Silentnight Studio Original mattress review: A supportive and affordable all-foam mattress
Silentnight’s all-foam Original is a supportive mattress that won’t break the bank, but it doesn’t quite do enough to earn an award
Pros
- Supportive
- Affordable
- Minimal smell
Cons
- Trial period beaten by rival brands
- Non-removable cover
The convenience of having your mattress rolled, vacuum sealed and delivered to your door has allowed a new wave of bed-in-a-box brands such as Emma, Eve and Simba to dominate the mattress market. The Studio collection from well-known mattress brand Silentnight is a response to this growing market.
The collection is made up of four mattresses: the all-foam Original being reviewed here, as well as three hybrid mattresses, the Memory, the Gel and the Eco.
Silentnight Studio Original review: What you need to know
As I’ve already touched on, the Studio Original is the only all-foam option in the Studio collection. Although it was previously sold in a range of comfort levels, it now appears to be available only in the medium firmness that was sent to us for review.
Because it’s delivered rolled up and vacuum-sealed, you’ll need to give it some time to breathe and expand: Silentnight recommends leaving it in a well-ventilated room for 24 hours before using it for the first time.
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As for construction, the mattress has four layers, including the outer cover, with a depth of around 25cm – fairly standard for a foam mattress. Making up the bulk of the Studio Original is a dense “Studio Flex” memory foam foundation, on top of which there’s a thinner layer of memory foam as well as a gel-infused foam layer. This “geltex” layer is designed for buoyancy and to keep you cool throughout the night.
All of this is then covered in a soft, knitted anti-allergy cover, which unfortunately cannot be removed and washed. It’s also worth mentioning that the Studio Original is a one-sided mattress, meaning that it cannot be flipped, although Silentnight does recommend rotating it regularly (we’d recommend every few weeks at first and every couple of months after that).
Unlike its bed-in-a-box rivals that come with lengthy money-back guarantees, the Original is backed by Silentnight’s 60-night comfort exchange. If at the end of this period you’re unhappy with the mattress, you have the option of exchanging your mattress for a different one in the manufacturer’s range. While this does take some of the pressure off buying a new mattress, it ultimately doesn’t hold up against the trial periods offered by the likes of Nectar, Simba and Emma, all of which accept returns inside 200 days (and 365 days in the case of Nectar).
Silentnight Studio Original review: Price and competition
Silentnight’s Studio Original starts at £399 for a single mattress and rises to £599 for a double and £699 for a king. Taking a double mattress as our point of comparison, the Original is one of the more expensive mattresses in the Studio collection, next to the Studio Memory and Gel mattresses (£449 and £499 respectively), while the most affordable of the range is the Studio Eco (£419).
Even so, the Studio Original is a competitively priced mattress, and costs a fair bit less than many of its all-foam rivals. The Emma Original, Eve Original and Nectar mattress, for instance, all cost £699 in a double and £799 in a king size.
Perhaps the Studio Original’s main competition when it comes to affordability is the Memory Plus from Dormeo. At full price, this foam mattress costs £630 for a double and £780 for a king, which on the face of it is not that much cheaper than the Emma, Eve and Nectar mattresses mentioned above. However, you can often find it on sale at up to 60% off, bringing a king down to just £310.
It can be difficult to make a definitive judgement on price because most bed-in-a-box brands, including all of those mentioned above, run regular promotional discounts. As such, whichever model you go for, you should never need to pay full price.
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Silentnight Studio Original review: Comfort and performance
I tested the Studio Original on a single bed frame with sprung slats (for more guidance on how slats can affect comfort, see our Best Beds buying guide). Pressing down on it, I noticed some give from the upper layers of the mattress before coming up against its denser foundation. The Studio Original is labelled as having a “medium” firmness, but I found it to be on the firmer end of medium.
Indeed, it offers impressive levels of support and, while it can accommodate a range of sleeping positions, I found it most comfortable when lying on my back. That’s in keeping with what you’d expect from a firmer mattress, but if you sleep mainly on your side, as I do, you might be better off opting for something softer.
The Studio Original also did a very good job of retaining this level of support. Many foam models, including the Nectar mattress, get softer as they warm up, which can be a problem for those seeking the highest levels of support. However, I found the Studio Original to be consistently supportive throughout the night and I didn’t wake up in the morning feeling like I’d sunk into a giant marshmallow.
Testing the mattress during a rather humid period in the summer, I did get quite warm. That’s not an uncommon complaint with foam, but I never woke up feeling horribly hot and clammy, which can perhaps be attributed to the Studio Original’s Geltex foam layer. Although temperature can be largely controlled by using appropriate bedding, those who are particularly prone to overheating should usually avoid all-foam mattresses, instead opting for a traditional pocket sprung model.
On the plus side, although “off-gassing” can be a problem with vacuum-packed memory foam mattresses, with the Studio Original mattress, this smell was minimal from the very start. Indeed, by the time it came to sleeping on the mattress after it had been given time to breathe, there was barely any smell at all.
Silentnight Studio Original review: Verdict
Although it’s competitively priced, it’s rather tricky to recommend the Studio Original over its bed-in-a-box rivals because it exists in such a competitive space. Indeed, not only does it have an inferior trial (there’s no money-back guarantee, only a 60-night exchange option), the hefty discounts usually offered by the likes of Emma and Nectar could mean you actually end up spending more on the Silentnight Studio.
That’s not to say it isn’t a decent mattress, however. On the contrary, those who sleep mainly on their front or back should be very happy with the consistently ample level of support that it delivers. As with most all-foam mattresses, it can feel a little warm, but those who like a relatively firm mattress should have very few other complaints.
If you’re in the market for the best affordable foam mattress, the Dormeo Memory Plus (when it’s discounted) remains our top pick. Meanwhile, if you can afford to spend a little more, the Eve Original is a great medium-firm option that also comes with a 100-night money-back guarantee.