A firm mattress with nothing stitched on top is a sensible thing to go looking for, and if that's what brought you to the Sleepeezee beds at Furniture Village, you're in good company. The Sleepeezee Hybrid Pro Ortho is the range's answer to it: pocket springs under a single layer of memory foam, made by Sleepeezee for Furniture Village alone, and sitting at the foot of the Hybrid Pro ladder as its only Firm rung. On your back, the foam softens the first moment of contact and the springs come up under you almost straight away, so you stay up on the surface instead of sinking into it.
The flat top is what sets it apart. The Hybrid Pro 2800 and every other rung in the range carry a sewn-on pillow top and a Medium grade, so the Ortho is the one to look at if you liked the range but not the cushion. That's a good instinct, and I still wouldn't buy this bed. It has one sleeping face, 950 pocket springs counted in a king, and a double weighs 32kg against 45kg for the 2800, which tells you there's a lot less mattress here than the Hybrid Pro name suggests.
Who gets on with it? A back or front sleeper of average weight who likes a firm bed and doesn't run hot. Skip it as a slim side sleeper, as someone who wakes up hot, or as anyone who wants to flip their mattress. Most people will do better on the Mlily Hybrid Gel 3000 in the same shop, and a heavier back sleeper on the Cooler Extreme Ortho, Sleepeezee's own extra firm bed with two faces to sleep on.
Ortho is the Firm grade with a medical-sounding name
On this bed, Ortho means Firm and nothing more. "Orthopaedic" is an unregulated word on a mattress, it usually means firm, and it often means harder than you'd choose for yourself. I've never been able to tell anyone what it promises beyond that, so read straight past it.
The idea behind the word is the bigger problem. Firmer is not better for your back, and I think that belief is the most expensive misunderstanding in the trade. I'd start almost anyone on medium-firm and adjust from there, weight first and position second: the more you weigh, the firmer you go, and if you sleep on your side you drop a notch softer than you would on your back. Put yourself through that before you buy anything on the strength of a label.
Is the Hybrid Pro Ortho too firm for side sleepers?
Yes, for most of them. At around nine stone on your side, your shoulder meets the springs before your hip has sunk far enough to straighten your spine, and by the small hours you'll feel that shoulder pressed. The memory foam cushions the surface, but it can't make a Firm bed into a side sleeper's bed. A side sleeper of fifteen stone or more sinks further and can make Firm work, though I'd still have you on a Medium first.
On your back it's a different story. Your hips stay level with your shoulders, there's no hammock in the middle, and the springs keep you supported from shoulders to heels. Front sleepers get the same flat base, which is what stops your lower back bowing down into the mattress. Use a thin pillow so your neck isn't cranked back. For years I went cheap on pillows. Then I tried a Dunlopillo, and nothing else has been under my head since, so match yours to how you lie before you blame a firm bed for a stiff neck.
Owners back up the firm feel. One calls it "firm but not rigid", another says it's giving them a good night's sleep, and that's the result I'd expect from a firm pocket hybrid under someone who sleeps the way it's built for.
One layer of memory foam over 950 pocket springs
That's the whole build: a knitted and woven cover, polyester and one layer of memory foam on top, and individually pocketed springs underneath. Memory foam is lovely on pressure points and it soaks up movement, so a restless partner turning over won't jolt your side much. It also runs warm, and no cooling claim has ever changed my mind on that. With polyester as the only other filling, there are no natural fibres in here to help. Hot sleepers should cross it off now.
Ask Furniture Village how thick that foam layer is before you order. On a Firm bed it decides how much give your shoulder gets before the springs take over.
The springs are pocketed, so each one moves on its own, which is the kind I'd want under me every time. 950 in a king is a modest count, fine because they're pocket springs, and I wouldn't lose sleep over the number alone. What I mind is the rest of the package: one face, one firm grade, and a single foam layer between you and those springs.
One face up, for as long as you keep it
The Ortho is one-sided, so it can be rotated but never turned over. Given the choice I want two sleeping faces, because turning shares the wear out, and here every night goes into the same one. Swing it round so the end under your pillows moves down to your feet, and do it regularly, because it's the one bit of upkeep a one-sided mattress asks of you.
Measure the gaps between your slats before it arrives. Anything wider than 7.5cm (about 3 inches) is outside the care terms and can let the mattress dip, so sort out a wide-slatted frame before this mattress goes on it. Body impressions are classed as normal settling, so get Furniture Village to put in writing which guarantee covers this mattress and what depth of dip it pays out on. When it arrives, leave it to air for at least four hours, which also gives the springs time to settle.
What to buy instead
Most people should buy the Mlily Hybrid Gel 3000 at the same shop. It keeps the good half of this idea, memory foam over pocket springs with no pillow top, and grades it Medium, the notch softer than medium-firm that I'd put a side sleeper on. You get two layers of gel memory foam instead of one, so a side sleeper's shoulder has somewhere to go, and the gel takes a little of the warmth out, though it is still memory foam, so a hot sleeper should look past both beds. It comes rolled and stands 27cm deep.
For someone carrying more weight who sleeps on their back or front, the Cooler Extreme Ortho is the buy. It's Sleepeezee again, with the same 950 springs in a king, but it's graded Extra Firm, it has StayCool gel in its layers, and it turns over, so the wear goes into two faces. Extra firm is a specialist grade, and that heavier sleeper is exactly who it's made for. Lighter side sleepers should leave both Ortho beds alone and go to the Mlily.
