Walk into Dreams as a side sleeper who wants memory foam and you'll find a whole corner of Hyde & Sleep to choose from. The Hyde & Sleep Deluxe Ice Memory Foam Mattress is the one in it I'd send you to first. It's Dreams' own brand, and it's foam all the way down: two layers of foam pods shaped like little springs, a deep sheet of open-cell Aurora foam between them and a zoned base underneath, 32cm (about 13 inches) deep and graded Medium. The Original and the Hybrid Ice beside it are both graded Firm, so this is the rung built for anyone who sleeps on their side and wants to sink a little. I lay on this one at Dreams in late October, and on my side the medium foam let my shoulder and hip sink in.
I went on to try the Dreams Deluxe Ice on my back and front too, and at 61kg it felt noticeably softer than the firm Hyde & Sleep Original. It stayed cooler than the Original too. That one warmed up under me after a while, and the airflow foam kept this one fresher for longer. When I sat on the side to get up, the reinforced edge stayed firm under me. Its closest sibling, the Hyde & Sleep Hybrid Ice, is the firmer, springier bed of the pair, with a sheet of micro springs under its pods where this one has none.
So this is the pick of the Hyde range for side sleepers of light to average weight who want foam. Most Hydes are firmer than I like, and this is the one I'd choose for myself. The rolled beds are a separate job: if you want your Hyde delivered in a box, the Blueberry is still my pick of those. Back and front sleepers who like a firmer push should go straight to the Hybrid Ice, and so should heavier side sleepers, who need springs under them more than another layer of foam.
Four foam layers, two of them pods, and no springs at all
Under the cooling cover sit the memory foam pods, then the Aurora airflow foam, then a second layer of pods in support foam, then a profiled base foam cut into seven zones for your shoulders, back and hips. The pods are foam blocks shaped like springs. They give the top a little bounce and they compress one at a time, so a partner turning over doesn't travel far across the bed, but there isn't a coil anywhere in it. If springs are what you're after, that's the Hybrid Ice.
The top is smooth and flat with nothing sewn on, which is how I like a foam bed. Treat the seven zones as a sensible extra. The reason to buy is how far the top lets your shoulder in. Dreams also says it's handmade in the UK, which is nice to know and doesn't change how it sleeps.
All of that adds up to 32cm, which is deep. Depth on a foam bed is only good news when it's comfort foam and not filler, so ask in store how thick the memory foam pods are, since that's the layer your shoulder sinks into. Buy deep-pocket fitted sheets for it, and if a tall bed is hard work for you, measure the height on your own base before you order: one owner found it far too high to get into without a struggle.
It's one-sided, so you'll never turn it over, and I'd always rather a mattress I could flip, so count that against it. While it's new, swing it round head to toe once a week, then drop to once a month after three months. The handles underneath are for turning it on the bed, not for carrying, and a double weighs 37kg, so getting it up the stairs is a two-person lift.
Deluxe Ice or Hybrid Ice?
Pick by how you sleep. The Hybrid Ice costs a little less and puts a sheet of micro springs under its memory foam pods, in a Firm grade and 5cm less depth. On my side it pressed at my shoulder more than the Deluxe Ice did. It was livelier and easier to turn over on, though, and on my back and front it kept my hips level. Side sleepers should buy the Deluxe Ice for its softer top. Back and front sleepers who want foam without the sink should buy the Hybrid Ice, which I'd call the best-built Hyde of all, more substantial than the foam ones.
Weight matters here as much as position. My rule is weight first: heavier people go firmer, and side sleepers sit a notch softer than back sleepers. At 61kg the Deluxe Ice let my shoulder and hip in without swallowing me. Put much more weight on the same stack and your hip carries on down through the pods and the Aurora layer, with only foam beneath to stop it, and your spine sags at the hip. That's why I'd send a heavier side sleeper to the Hybrid Ice, because its micro springs push back under the hip. If you sit somewhere in between, lie on the two one after the other and buy the one that keeps your spine straight.
The Original is the cheaper way into the brand, and for a side sleeper it's the one to skip. It's Firm and 23cm deep, two layers of memory foam over a profiled base with no airflow layer, and it was too firm on my side and warm after a while. The Deluxe Ice drops two steps down Dreams' scale to Medium, adds the Aurora airflow layer the Original goes without, and is 9cm deeper.
Among Dreams' newer Hydes, I'd still buy this over the Lime, a little cheaper and Medium too but only 27cm, and over the Juniper, which costs more and is a shallower bed at 30cm.
Cooler than the Original, though it's still memory foam
The cooling here comes from the Aurora layer. It's an open-cell foam that lets air move through it, which is the difference I felt against the Original. Dreams sells the cover on instant cooling. It's cool to the hand when you first get in, but cooling covers impress me far less than whatever sits under them. The Ice in the name is just a name, too: there's no gel or graphite anywhere in the layers.
Give memory foam a few hours of body heat and it warms and softens around you, airflow layer or not. Owners are split on the cooling: some say it keeps them cooler than their old mattress, one calls it perfect for anyone who can't sleep in a warm room, and another wrote that it "feels cool to the touch but i still sweat on a hot night". Overheating wakes me up, so I won't dress this up for anyone who runs hot every night. Look at a pocket-sprung bed, or at the Blueberry, which has no memory foam in it.
Owners find it firmer than the one in the shop
Firmness is the big complaint, and it runs one way. Owners keep saying the mattress delivered to them felt harder than the one they lay on in store, and I couldn't find one calling it softer than expected. A good few say it eased over the first month, which fits the maker's advice to give a new mattress about that long. Some never got there. A year in, one owner was still hunting for a topper to ease the pain, and a couple who'd had theirs seven months were both waking with sore backs.
I take that seriously, so lie on the Medium in a Dreams store in your own sleeping position for a good quarter of an hour before you order, and expect the first few weeks at home to feel firmer than that. If it doesn't settle, Dreams' 100-Night Comfort Guarantee gets you a different mattress, not your money back, and nothing can be swapped until you've had it a month. One owner who liked it in the shop found that out the hard way. Put a protector on from the first night, because the exchange depends on it.
Plenty of owners love it, and their praise is specific. People with joint pain and bad backs say they wake up easier, and couples say a restless partner's turning no longer reaches them: "my husband fidgets and i dont feel that movement anymore", as one put it. One owner calls the edges firm getting in and out of bed, and another never feels like rolling off, which matches what I found sitting on it.
Two smaller gripes come up. A couple of owners found a strong chemical smell on arrival. The maker says it's harmless and fades within a couple of weeks if you air the room, so worry only if it lingers past that. The cover is slippy, too, and a few people's sheets and duvets slide about on it, so tuck everything in well.
What to buy instead
For back or front sleeping, buy the Hyde & Sleep Hybrid Ice. It's firmer, springier and easier to roll over on, and it's the Hyde for a back sleeper.
If you run hot or want a mattress that arrives rolled in a box, buy the Hyde & Sleep Blueberry Rolled. It costs less, it's medium-firm and there's no memory foam to warm up. It's firmer at the shoulder than the Deluxe Ice, though, so it isn't the one for a light side sleeper.
And if you aren't set on Dreams, the Eve Pure Memory at Bensons is good, dense foam for less money, with a slow, deep sink. It runs warmer and it's harder work to roll over on, and to my mind the Deluxe Ice still does a little more for a side sleeper.
