After making a splash in the United States with its popular line of mattresses, bed-in-a-box retailer Casper has decided to take its wares across the pond with a Brit-specific version of its flagship bed.
Today I’ll be taking a look at the Casper UK, which combines different foam materials together for a feel that’s tailor-made for European sleepers. But what does this feel feel like? I put this mattress to the test to find out just that!
Continue reading below for my full review of the Casper UK mattress. Don’t have time to read it all? Click here to skip to the bottom and check out my review summary.
I should mention that while the Casper UK is designed in the U.S., it’s 100% manufactured in the UK with materials sourced from the island nation and other countries in the E.U.
CONSTRUCTION
The Casper mattress UK is built with an all-foam construction made up of four distinct layers. As with the other beds in the Casper line, this one is designed for both pressure relief and support. It’s also outfitted with an additional layer of Zoned Support, which targets different parts of the body in specialized ways for improved comfort.
To see how all this comes together, let’s dive into the bed!
Cover – The cover is crafted out of a knit polyester blend, resulting in a fabric that’s thick, soft and cozy. Plus, it zip offs easily, so you can wash it with the rest of your bedding.
Comfort Layer – The comfort layer is built with the brand’s proprietary open cell foam. This material is soft yet responds quickly to pressure. This means you’re likely to sink into the mattress, but won’t feel too stuck. I should mention that the open cell design doesn’t just create this harmony between relief and support; but also encourages excellent cooling and breathability throughout the mattress.
Contour Layer – Directly below the comfort layer, you’ll find a thin layer of memory foam. This section has a slower response to pressure than the one used up top and helps to extend the body contouring from the top layer deeper into the mattress. The placement of the memory foam below the open cell material also works to combat the overheating properties of the foam.
Transition Layer – Next up you’ll find a layer of firm polyfoam. This material helps to transition the sleeper between the soft foam layers up top and the base below. It also features zoned support, which brings extra relief to sensitive parts of the body, such as the shoulders, hips and lower back.
Foundation Layer – And finally, the base, which is comprised of high-density polyfoam for shape and durability. Like the transition layer immediately above it, this section is also zoned for alignment, but is perforated with channels that allow for even deeper sinkage through the structure.
FIRMNESS
After taking a look at the construction of the Casper UK, let’s chat about the firmness and feel. I started off by applying light hand pressure to the mattress and found that I was immediately interacting with the soft open cell foam in the comfort layer. My hand sank easily into this section for some pleasant pressure relief. Pushing in further, I encountered the contouring of the memory foam and finally the firm transition poly foam layer, which lifted me up and out of the structure.
Since folks of different body types and sizes are going to feel firmness differently, I brought in three other testers to help me figure out the firmness of the Casper UK. We each took a turn lying on the mattress and shared our individual firmness ratings, which I then compiled on the graph below.
While feel is always going to be a personal thing, the range of responses here should give you a better sense of what firmness range you can expect from the mattress.
As you can see in the graph above, my testers were pretty much in agreement about the firmness of the Casper UK, giving it an average rating of 6.6. When compared to the industry standard of 6.5 for medium firmness, it’s clear that this bed is just about medium firm.
I personally gave the bed a 6.5, finding it to be just at medium firm. While you’ll sink through the top layers for pressure relief, the quick response of the foundational sections work to lift the sleeper up and out of the structure. This means you’ll be able to roll around easily and will never feel too stuck in the bed
PRESSURE MAP
Instead of merely describing the feel of the Casper UK to you, I wanted to give you a visual representation of where you might feel pressure form while lying on it.
To do this, I placed a pressure map on top of the mattress and lied on my back, side, and stomach. You can see the results on the image below where pressure is represented from blue (low pressure) to red (high pressure).
Back – Lying on my back, I felt that my weight was pretty evenly distributed across the surface. I found that I was interacting mostly with the open cell comfort layer, which provided great pressure relief to my lower back. The responsive nature of the material meant that it was easy for me to roll around and change positions, so I never felt stuck in the mattress.
Side – Turning onto my side, I continued to feel quality relief from this bed. The memory foam in the contouring layer coupled with the zoned support in the base worked to cushion my hips and shoulders, typical problem areas for side sleepers. I was able to sink into the mattress, but not so much as to throw my spine out of alignment.
Stomach – Stomach sleepers want to pay attention to what’s going on with their hips while lying in bed as they’ll want to make sure they’re not sinking too far into the structure. I personally felt as though my hips were placed on top of the bed, resulting in nice relief at my chest and back. However, if you’re a heavier sleeper, you might find that you need a bit more support while sleeping on your stomach.
