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- Excellent pressure relief
- Multiple firmness options
- Superior motion isolation
- Edge support could be better
- Cooling cover is effective, but foams still retains heat
- Expensive
Even if you don’t own any of the brand’s mattresses or bedding, there’s a good chance you’ll be familiar with Tempur and its unique NASA-derived materials. The exact formula of this high-density memory foam is a closely guarded secret, but it shares the characteristics I’ve come to expect from foam bedding and mattresses.
Tempur is one of the best mattress brands out there – certainly according to our most recent Sleep Awards survey – but its prices are firmly in the premium bracket. The Tempur Pro range starts at £1,649, so this isn’t a budget option.
As a middle-aged sleeper, I’m more concerned with easing my back pain and actually sleeping through the night than with Tempur’s NASA credentials. I’m pleased to say that the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool impressed in many areas, but I did have a few small reservations. Read on to find out more.
Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool mattress: What you need to know
At first glance, the Tempur Pro range is a little confusing. There are three depths of mattress to choose from, each with a slightly different name: 21cm (Pro SmartCool), 25cm (Pro Plus SmartCool) and 30cm (Pro Luxe SmartCool). In addition to mattress depth, you’ve also got a choice of firmness options: soft, medium, medium firm and firm.
I tested the Pro Plus in a size double and – as someone who loathes a too-soft bed – I opted for the firm option.
Another thumbs up to Tempur for the vast array of sizes it offers. In addition to its standard sizes – single to super king – there are five ‘special sizes’: 120x190cm (small double), 120x200cm, 135x200cm, 160x200cm (EU king) and 200x200cm (emperor).
In terms of design and construction, the Tempur Pro is a fairly simple affair. Up top is the removable “SmartCool” cover, which is designed to absorb body heat and stay cool to the touch. It can also be washed at up to 40°C. Underneath the cover are five layers of branded Tempur foam materials, on top of a base cover that can also be removed and machine washed.
Like the previous Tempur mattress I reviewed – the Tempur Ease – the Pro Plus SmartCool arrived flat and wrapped in plastic. Once this plastic was removed, I was pleasantly surprised at the lack of off-gassing smell, which is something that’s commonly present in memory foam products.
Price and competition
Tempur’s Pro SmartCool range is the brand’s premium offering. You’ll pay £1,649 for a small single in the shallowest depth, with prices rising all the way up to £4,899 for a 30cm deep Emperor.
The double Pro Plus SmartCool mattress I tested costs £2,599. For context, a single in this depth costs £1,949, a king £2,999 and a super king £3,499. Meanwhile, the price of a double mattress rises to £3,199 if you go for the 30cm depth and drops down to £2,299 for the 21cm depth.
These prices put the Pro Plus SmartCool in line with similarly pricy mattresses such as the Simba Hybrid Ultra (£2,399 for a double) – even if this is a much deeper mattress at 34cm. And while it’s far from a budget option, it’s still cheaper than my much beloved Hypnos Inspired By Nature 05 mattress, which comes in at £3,500 for a double. There’s also a big material difference here: the Hypnos mattress uses natural materials and pocket springs, whereas the Pro Plus SmartCool is an all-foam mattress.
The Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool mattress comes with a 100-night trial and a 10-year guarantee, as well as free delivery and installation in a room of your choosing. Returns are free as well.
How I tested the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool mattress
First and foremost, I test mattresses by sleeping on them. But in doing so, I take into account a number of factors: comfort, support (including at the edges), temperature regulation and motion isolation. And when determining value for money, I’ll compare the price tag of a mattress with those of its closest competitors.
As anecdotal testing isn’t sufficient on its own, I also run standardised tests to obtain objective data that can be compared across all mattresses tested at Expert Reviews. I gradually place four 2.5kg weights on the bed, measuring the sinkage as I add more weight. I do this at shoulder height and at 3 inches from the edge of the bed to assess edge support. I also measure how much the total 10kg of weights causes the edge of the bed to tilt.
I carry out two tests with a digital thermometer – one for body heat and another using a heat pad – to see how much the mattress retains heat. For the former, I sit on the mattress with the thermocouple probe placed underneath me, until the thermometer reaches 30°C. After getting up, I then record the temperature decrease at one minute intervals for ten minutes. The heat pad test follows a similar process. After heating up the pad in boiling water, I place it on the surface of the mattress to heat it up. Once the temperature has stabilised and fallen to 50°C, I remove the heat pad and, again, record the temperature at one minute intervals for ten minutes.
