Silentnight UltraGel Range Review
A gel mattress from an established manufacturer, and by now nearly every brand in Britain has a gel range.
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Verdict
A gel mattress from an established manufacturer, and by now nearly every brand in Britain has a gel range. That is worth a moment, because when every brand offers the same thing it is usually answering a marketing problem rather than a physical one.
Buy it if
You want a mid-range mattress from a manufacturer with a real comfort exchange, and the gel is incidental.
Avoid it if
You are buying for the cooling. Ask about the spring layer instead, because that is what does the work.
See the current Silentnight offer
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Silentnight on Amazon UK
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| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Mattress with a gel comfort layer |
| What gel does | Conducts heat away at the point of contact |
| What decides cooling | Whether the heat then has somewhere to go, which means structure |
| The question to ask | Is there a spring layer, and how deep |
| Comfort exchange | 60 nights, buying direct only |
The scores
Sound construction from an established maker, sold on the least load-bearing feature.
Competitive, and the comfort exchange has real value.
Depends on the spring specification. Check the model.
Good if there is a genuine spring layer. The gel is not the reason.
Ordinary at this level.
Depends on whether the springs are pocketed or linked.
60 nights direct, from a manufacturer trading since 1946.
Why every brand has a gel range
Gel is now in ranges from Silentnight, Mlily, Dormeo, Therapur and most of the budget market. When a feature becomes universal, it is worth asking what problem it solves for the manufacturer.
The answer is that sleeping hot is the most common complaint about mattresses, and gel is a cheap, visible, describable response to it. It can be added to an existing foam layer without redesigning the mattress, it photographs well, and it gives a salesperson something concrete to say.
That is not the same as it being the best answer. The best answer is structural and it costs more: a deeper spring layer, or an open grid comfort layer.
So gel is not a con. It is a genuine small effect that happens to be very easy to market, which is why it is everywhere and why it gets more credit than it earns.
What gel does, precisely
Gel conducts heat better than foam, so at the moment of contact it draws warmth from your skin faster than untreated foam would. That produces the cool-to-the-touch sensation and it is real.
The heat then needs somewhere to go. In an all-foam mattress there is nowhere: it moves a few centimetres and stops, because foam has small closed cells and almost no air movement. So the surface is cool when you lie down and warm within the hour.
In a mattress with a spring layer, heat reaching the springs can actually leave, because air moves through the gaps.
Gel over foam is a treatment. Gel over springs is a treatment on top of a mechanism. When comparing any gel mattress, look for the spring layer and its depth before looking at what the comfort layer is called.
Two cheaper causes to rule out first
Before buying a mattress to solve heat, rule out the two things that are more often responsible.
Your duvet. A 13.5 tog duvet suited poorly insulated houses. Many modern homes never drop far enough at night to need one. Seven to 10.5 tog is the useful range.
Your protector and pillowcase. A cheap plastic-backed protector seals off the airflow through whatever spring layer you have, and a polyester pillowcase holds moisture against your face.
Both are fixable for under a hundred pounds, and between them they explain a large share of hot beds.
A correction worth making
Commonly repeated, and wrong
Gel is presented as a cooling technology and it changes how a surface feels on contact rather than how the mattress behaves through the night. It conducts heat away from the skin, and in an all-foam mattress that heat travels a few centimetres and stops, so the effect fades within the hour. It is in almost every range because sleeping hot is the most common complaint, and gel is a cheap, visible response that can be added without redesigning the mattress.
Should you buy it?
Reasonable as a mid-range mattress from a manufacturer that will still exist in ten years, and buy direct for the 60 night comfort exchange.
If cooling is your actual problem, buy structure rather than treatment: a deep spring layer does the work. And check your duvet tog and mattress protector first, because both are more often the cause.
Questions people ask
Why does every mattress brand have a gel range?
Because sleeping hot is the most common complaint about mattresses, and gel is a cheap, visible response that can be added to an existing foam layer without redesigning the mattress. That is not the same as it being the best answer.
Does gel actually cool a mattress?
It conducts heat away from your skin at the point of contact, which is real. The heat then needs somewhere to go, and in all-foam there is nowhere. Gel over foam is a treatment; gel over springs is a treatment on top of a mechanism.