Emma Original Elite Mattress Review
Emma's most interesting mattress and its most expensive mistake, depending entirely on whether you are the person medium soft was built for.
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Verdict
Seven layers, 27 centimetres, an Airgrid layer and a medium soft feel. This is Emma's most interesting mattress and its most expensive mistake, depending entirely on whether you are the person medium soft was built for. At 749 pounds it is competing well above its structural weight.
Buy it if
You are a lighter side sleeper who wants to sink in, you sleep hot, and you have ruled out springs on purpose.
Avoid it if
You are of average or heavier build. Medium soft plus no spring core plus no edge reinforcement is the wrong combination above about 13 stone.
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| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | All foam with an Airgrid layer |
| Depth | 27cm |
| Layers | 7 |
| Pocket springs | None |
| Firmness | Medium soft |
| Foam density | Not published by Emma |
| Recognition | Good Housekeeping Institute approved |
| Trial | 200 nights |
| Guarantee | 10 years |
| Price from | £749, typical sale price |
| Customer rating | 4.6 from around 195 reviews on Emma's site |
The scores
Emma's most sophisticated foam build, aimed at a narrower group than its price suggests.
At 749 pounds you are into territory where hybrids give you dramatically more structure.
Medium soft with no spring core. Excellent for light sleepers, poor above average build.
Airgrid is the best airflow structure Emma has built. Genuinely cool for a foam mattress.
Still no perimeter reinforcement, and the softer surface makes it more apparent.
Seven layers of foam. Nothing transmits. The best in Emma's range.
200 nights, and at this price you may well need them.
Airgrid, and why it is different from InfinitySpring
Emma has three named airflow technologies across its range and they are not the same thing, which causes endless confusion.
- InfinitySpring in the Original is a foam structure shaped to improve airflow. The name misleads people into thinking the Original is a hybrid. It is not.
- Thermosync in the Pro is a temperature regulation system combining conductive materials with open structure.
- Airgrid in the Elite is a structured grid layer, which is the most effective of the three. A grid gives open channels for air movement and also gives directional give, which is why the Elite feels softer without simply being less supportive.
Of the three, Airgrid is the one doing genuine structural work rather than thermal work alone, and it is why this mattress feels different from the rest of the range rather than simply deeper.
Medium soft is the whole decision
Almost every other mattress in Emma's Original range is medium or medium firm. The Elite is medium soft, and that is not a small variation, it is a different product for a different person.
Medium soft with no spring core works beautifully for a lighter sleeper, typically under about eleven stone, who sleeps on their side and wants the shoulder and hip to sink. For that person, seven layers of graded foam with an Airgrid layer is close to ideal, and the Good Housekeeping Institute approval is a reasonable signal.
For an average or heavier build it is the wrong purchase. A soft surface with no springs underneath means you compress through the comfort layers and the foam base takes the load, which is where foam mattresses develop impressions fastest. At 749 pounds that is an expensive way to find out.
The price is the problem
Seven hundred and forty-nine pounds puts the Elite against the Simba Hybrid Pro at 899 with a barrel spring core, the Origin Hybrid Pro at 374 with 31 cm and up to 5,700 springs, and the Otty Pure+ Hybrid 4000 at around 600 with 4,000 springs.
Against those, an all-foam mattress with no perimeter reinforcement is a hard sell on construction. What it has instead is the softest genuinely well-made foam surface in the UK mainstream, and if that specific quality is what you are after, none of those hybrids will give it to you.
That is a narrow but real case. It is just not a 749 pound case for most people.
Should you buy it?
Buy it if you are light, sleep on your side, want to sink in, and have specifically decided against springs. In that case it is the best thing Emma makes and one of very few well-built medium soft mattresses in the UK.
Do not buy it as an upgrade. The instinct that the most expensive model in a range is the best one is wrong here. If you are of average build, the Original Pro at 539 is the better Emma, and at 749 pounds a hybrid is the better mattress.
Full range in the Emma review.
Questions people ask
Is the Emma Original Elite worth 749 pounds?
Only for a narrow group: lighter side sleepers who want to sink in and have specifically ruled out springs. For that person it is the best well-made medium soft mattress in the UK mainstream. For average or heavier builds, a soft surface with no spring core is the wrong combination at any price.
What is Airgrid in the Emma Elite?
A structured grid layer that creates open channels for airflow and gives directional give. It is the most effective of Emma's three airflow technologies and the only one doing structural as well as thermal work, which is why the Elite feels genuinely different rather than simply deeper.
Is the Emma Elite better than the Emma Original Pro?
Not automatically. It is softer, deeper in layer count and cooler. If you are average build, the Original Pro at 539 pounds is the better Emma, because medium soft with no spring core does not support heavier loads well.