Firm, turnable, pocket sprung and cheap: the Highgrove Solar Pocket 1000 Mattress is a combination I like, and the catch is the count. 1000 pocket springs is on the light side. They're still pocket springs, so it's still a good buy for back and front sleepers who like firm. Light side sleepers should look elsewhere.
Turnable pocket springs and plenty of filling
Inside are small-diameter pocket springs, each in its own pocket, with white fibre fillings on both sides and a damask cover with a quilted finish. A wire edge border runs round the unit. It's 27cm deep and double-sided, and Highgrove says to rotate and flip it.
Two sides beat one. Two sleeping sides share the wear, so a turnable mattress usually lasts longer than a one-sided one, and "no-turn" was always more about saving money than about you. With 1000 springs, I'd turn it as the maker says, because fewer springs means each one works harder.
Turning a double is a job for two. My partner steals the duvet most nights, so turning the mattress is the one job I hand straight to them.
Who it suits
Buy it if you sleep on your back or front, weigh average or more and like a firm bed. Avoid it if you're a light side sleeper, because your shoulder will have nowhere to go. If you share the bed, you'll find the pocket springs keep your partner's turning on their side.
Every bit as firm as the label says
Owners mostly describe it as firm, supportive and well made, and several were pleased with how comfortable a firm bed turned out to be. The worst complaint is from one owner who found lumps and bulges appearing within two weeks; that's a one-off, but early lumps in a fibre-filled mattress are worth reporting at once. Other low ratings are about delivery, which is the retailer's side of things.
Take that at face value. Plenty were still caught out by quite how firm it is, and one sorted that with a topper. Another, coming off an old mattress that was far too soft, put the feel neatly: "sleeping on it, not in it". The happy owners are a mixed bunch: a front sleeper who says it suits them, a parent who bought the large single for a child and often falls asleep on it too, and a couple of them who liked their first one enough to come back for a second.
Someone else found the edges giving a little against the firm middle, and that's the bit I'd keep an eye on. A wire edge border is there to stop exactly that, so perch on the edge in the first weeks and tell Archers if it gives.
The Shire Seattle is the same build a grade softer
The rival I'd line up against it is the Shire Seattle Pocket 1000, which Archers sells for a little more. On paper it's nearly the same mattress, with 1000 pocket springs, white fibre either side, a wire edge border and two sleeping sides. The difference is the grade: medium to firm against this one's firm. It also gets a hand-tufted finish, which I wouldn't pay a penny extra for. Firm-loving back and front sleepers should take the Solar, and anyone who winces at the word firm should take the Seattle.
Archers will swap it, but read the conditions first
Get the firmness wrong and Archers' comfort guarantee will swap the mattress for a different one, with no money back.
The catch is the protector: a Purecare one has to be in the same order and stay on the bed. You also have to live with the mattress for most of the guarantee period before you can ask.
You get one go at it, you pay for the redelivery, and dropping down to something cheaper won't earn you anything back. Buy the protector alongside it if there's any chance you'll want to switch.
The free delivery is one person to the ground-floor door of your building. One owner in a third-floor flat with no lift found that out when the drivers would only take it as far as the floor below, so pay for the two-person room-of-choice service if you live up a few flights.
What to buy instead
If you want the same turnable build with more springs, the Shire Spectrum Luminaire Pocket 3000 has 3000 small pocket springs and turning handles. If you're a light side sleeper, choose a medium-firm pocket-sprung mattress with a deeper comfort layer.
