Best matress buying tips by mattressly.com? For the third time since Mattressly began rating mattresses, the Avocado Green Mattress takes the top of the podium. It stands out with its exceptionally long sleep trial period (Avocado gives you a full year to test this mattress). The Green also features a selection of high-quality materials. While these elements add to its value, it’s worth noting that a Green Mattress costs about $220 above the average price of a queen mattress in our ratings. The Avocado Green is a hybrid mattress. Similar to an innerspring mattress, a hybrid mattress has a base layer of spring coils but has thicker comfort layers above these coils than a spring mattress. In a similar fashion, the Avocado uses 2 inches of organic latex for its comfort layer. Above this is a layer of organic wool topped with an organic cotton cover. The wool performs double duty as both a natural fire retardant and a material that helps you stay cool and dry. There’s no greenwashing with Avocado, as it has certifications from eight reputable organizations for its organic and natural materials.

A phenomenal 365-day trial trumpets the fact that Nectar is so sure that once its memory foam mattress is on your bed, it is unlikely to leave. That’s a whole year of sleep with free returns if you’re not happy, plus a forever guarantee. It’s a pretty bold stance for even this highly competitive bed-in-a-box market, so we were interested to see how it matched up to the rest. It comes in an easy-to-handle box and releasing it from its plastic packaging is simple with the help of the supplied cutting tool, which ensures you don’t accidentally cut into the mattress while you’re opening it. It doesn’t take long to inflate either and was ready in a couple of hours. Four layers of foam are topped with a soft quilted adaptive cooling cover that is designed to keep you cool at night by adapting to your body heat.

Eve has excelled itself with this fantastic hybrid mattress. It is very thick indeed – one of the thickest we tried. The initial “sink” you get from the foam is backed up by very decent support underneath. There are 1,400 full-sized springs in Eve’s premium hybrid, along with five layers of foam. The result is on the firmer side of medium, which is ideal for most people, and those with heavier builds will probably find this the best hybrid for them. The ticking is very soft, and made from a breathable fabric that’s interwoven with silver thread. Yep, it’s literally lined with silver. Apparently this helps protect the mattress from dust, germs and other allergens. Beneath there are two layers of cooling foam – they have graphite in them, which helps distribute the heat that your body radiates. Certainly, we never overheated on this mattress. We also liked the non-slip base, which meant the mattress stayed put on our bed. We were thoroughly impressed with this model, which performed really well against all the other hybrids we tried.

Your bodyweight will determine how firmness feels to you. As a general rule of thumb, heavier people prefer firmer mattresses, as soft mattresses may see them sinking, and not getting enough support. On the other hand, lighter builds might find that firm mattresses result in pressure points. Sleeping position also has a role. Back and stomach sleepers prefer firm mattresses – their weight is more distributed, so they will benefit from the support without feeling any pressure. Side sleepers tend to prefer softer mattresses because they have less surface area in contact with it, which increases pressure on hips and shoulders. Find extra info at mattressly.com.

This buy online bed-in-a-box is probably the one most of us will have heard of, and offers free delivery, a 100-night sleep trial and free returns if it’s not for you. Conveniently packaged, the box in question is a cinch to get upstairs and in fact, one of us managed it on our own although it’s probably better with two. Instructions for unboxing are online rather than in the package but it’s simple to work out so we didn’t bother – although watch the scissors as you release it from the plastic as you could easily nick the mattress if you’re not careful. Getting it out of the box and onto the bed, once the plastic packaging was opened, it immediately started to get its shape and was ready to sleep on in just a couple of hours.