Comfort and performance
Our standardised tests
With 10kg of weights placed on the mattress at around shoulder height, I measured sinkage at 13mm. Repeating this test with the weights three inches from the edge of the mattress, results were exactly the same: 13mm sinkage under 10kg of weight. Bear in mind that this was the firm version of the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool, but I was still highly impressed with these results when you consider that it’s an all-foam mattress. For comparison, the aforementioned Hypnos Inspired by Nature 05 sank by 20mm (at shoulder height) and 30mm (at the edge) under 10kg.
I carried out my temperature tests next. A big caveat here: I tested this mattress during a very intense heatwave, and my Victorian house has a tendency to retain heat. The room temperature was 23.4°C during testing, and my body temperature test saw the surface temperature of the mattress drop from 30°C to 24.4°C after three minutes: a temperature at which it stayed for the rest of the ten minutes. Meanwhile, my heat pad test saw the temperature drop from 50°C to 27°C after three minutes and to 24.7°C after ten minutes. Those are similar results to The Odd Company Blenheim – a pocket sprung mattress I tested in similar temperatures – and, in my opinion, are impressive for an all-foam mattress. More important, however, was how the mattress felt during real world testing.
Is it comfortable?
Regular readers of my reviews will know that I’m not a fan of the sink-in feeling that’s usually associated with some memory foam mattresses, although I do appreciate how wonderful it is for dealing with aches and pains. Tempur offers some of the best mattresses for back pain that you can buy.
I expected my experience of the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool to be similar to that of other all-foam mattresses I’ve reviewed. However, perhaps because I opted for the firm option, it really didn’t behave in the same way at all. You still get that contouring feeling of weightlessness that Tempur mattresses are so well-known for, but I didn’t feel enveloped by it.
And while lumbar support felt a fraction too soft for me, I woke up entirely pain free. Full marks here. I wouldn’t hesitate recommending the version I tested to anyone looking for a firm mattress. Alternatively, if you’re a lightweight person who primarily sleeps on their side – or perhaps you just prefer that sink-in sensation you get with some memory foam mattresses – consider the softer model. The fact that Tempur offers such a comprehensive range of options is a real benefit here.
Temperature regulation
With a cover designed to absorb excess heat and help the body regulate its temperature, the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool is designed to keep sleepers cool. Now, I certainly felt that it was cool to the touch and my husband agreed. But while I often sleep cool, he felt that the foams under the cover retained heat during the night.
That said, for an all-foam mattress tested during a heatwave, I have to give credit to the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool, and even my hot-sleeping husband found that he wasn’t uncomfortably hot during the night. This is perhaps thanks to the fact we opted for the firm mattress, over a softer model that may have enveloped the body.
That said, in terms of “cooling” credentials, it doesn’t quite rival the Dreams TheraPur ActiGel Glacier 3800 mattress or the Emma Original Pro: a couple of our favourite mattresses when it comes to keeping cool. However, if you love the feel of a Tempur mattress, the Pro Plus SmartCool remains a sensible choice.
Motion isolation and edge support
Perhaps unsurprisingly for an all-foam mattress, motion isolation on the Pro Plus SmartCool was excellent. The foam absorbs even the slightest movement, meaning my husband’s impression of a walrus leaving the sea was sadly unappreciated as I slept blissfully through the night.
Despite the results of my weight tests, edge support I found could be improved. This wasn’t an issue when I was lying on the mattress but, when I sat on the edge, I wasn’t supported as much as I would have liked to be. Again, this isn’t necessarily unexpected from an all-foam mattress, but it did mean I had to put a bit of effort into getting up from bed with the foam sagging around me.
Verdict
I was pleasantly surprised by the Tempur Pro Plus SmartCool. It’s an excellent mattress and feels very well made: testament to the quality of Tempur mattresses. But it was the firmer feel that I was particularly pleased with: I never thought I’d find an all-foam mattress that I felt was supportive enough, but this proved me wrong.
Those who are particularly prone to sleeping hot at night might want to consider their alternatives – perhaps something with a little less memory foam and a little more natural materials – as will those on a tight budget. But I’d argue the quality of the Pro Plus SmartCool is worth the price tag, and the customisable options that Tempur offers makes it suited to a wide variety of sleepers.
