If you've slept on firm for years and the thought of sinking into a soft bed makes you twitchy, you already know what you came looking for. You want it firm, you want proper springs in it, and you'd like it without a big bill. Bodyshape, the in-house label Mattress Online keeps to itself, makes the Boost 800 Pocket Ortho for exactly that buyer. It's the firm one of three Boost 800 mattresses at the entry rung of the Boost pocket-sprung range: 800 pocket springs under a thin quilted top of soft white fibres and reflex foam, delivered rolled. On your back you're held up on top of it, shoulders and hips in one straight line, with a little cushion between you and the coils and a lively push coming up from underneath.
The other two Boost 800s share its springs, its single sleeping face and its rolled delivery. Choose the Boost 800 Pocket and you get a Medium grade. The Boost 800 Pocket Memory puts memory foam in the top and sits softer still. The Ortho's difference is the grade. It's Firm, and that one word decides who should buy it: back and front sleepers of average weight or more who already know they like a firm bed and wake up fine on one.
Side sleepers and lighter people should give it a miss. Under about nine stone, or curled on your side most of the night, your shoulder and hip meet the firmness almost as soon as you lie down, and a notch softer is where I'd send you. For the firm-minded it's a fair, plain bed that does what it says. For everyone else, and for anyone who wants a stronger edge and a longer guarantee, the Bodyshape 1000 Pocket Hybrid from the same shop is the kinder buy.
Ortho on this mattress means firm, and that's all it means
Ignore the word on the label. Ortho is short for orthopaedic, which is an unregulated term, and to my mind it stands for firm and not much else. That's exactly the case here. Mattress Online grades the bed Firm, and the name adds nothing to that grade: underneath is one layer of 800 pocket springs, the same count as its Medium sibling.
The bigger problem is the belief behind the word. Plenty of people buy firm because someone told them firm is better for a bad back, and I think that's the costliest mistake made in any bed shop. I'd put most people on medium-firm to begin with. Firm suits a narrower group: heavier back and front sleepers, and people who have slept on firm for years and like it. If that's you, the Ortho gives you what you're used to. If you're buying it to fix a back that hurts, a firmer bed won't do that, and pain that has hung about for weeks is a job for your GP.
How firm is the Boost 800 Pocket Ortho?
Properly firm, and the build explains why. On top is a quilted knitted cover over soft white fibres and a layer of reflex foam, which is the springy, quick-acting kind that pushes straight back at you. There's no memory foam anywhere in it, so you never get that slow sink you have to climb out of to turn over. Bodyshape adds two layers of dense polyester fibre to firm the feel up and support the springs underneath it all. Press a hand into the middle and the top gives a little before you're on something solid.
Start with how much you weigh, then think about how you lie. On your back at an average weight or more, your hips stay level and the small of your back is held, which is what a firm bed is for. Lying face down, you need a flat surface to stop your hips dropping, and this gives you one. Use a thin pillow to keep your neck from bending back. Even so, sleeping face down is the one position I'd coax you out of if I could. Over about eighteen stone you'll like the firmness, but I'd want more springs and a thicker build under that much weight, and that's what the Cooler 2000 below gives you. If Firm still isn't hard enough for you, the Bodyshape Ultra Ortho 1500 Pocket is graded Extra Firm, has 1,500 springs and turns over.
Love firm but find the first nights a bit much? A topper is the fix, because too firm is the one problem a topper solves. It softens the surface and leaves the support underneath alone. Give the bed two weeks first, which Bodyshape asks for too, since your body spends the first nights comparing it with the old one.
800 pocket springs and one face to sleep on
Eight hundred is a light count. I already think of a thousand in a double as a little light, so 800 sits a step below that. Every one of them is still a proper pocket spring, encased in a fabric pocket of its own, and that's what I'd want at any budget. When one of you rolls over, the springs under them go down and the ones under you stay put, which counts for more on a firm bed, where there's little soft padding on top to soak up a restless partner's movement.
Only the top face is finished for sleeping, and there are no handles, so you never flip it. Swing it round head to foot every three months instead, which spreads the wear and is the one bit of upkeep almost nobody bothers with. I'd always sooner have a mattress I can turn. Two faces share the work, a turnable bed lasts longer, and on this bed the one face takes all of the wear.
The guarantee is one year, covering faults in how it was made and what it was made from. A year is short for a bed you plan to keep, and it's the widest gap between this and the Hybrid, which carries five. Wear and tear isn't covered, and nor is a bed that's been stained without a protector or damaged by the wrong base, so put it on a sound frame with a protector on. Keep the order confirmation too, because a claim asks for your name, the purchase date, the model and the size.
Boost 800 Pocket Ortho or the 1000 Pocket Hybrid
The 1000 Pocket Hybrid costs more, and the extra goes on things you'll notice every night. You get 1,000 pocket springs to this one's 800 and a foam-encapsulated border that firms up the edge, which is where a couple loses space on any double. It also has reflex foam and a high-density memory foam in the top. It's graded Medium to Firm, so a side sleeper's shoulder gets some room while a back sleeper still lies on top of it.
The Ortho wins on depth and on plain firmness. It's 24cm deep against the Hybrid's 20cm, and 20cm is the line where I start asking what's inside a mattress. In the Hybrid's case the answer is memory foam and that foam border, so it passes. Memory foam keeps more of your body heat than the Ortho's fibre and reflex foam do, so if you run warm and want firm, the Ortho is the cooler of the two. If you want a bed most bodies can share, buy the Hybrid.
Getting it home and setting it up
It comes vacuum-packed and rolled, which I'm all for. Pocket springs in a roll work well, and my quarrel with boxed mattresses was never the rolling. A double weighs about 26kg and a king about 30kg, so two of you can carry it up to the bedroom. My last house had narrow stairs, and it's why I still tell everyone to measure the stairs and the turn before they order, rolled or not.
Cut it free in the bedroom itself, air the room and leave it six to eight hours before you make the bed. Standard fitted sheets go on over its 24cm (a shade over nine inches, with a couple of centimetres either way), though a protector underneath makes a deeper pocket welcome. A divan top or a slatted frame both suit it. Keep the slats close: Bodyshape's limit is 10cm between them and mine is about 7cm, since a wide gap is my first suspect whenever a mattress dips.
Should Firm prove the wrong call, you can exchange it for another mattress under Mattress Online's 100-Night Comfort Trial. There are two conditions: a month of nights on it first, and one of their protectors bought in the same order. On a firm bed bought partly on instinct, that exchange is worth keeping open, so add the protector at the checkout.
What to buy instead
For most people, and for anyone sharing the bed, buy the Bodyshape 1000 Pocket Hybrid: more springs, a foam border at the edge, a grade a side sleeper can live with and five years of cover. Heavier back and front sleepers who want firm and don't mind flipping should look at the Bodyshape Cooler 2000 Pocket, which costs more again and puts 2,000 full-height pocket springs under you in a double-sided build with handles. Keep the Boost 800 Pocket Ortho for the sleeper it was made for: firm by habit, on the back or front, and content to rotate a mattress rather than turn it.
