Buy the Emma Performance 26 Mattress if you want Emma's new Performance build in a medium feel that works for back, side and combination sleepers, and skip the taller 28 and 30 unless you know you want more sink. It's a hybrid, a foam grid and memory foam over zoned pocket springs, and that's the construction I'd point most undecided people towards. I'm still not an Emma fan. To my mind it's the loudest marketing in the trade, and the Performance pages lean hard on trademarked comfort names, so judge this one on its layers and let the adjectives go.
A foam grid over memory foam and pocket springs, in the slimmest of the three
Seven layers sit inside 26cm. From the top there's a knitted cover that's cool to the touch, Emma's AirGrid layer (an open grid of foam cells), a memory foam layer, a support foam, zoned pocket springs inside a foam frame, a second support foam and a grippy bottom cover. Expect to feel the grid first. It springs back faster than memory foam, so you'll sit a little more on top than a classic foam bed allows, with the memory foam underneath taking the edge off your shoulders and hips.
The three Performance heights share one stack. What changes is two foams: on the 26 the firmer memory foam is 2cm and the support foam 5cm, against 4.5cm and 6.5cm on the 30. That's the whole difference, and it's why I'd start here. A few centimetres of extra foam buys a softer, deeper feel, and the taller models charge you for it.
Emma sells the grid as cooling, and an open grid should breathe better than a solid slab of foam. I'm less taken with cool-to-touch covers, which feel lovely for the first ten minutes. There's still memory foam in here and memory foam runs warm, so if you already sleep with one leg out of the duvet in March, look at springs with natural fillings instead.
The foam frame round the springs is there to firm up the edge, which I'd want on any double you share. The top cover zips off and goes in the wash at 40C; the bottom half doesn't. It's single-sided, so rotate it every few months and never flip it, and check your slats: Emma asks for gaps of no more than 7cm, the same rule I'd apply under any sprung mattress.
Who it suits, and who should keep scrolling
Couples who want one bed that does a bit of everything are the obvious match. Pocket springs keep a partner's turning on their own side better than a foam core does, the memory foam damps what's left, and medium is where I'd start almost anyone who doesn't know what they want. Back sleepers of average weight should get on with it, and so should side sleepers who like a little cushion at the shoulder. The owner reviews for this height have barely started, so this one is a judgement on the build.
Avoid it if you're over about eighteen stone. Emma publishes no spring count or gauge, and a heavier body wants a firmer, deeper spring unit it can see on paper. Avoid it if you run hot, and avoid it if you want a mattress you can turn over, because this one has a single sleeping side.
What to buy instead
If you sleep hot, a pocket-sprung mattress with wool or latex on top will serve you better than any grid of foam. If you want this exact build with more sink for broad shoulders, the Performance 28 is the next step, though I'd only pay for it as a side sleeper. For everyone else in the market for this range, the 26 is the one to buy.
