Simba Hybrid Mattress Review
Simba's best-selling mattress, and the one whose specification is most widely misread. The Aerocoil springs are 25mm and sit at the top. The support base underneath is foam.
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Verdict
Simba's best-selling mattress, and the one whose specification is most widely misread. The 1,900 Aerocoil springs are 25 mm tall and sit in the top comfort layer. The support base underneath them is nine-zoned foam. This is a very good foam mattress with a clever comfort layer, priced like a sprung one.
Buy it if
You want the Simba feel, which is genuinely distinctive, and you value being able to try one in a Bensons store before committing.
Avoid it if
You are buying it believing you are getting a sprung support core. You are not, and there are mattresses at lower prices that do give you one.
See the current Simba offer
Simba gave the CMA undertakings on was pricing in 2024, so its discounts are smaller and more real.
No code needed. The discount is applied automatically at checkout. Opening the site in a new tab.
Simba on Amazon UK
Sometimes undercuts the direct price. The 200 night trial applies buying direct only.
No code needed. Prices on Amazon change frequently, so check the seller and the returns terms before you buy. Opening in a new tab.
| Specification | Detail |
|---|---|
| Type | Foam support base with a micro-spring comfort layer |
| Depth | 25cm |
| Layers | 5 |
| Aerocoil springs | Up to 1,900, 25mm tall, single layer, in the comfort layers |
| Support base | Nine-zoned CertiPUR foam |
| Spring support core | None |
| Firmness | Medium firm |
| Cover | 500g knitted, zip-off washable top surface |
| Key foam | Simbatex, open structure with graphite |
| Trial | 200 nights |
| Guarantee | 10 years |
| Price from | £699 |
| Reviews | Around 131,000 on Simba's site |
The scores
A good mattress with an excellent comfort layer, sold at a price its support core does not justify.
Otty gives you a real 16cm spring core for around 200 pounds less. That is hard to argue away.
A nine-zoned foam base is decent foam. It is still foam, and it behaves like foam over time.
Simbatex genuinely works, and the micro-spring layer moves air. This is Simba's strongest suit.
No perimeter reinforcement and no spring base. Sitting on the edge compresses it.
Conical springs compress inwards, which limits transfer. Genuinely good for couples.
200 nights, a working returns process, and undertakings that make the pricing honest.
The spring question, answered properly
What an Aerocoil actually is
This is the most misunderstood specification in the UK mattress market, so here is the detail from Simba's own product pages.
Aerocoil springs are 25 mm tall, conical, made from titanium alloy and high carbon steel, manufactured in Leeds and enclosed in a polypropylene pocket. Simba places them at the top of the mattress, inside the comfort layers. Simba's own copy for the Hybrid topper describes them as “the size of a paperclip” and notes that “you won't be able to feel them”.
They are a comfort and airflow technology, and a good one. They are not a support core. When you read that a Simba has 1,900 or 4,800 springs, you are not reading about the same component that a traditional pocket sprung mattress or an Otty is built around.
Simba's Hybrid is built as follows, top to bottom: a 500 g knitted cover, up to 1,900 Aerocoil micro-springs at 25 mm, a Simbatex foam layer, a CertiPUR foam comfort layer, and a nine-zoned CertiPUR foam support base.
Count the structural layers and the answer is that the thing holding your spine up is zoned foam. The springs are doing comfort and airflow work in the top few centimetres.
Compare that to the Otty Original at around 500 pounds, where up to 2,000 pocket springs stand 16 cm tall and occupy roughly 64 percent of the mattress. Those are not the same component performing the same job, and no headline spring count will tell you that.
This is not an accusation of dishonesty. Simba publishes the 25 mm figure on its own product page and explains where the springs sit. It is simply that almost nobody reads it, and the industry compares spring counts as though they were interchangeable.
What the Aerocoil layer is genuinely good at
Having spent that long explaining what it is not, it is worth being clear about what it is, because the Simba feel is real and people who like it really like it.
