We have been making caravan mattresses for over forty years, and three things decide which one suits you: how you sleep, your build, and whether you sleep hot. Find yourself below — and if you would rather talk it through, the number is at the bottom.
The most common way to sleep
Your shoulders and hips take your weight, so those two points need cushioning. Too firm and you wake with a numb arm and a sore hip. You want the surface to give where you press into it, while your back stays straight.
Best firmness: Medium
If you sleep hot as well, bear in mind memory foam holds warmth. The Coolplus™ in medium-firm gives you the cushioning without the heat.
The easiest position to support
Even support the whole way along, so your lower back keeps its natural curve. It should not leave a hollow under your back, and it should not let your hips sink too deep.
Best firmness: Medium-firm or Firm
The Comfisan™ is the one most back sleepers settle on. If you would rather have springs under you, the Imperial Elite™ 2000 holds you more evenly again.
Needs a firmer bed than most
A firmer surface, so your hips and stomach do not sink and arch your back. A soft mattress is the wrong choice here, and it is usually the reason front sleepers wake with a sore lower back.
Best firmness: Firm or Hard
Avoid: soft memory foam — you sink too far into it.
If you sleep on your front and your current bed is soft, that is very likely what is causing the ache.
You wake up too warm
Something that carries heat away instead of holding it in. It matters more in a caravan than it does at home, because you cannot always leave a window open on a site.
Best firmness: any — choose on how you sleep
Avoid: ordinary memory foam (Bodyshape™) — it holds your body heat.
Air moves through the Coolplus™ gel layer around thirty times more freely than through ordinary memory foam, so the heat you give off goes somewhere. The Imperial Elite™ sleeps cool too, because air moves through the springs.
Support and cushioning together
Both at once. Too soft and your back is not held. Too firm and the pressure builds where you press into it. You want your back supported while the places that ache are cushioned.
Best firmness: Medium-firm or Firm
It depends where the pain is. A lower back usually wants firmer support, so the Comfisan™. Hips and shoulders want more cushioning — a Bodyshape™ Topper over a firmer mattress gives you both.
More support, and it has to last
More support underneath, so you do not sink too far and so the mattress keeps its shape. Denser foam and pocket springs carry more weight without sagging. A deeper mattress helps as well.
Best firmness: Firm or Hard
The Imperial Elite™ 2000 suits this best — two thousand springs share the load rather than one slab of foam taking all of it. If the budget is tighter, take the Essential™ in a deeper build and the Hard firmness.
Firm is not always the answer
A softer surface, so the mattress gives enough to cushion you. On a firm bed there may not be enough weight to press the surface down, so you never get the benefit of it.
Best firmness: Medium
It is easy to assume you need a firm mattress for support. If you are light, you often do not sink far enough for firm to do anything — a medium will feel supportive and still cushion you.
Different needs, one bed
A bed that does not carry movement across it, so when one of you gets up in the night the other stays asleep. If one of you likes it soft and the other likes it firm, two mattresses zipped together is worth asking about.
Best firmness: Medium or Firm — the usual middle ground
The Imperial Elite™ 2000 handles this best. Every spring moves on its own, so movement stays on the side of the bed it started on.
Where we have marked something to avoid, that is us being straight with you rather than steering you elsewhere.
| You | Essential™ | Comfisan™ | Bodyshape™ | Novolatex™ | Coolplus™ | Imperial Elite™ |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Side sleeper | OK | OK | Best | Good | Good | Good |
| Back sleeper | OK | Best | OK | Good | Good | Best |
| Front sleeper | Good | Best | Avoid | Good | OK | Good |
| Sleeps hot | OK | OK | Avoid | OK | Best | Good |
| Bad back | OK | Best | OK | Good | Good | Best |
| 16 stone and over | Good | Best | OK | Good | OK | Best |
| Under 10 stone | OK | OK | Best | Good | Good | Good |
| Two of you | OK | OK | Good | OK | Good | Best |
Most people ring before they order, and we would rather you did. Tell us how you sleep and what aches in the morning, and we will tell you which one we would put you on — including if that is the cheapest one in the range.
Ring 0121 663 6114 — Mon–Fri 10–5, Sat 10–2. We will also talk you through the measurements before you order.
See the mattress range
