If you're in the UK and planning to buy a new mattress on Black Friday, it's highly likely that Emma Sleep figures on your shortlist of potential brands. And if you're after a bit more than the all-foam Emma Original, you're probably looking at the more advanced Emma NextGen Premium mattress. There's currently 50% off the Emma NextGen Premium thanks to Emma's Black Friday mattress deals, but is it worth your money?
I spent a month sleeping on one for our Emma NextGen Premium mattress review, and I'm still sleeping on it, which puts me in an excellent position to advise you on whether it should top your Black Friday shopping list.
The Emma NextGen Premium is a big step up from the brand's ever popular all-foam option (our Emma Mattress review can tell you all you need to know). It's a hybrid mattress with edge-to-edge pocket springs arranged in seven zones that are designed to provide optimum support for your body. These18cm springs are topped with 6cm of foam in three layers: a top layer of memory foam, a middle layer of Point Elastic Airgocell foam for breathability and temperature regulation, and a bottom layer of support foam for better spinal alignment and pressure relief. Finally at the very bottom of the mattress there's a polyester base layer for added stability.
Emma rates the NextGen Premium as a medium feel; when I reviewed it I concluded it was more medium-firm, and I questioned whether it would be a good fit for lightweight side sleepers. I'm lightweight and while I switch positions in the night quite a bit, I often end up on my side, and having slept on the NextGen Premium for five months I can report that actually, it's not as bad for that as I anticipated.
For me the big issues with the NextGen Premium when I reviewed it were its less than brilliant motion isolation, and its weak edge support, and my opinion of these hasn't changed; I'm still aware of (if not necessarily disturbed by) my partner's movements, and the edges still feel disappointingly squashy.
And the edge support is the cause of my ongoing bugbear with the NextGen Premium: the amount of time I have to spend pulling my sheets back into place. On my previous, firmer mattress I maybe had to adjust the sheets every few days once they started riding up a little, but with the NextGen Premium I really need to do it every morning; if I forget to do it one day, the next morning they'll be close to pinging off the top edge. And before you say, "Buy deeper sheets!", I already have extra-deep sheets fitted, so there.
Comfort-wise it's still a good fit, although one thing I've realised over the last few months is that because of the relatively thin foam layer, the transitions between the different support zones in the pocket springs are quite noticeable, especially around the mid-section of the bed. It's not a problem as such when lying on the mattress, but it can be particularly noticeable when sitting on it.
On the whole, though, I think my review pretty much nailed it; I appreciate its simplicity and I still reckon it feels a little flimsy, but I think it's worth your attention at sale price. Right now there's 50% off in the Emma Black Friday sale, which means a double is available for £484.50; I reckon that's a really good price (and that's for the new Plus version with a cooling cover, something that wasn't available when I reviewed the NextGen Premium). Here's what you need to know:
At its current price there's not a lot of competition. The Origin Hybrid mattress has a similar construction and is cheaper (£369 for a double), although it has a firmer feel and is less suitable for side sleepers. Another alternative is Emma's own Luxe Cooling Mattress, which is more expensive (a double will cost you £629.30 in the current sale) and geared towards cooling, but its foam side panels mean that you should get better edge support. Meanwhile at Simba, for a similar price to the NextGen Premium you can get the Simba Hybrid Essential (£494.45 for a double); this one only has a thin sprung layer, though, with a deep foam base layer, so we question whether it will regulate temperature as well.
So, should you buy the Emma NextGen Premium for Black Friday? I think if you can live with its shortcomings (none of which are really deal-breakers in my opinion), it's definitely worth your attention. It's comfortable and supportive and thanks to its breathability if doesn't overheat in the night, and five months on I'm still sleeping well on it.