Airflow. Conical springs compress inwards and push air upwards as they do. Combined with Simbatex, which Intertek testing in May 2025 found to have over five times the airflow of memory foam under ISO 7231, this is one of the cooler-sleeping mattresses you can buy that is fundamentally foam-based.
Motion isolation. Individually pocketed micro-springs, each compressing independently, damp movement well. If you share a bed with someone restless, this does the job as well as anything at the price.
Surface responsiveness. The Simba feel is a distinctive cushioned responsiveness that neither pure foam nor a traditional pocket sprung mattress reproduces. That is what the Aerocoil layer delivers and it is why the brand has 131,000 reviews.
The price problem
At 699 pounds before discount, the Simba Hybrid is competing with mattresses that give you considerably more structure.
| Mattress | Depth | Support core | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simba Hybrid | 25cm | Nine-zoned foam | £699 |
| Otty Original Hybrid | 25cm | Up to 2,000 springs at 16cm | £499.99 |
| Origin Hybrid Pro | 31cm | Two spring layers, up to 5,700 | £374 |
| Simba Hybrid Pro | 28cm | SupportCore with up to 1,000 barrel springs | £899 |
Simba rarely discounts beyond about 25 to 30 percent, because it gave undertakings to the CMA in August 2024 that any was price must be a genuine previous selling price backed by sufficient sales volume. That makes its pricing more honest and its sale prices less dramatic than rivals who have given no such commitment.
So the realistic cash price sits around 500 to 520 pounds on a good sale, which is roughly what an Otty Original costs at list.
The upgrade that changes the answer
If you like the Simba feel and you have the budget, the Hybrid Pro at 899 pounds is a materially different mattress rather than a bigger version of this one. It adds a second Aerocoil layer and, more importantly, a SupportCore base with up to 1,000 tempered steel barrel springs.
That is where a Simba becomes a genuine hybrid in the structural sense, and it is why the Pro scores a full point higher on this site. If you are choosing between spending 699 on the Hybrid and 899 on the Pro, spend the 200 pounds. It is the best money in the Simba range.
You can lie on one, and you should
Simba has been sold through Bensons for Beds stores since May 2025. Given that the Simba feel is distinctive and divides people, fifteen minutes lying on one is worth more than every review you will read, including this one.
In-store and online pricing are not always the same, so check both. And if the Simba feel does not suit you in the shop, it will not suit you at home either, whatever the trial length says.
Should you buy it?
Buy it if you have lain on one and liked it. The Simba feel is genuine, the cooling is genuine, and the motion isolation is genuine. Some people try everything else and come back to it.
Do not buy it on the spring count. You are buying a well-engineered foam mattress with a clever comfort layer, and at 699 pounds there are mattresses with actual spring support cores costing less.
Simba has built the best comfort layer in the category and attached it to a foam base. Whether that is worth 699 pounds depends entirely on whether you knew that before you ordered.
Compare it with the Otty Original, or see the whole range in the Simba review.
Questions people ask
Does the Simba Hybrid have real springs?
It has up to 1,900 Aerocoil springs, but they are 25mm tall, conical, and sit in the top comfort layer. Simba's own copy describes them as the size of a paperclip. The support base underneath is nine-zoned CertiPUR foam. It is a foam mattress with a sprung comfort layer rather than a sprung support core.
Is the Simba Hybrid worth 699 pounds?
On construction, no. The Otty Original gives you up to 2,000 pocket springs at 16cm forming a real support core for around 500 pounds. What Simba gives you instead is a distinctive feel, excellent cooling, strong motion isolation and a shop where you can try one first.
Is the Simba Hybrid good for hot sleepers?
Yes, and it is Simba's strongest suit. Conical springs compress inwards and push air upwards, and Intertek testing in May 2025 found Simbatex foam has over five times the airflow of memory foam under ISO 7231. It is one of the coolest foam-based mattresses you can buy.
Simba Hybrid or Simba Hybrid Pro?
The Pro, if you can stretch to it. The Pro replaces the foam support base with a SupportCore containing up to 1,000 tempered steel barrel springs, which converts it into a structurally genuine hybrid. That 200 pound step is the best money in the Simba range.