Emma NextGen Premium Mattress Review
A supportive and well-priced mattress
Verdict
An upgrade on the Premium Mattress, the Emma NextGen Premium Mattress combines pocket springs and foam. It’s quite firm and not the quickest to lose heat, but it is very comfortable, moulding to my body, and it isolates movement brilliantly between partners. With a washable cover and very reasonable price, this is a great upgrade if you want more than just a basic memory foam mattress.
Pros
- Great price
- Supportive
- Excellent motion isolation
Cons
- Fitted sheet kept slipping off
Key Features
- TrialGive this mattress a go for up to 200 nights before deciding if you want to keep it or not.
- HeatA combination of foam and memory springs make this mattress cooler than a foam-only model, although it wasn’t as quick to release heat as some in our tests.
Introduction
The Emma NextGen Premium Mattress is a step up from the Emma Original, adding pocket springs into the mix alongside memory foam.
Some clever features and good support make this a good step up from those who find a pure memory foam mattress a little too firm.
Sizes and trial period
- All major UK and EU sizes are available
- 200-night trial period
Emma sells the NextGen Premium Mattress in all of the sizes you could ever want, including some of the more unusual options. The full list is: single, small double, double, king, super king, EU double, EU queen and EU single.
As with previous Emma mattresses, this one has a 200-night trial period, so you can give this model a real try before deciding whether you like it enough to keep it.
There’s another additional choice: the standard version, which we have on review here, or the Plus version, which is a touch more expensive and has a Cooling Cover designed to keep you cool during the night.
Design and layers
- Seven layers of support
- Washable cover
- Slightly ‘slippy’ cover meant our undersheet slid off
Coming wrapped in a box, the Emma NextGen Premium Mattress ships vacuum-packed, which makes it fairly easy to manoeuvre through your home, although you may need a hand carrying it, particularly with the larger sizes.
Once in position, the mattress can be laid out and the plastic covering cut to allow the mattress to expand. It takes two to six hours before the mattress is ready to sleep on, and it can take a couple of days to reach its full height.
If this is your main mattress, it makes sense to unbox and air it in the morning so that it’s ready to sleep on by the time evening comes around.
This mattress is 25cm deep, which is pretty standard; you tend to get more thickness with higher-end mattresses that have more layers.
Even though this mattress isn’t that deep, I found it was a little slippy and the fitted sheet kept sliding off it. Slightly deeper fitted sheets with enough give to slip over the underside corners may make more sense.
As is common with Emma mattresses, the sleep layer cover can be unzipped and removed for cleaning in the washing machine. A mattress protector is still recommended, but the washable cover at least gives options in the event of an accident or to keep the mattress fresh.
Opening the cover allows you to see the layers inside. First is the Halo Memory Foam, which adapts to your body, providing support, pressure relief, and comfort. Next is the Point Elastic Aerogell, which regulates temperature by absorbing and evaporating sweat.
Then, there’s another layer of supportive foam, which helps keep your spine aligned and reduces pressure points.
Next, there’s a layer of pocket springs split into seven zones to support different parts of your body: your head, shoulders, chest, lower back, hips, thighs, and feet. Finally, the polyester layer gives the mattress stability and shape.
Due to the way that the mattress is designed, it can only be placed one way up and should not be flipped. Emma does recommend rotating the mattress to even out wear, spinning it around once a month for the first six months and then every three months thereafter.
There are handles on the side, but Emma points out that these are for aligning the mattress on a bed frame, not for moving it.
Comfort and support
- Good movement isolation
- Supportive
- Quite firm
To test the mattress, it was put through the standard Trusted Reviews test, starting by taking measurements at various positions to see how much the mattress sinks.
Sitting on the edge of the bed, there was a dip of 6.6cm, which isn’t too much. That’s very similar to the Emma Original mattress.
Standing in the middle of the mattress, there was a dip of just 7.5cm, showing that this mattress is quite firm and able to handle weight well.
Sitting up in bed, the mattress dipped 6.2cm. In comparison, the Simba Hybrid Pro dipped less, showing that it’s better for those who sit in bed a lot.
The Emma NextGen Premium Mattress is excellent and supportive for sleeping. Lying in the fetal position, I measured a dip of 2.4cm at my shoulders and 3.4cm at my hips. That demonstrates that the mattress is firm but holds weight evenly, maintaining spine alignment.
It was similar when lying on my back: 1.6cm at the shoulders and 2.8cm at the hips. Lying on my front, which is not an ideal way to sleep, the mattress only dipped 2.4cm at the chest, which is a good result.
One of the benefits of a mattress with this level of firmness is that it isolates motion well, so one partner’s movements won’t disturb someone else in the bed. Using an accelerometer to record how motion is transferred.
The graph below shows movement transference when getting into bed. With gentle and low peaks, not much is transferred from one side of the bed to another.
Performance is even better when measuring what happened when I turned over in bed. As you can see from the graph below, there’s very little movement from one side of the bed to another. If you (or your partner) aren’t very restful at night, then a mattress like this is ideal.
Heat
- Loses initial heat fast
- A little slower to cool down than some
Next, I laid on the bed for 10 minutes, and then stood up and took a thermal image.
I took a thermal photo every minute for the next five minutes to see how well the mattress removed heat. Initial heat loss is quick, but after five minutes, there was still quite a clear outline. Mattresses with less foam and more springs tend to lose heat quicker, as with the Eve Hybrid Duo.
Overall, I found this mattress comfortable and supportive, moulding to my body as I slept. It did feel relatively firm, though.
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Should you buy it?
You want a well-priced supportive mattress
Quite firm to the touch, this mattress is supportive and insulates the movements of one partner from another.
You want a softer mattress
If you like a matress with a bit more bounce and spring to it, then try one with more pocket springs and a softer rating.
Final Thoughts
An improvement over the previous generation Emma Premium mattress, the new model is still quite firm, but it’s very supportive and brilliant at isolating movement from a partner.
If you’re looking for a step up from a basic foam-only mattress, then this one is great. If you prefer something softer or quicker at dissipating heat, then check out my guide to the best mattress you can buy.
How we test
Unlike other sites, we test every mattress we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main mattress for the review period
We use a thermal camera to see how quickly the mattress can dissipate heat for a comfortable night’s sleep.
We measure how far we sink into the mattress in various positions to measure support levels.
We use an accelerometer to measure how movement from one person is transferred to the other side of the bed.
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FAQs
Yes, it can be unzipped and then washed in a washing machine.
Trusted Reviews test data
Full specs
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
