeling that’s often associated with foam mattresses.

As well as delivering improved airflow, though, the other perk to this top layer is that it doesn’t soften as it warms up. This affliction is one of my main frustrations with memory foam products, as it can also affect the levels of support as you sleep, but I had no such problem with the Simba Hybrid Pro. Better still, the premium Simba mattress offers excellent support levels whether you use it on a yielding sprung slatted base or a solid foundation.

Buy now from Simba

Simba Hybrid Pro review: Verdict

Overall, then, the Simba Hybrid delivers in all the ways you’d expect a mattress of its price to. It’s supportive, comfortable, does a better job than most bed-in-a-box mattresses at temperature control and is an absolute pleasure to sleep on.

With such a high price tag, I was initially hesitant to give the Hybrid Pro a Best Buy award, but the fact I was reluctant to go back to using my own pocket sprung mattress afterwards had me convinced; that’s something I’ve rarely experienced when testing other mattresses.

And then there’s that 200-night trial. With traditional mattresses in this price range, there’s always an element of risk but with the Simba Hybrid you can buy, confident in the knowledge you only need to part with your money if it’s the right mattress for you.