Mattress Reviews

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How I score bedding

Bedding is scored on value, feel, moisture handling, sizing and depth, durability, and care and washing. Support and temperature in the mattress sense do not apply.

Sizing and depth is scored because it is the single most common reason people are unhappy with bedding they otherwise like.

The four numbers that describe bedding

Fill power, for down. It measures how much space a given weight of down occupies, so high fill power reaches a tog with less weight. Most retailers do not print it.

Staple length, for cotton. Long staple, sold as Egyptian, Pima or Supima, makes smoother and stronger fabric than short staple at any thread count.

Weave. Percale is crisp, matte and breathable, the hotel sheet feel, and the better choice if you sleep warm. Sateen is smoother and warmer.

Depth, for fitted sheets, which is the one that actually decides whether you are happy.

Measure your mattress before you order anything

Fitted sheets are labelled with a depth. Look for it. And if you use a topper, add its depth too: a 28 centimetre mattress with a 5 centimetre topper needs a 33 centimetre sheet, and that sheet over both is also the most reliable way to stop the topper sliding.

Pillows have the same problem. A UK standard pillow is roughly 50 by 75 centimetres and plenty sold here are not. A case that is too big lets the pillow bunch under your head; one that is too small compresses it. Both change the effective height.

And the number to ignore

Thread count is the most misused figure in bedding.

Up to about 400 it correlates with quality. Beyond that, a single-ply cotton weave physically cannot fit many more threads into a square inch, so very high counts are achieved by twisting several thinner threads into multi-ply yarn and counting each strand. A 250 count fabric woven from four-ply yarn gets marketed as 1,000.

The thinner threads are weaker. A genuine 300 count long staple percale will outlast and outperform a 1,000 count multi-ply sheet, and usually costs less.

On a listing that states thread count and nothing else, you have been told the one figure that means the least.

Every one reviewed, scored