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MOTION TRANSFER
Next up, let’s chat a bit about motion transfer, or the movement that’s going to be detectable from one side of the bed to the other. This test will be especially important for those of you who plan on sharing your bed with a partner, as it’ll let you know whether or not you’re going to wake up every time they get up in the middle of the night to use the restroom.
To illustrate this motion transfer, I dropped a 4.5 kg steel ball from heights of 10 cm, 20 cm and 30 cm and measured the disturbance it caused: the bigger the lines, the bigger the disturbance.
I’d say these results are consistent with ones I’ve seen from other all-foam mattresses I’ve tested. While the bed does have a healthy amount of bounce—thanks to the responsive foams used in the comfort and transition layers—the materials do a pretty good job of absorbing and dispersing motion across the entire structure. Long story short: while you’re likely to feel your partner’s movements, they shouldn’t disturb you too much.
SINKAGE TEST
When buying a new mattress, most people want to know whether they’re going to feel like they’re sinking “into” the bed or lying “on top” of it.
To visualize this sinkage, I placed four balls of varying sizes and densities (a 2.7 kg medicine ball, a 4.5 kg steel ball, a 22.7 kg medicine ball, and a 45.4 kg medicine ball) on the mattress and measured how much they compressed the surface.
The variations in size, weight and density are meant to simulate different body parts and different sized sleepers.
- 2.7 kg medicine ball: 2.5 cm of sinkage.
- 4.5 kg steel ball: 5 cm of sinkage.
- 22.7 kg medicine ball: 10 cm of sinkage.
- 45.4 kg medicine ball: 12.7 cm of sinkage.
While the first three results are pretty average among most all-foam mattresses on the market, the amount for the 45.4 kg medicine ball surprised me a bit. What this tells me is that though you’ll definitely experience some nice sinkage through the comfort and contouring layers, the responsive foams in the transition and foundation sections will lift you up and out of the structure so you’ll never feel stuck. This will please a wide variety of sleepers, but especially those who sleep primarily on their stomachs or backs.
I should note that we only measured the sinkage in the center of the bed where the support is the strongest. If the balls had been placed at the head or the foot of the mattress, they would’ve interacted more with the channeled zoned support, resulting in slightly deeper sinkage.
EDGE SUPPORT
And finally, let’s talk edge support. This test is intended to demonstrate how much of the mattress’ surface area you’ll be able to use, which could be a deciding factor for anyone planning to share their bed with a partner.
Lying on my back near the side of the bed, I felt as supported as I did in the center. Even as I scooted closer to the edge, I continued to feel secure. You’ll note a bit of compression in the photograph, but that contouring didn’t really affect my stability in this position.
As you’ll notice in the photo, once I rolled onto my side, I began to experience more compression through the top layers of the mattress, but still felt solid at the edge. Though you can’t really see it here, in this position I noticed just how deep the contouring goes, as the zoned support allowed me to sink in for pressure relief.
In this position, I wanted to simulate what it would feel like to be sitting on the bed in the morning when you’re lacing up your shoes and getting ready for the day. A lot of foam mattresses experience severe compression in this position, but the Casper UK actually held up fairly well.
BASIC INFORMATION
- Sleep Trial: 100 days.
- Warranty: 10 years.
- Shipping: Free, arrives compressed in a box.
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SIZE AND PRICING INFORMATION
If you’re convinced the Casper UK is the right mattress for you, the size and pricing information for the mattress are below. Please note that these prices reflect standard pricing, but coupons are often available.
| Size | Dimensions | Weight | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Single | 90 x 190 x 24 CM | 19 kg | £350 |
| EU Single | 90 x 200 x 24 CM | 20 kg | £375 |
| Double | 135 x 190 x 24 CM | 28 kg | £550 |
| EU Double | 140 x 200 x 24 CM | 31 kg | £575 |
| King | 150 x 200 x 24 CM | 33 kg | £600 |
| EU King | 160 x 200 x 24 CM | 35 kg | £650 |
IS THE CASPER UK MATTRESS RIGHT FOR YOU?
Now that we’ve taken a closer look at the Casper UK mattress, it’s time to discuss who it’d be a good fit for.
- Zoned Support – If you’re interested in buying a bed with zoned support, you can’t really go wrong with the Casper UK. The addition of this material targets different parts of the body in unique ways, resulting in optimum comfort and alignment.
- Sleeps Cool – With its open cell foam in the comfort layer and convoluted zoned support in the foundation, the Casper UK is a super breathable mattress, making it a great pick for anyone who needs to sleep cool.
- Balanced Foam Feel – The mattress is built with an excellent balanced foam feel, resulting in a nice mix of pressure relief and support.
For more information on the Casper UK, visit the Casper website here!