We spend around a third of our lives in bed, and the quality of our sleep makes a huge difference to how much we enjoy our waking hours too. So, it makes sense to spend as much money on buying the best mattress we can afford.
Simba and Brook + Wilde are two popular brands competing for the premium mattress market right now. Both produce hybrid mattresses combining foam, springs and other materials. But which company offers the best value, and the best products overall? That’s exactly what this article will explore. We’ll start by outlining each mattress in both brand’s ranges. Read on for our full Simba vs Brook + Wilde mattress brand showdown.
Simba vs Brook + Wilde: design
Simba offers five mattresses for a range of budgets. The cheapest is the Simba Hybrid Essential Mattress, which is 20cm deep and has four layers of springs and foam.
The brand's standard mattress is the Simba Hybrid Mattress. A 25cm deep, medium-firm mattress, it has five layers of filling. These's 2.5cm of open cell Simbatex foam, 25mm of cone-shaped springs; 4.5cm of support foam; 16cm of high-density foam base, and a removable cover.
The Simba Hybrid Pro Mattress is a deeper and plusher, 28cm mattress, with seven layers rather than five. Top of the range is the Simba Hybrid Luxe Mattress, which is 31cm deep and has a luxurious 10 layers of filling. The newer launch is the Simba Hybrid Ultra mattress has 3 layers of luxurious and exotic materials, 8,500 supportive springs and a generous 34cm depth.
The Simba Hybrid Luxe
Brook + Wilde offers four mattresses, starting at a significantly higher price, and increasing accordingly. Again, all of these are hybrid mattresses that combine foam and springs.
The standard model is the Brook + Wilde mattress, which is 28cm deep and features a total of six layers. These are: a breathable mattress cover, a layer of cooling memory foam, a layer of 2,000 mini pocket springs, a layer of extra-dense supportive foam; a layer of 1,000, 135mm pocket springs and a base layer of specialised support foam.
Next up in price and quality is the Brook + Wilde Suprema mattress, which is also 28cm deep and has eight layers. These are a zip-off cover, a memory foam protector, a layer of open-cell memory foam, a layer of support form, an upper level of 2,500 mini pocket springs, lower level of 1,000 135mm pocket springs, and a support base sitting on top of a non-slip base.
Next up, the Brook + Wilde Ultima mattress is 30cm deep and is made up of 10 layers. These are: removable cover, a layer of woven fabric, a layer of 'Aurora' memory foam, another layer of open cell foam, a layer of 2,000 2cm pocket springs, two more layers of springs, and a layer of high-density Ecotex support foam.
The Brook + Wilde Ultima
At the top end of the scale, in terms of both price and quality, is the Brook + Wilde Perla Mattress. At a generous 32cm deep, this mattress features a frankly ridiculous 14 layers, including a silk-infused cover, a variety of wool layers, high density memory foam and a total of 7,000 springs.
Verdict: Brook + Wilde wins
While Simba’s mattresses are well designed and constructed, Brook + Wilde’s rival models offer a superior quality of materials and components, and a more sophisticated design overall.
Simba vs Brook + Wilde: comfort
Brook + Wilde’s mattresses might beat Simba’s for quality on paper. But does that mean they’re actually more comfortable in practice?
The first point to make is that comfort is largely subjective: for some people, a soft mattress is best, while others prefer a medium or firm feel. Simba’s mattresses are all around the medium-firm mark, so here Brook + Wilde scores extra points by offering a choice of a soft, medium or firm feel for each of its models. The company even offers a bespoke service to create an extra-firm mattress (although you’ll need to contact them directly to talk about that).
In short, if you prefer either a soft or firm mattress, a suitable Brook + Wilde mattress is much more likely to suit your needs than Simba’s. But if your preference is for medium-firm, these two mattress brands are both strong contenders.
The Simba Hybrid
In theory, more expensive and luxurious materials of the Brook + Wilde mattress should edge out Simba’s here too. But in practice, our reviewers have found both brands offer excellent levels of comfort and support.
And so is it really worth paying extra to get all these complex layers in your mattress? As our reviewer of the Brook + Wilde Ultima pointed out: “It's difficult, when lying on the mattress, to fully appreciate all those layers [...] it feels a bit like at this point, brands are just adding layers for the sake of it, and at least some of them could surely be removed without having any real effect on what the sleeper feels.”
Verdict: Brook + Wilde wins
While both brands’ mattresses offer excellent levels of comfort and support, Brook + Wilde edges it over Simba by offering a range of firmness levels, so you can get the exact level for you. At the same time, we question whether it's necessary to buy the most expensive and complex Brook + Wilde mattress (or indeed, the the most expensive and complex Simba mattress) to get the maximum level of comfort.
Simba vs Brook + Wilde: the small print
Simba offers free delivery, a 10 year guarantee, and a 200-night in-home trial. If you don’t like it, contact the company and they’ll arrange pick up and a full refund. If you didn’t buy directly through Simba, but through a third-party retailer like John Lewis, they’ll still honour the refund; you just have to arrange it through the retailer itself.
Brook + Wilde also offers free delivery and a 10-year guarantee, but the trial period is only 100 nights. If, after trying your mattress for at least 30 days, you’re not happy, they’ll try to better match your comfort level with a different mattress, or give you a full refund. However, note that they will only exchange one mattress, so if you buy multiple mattresses for the same household, you won’t be able to return them all.
Verdict: Simba wins
The brand offers a much longer trial on its mattresses, with fewer restrictions.
Simba vs Brook + Wilde: price
We'll preface this pricing section by saying that unless you're extremely unlucky, you'll never have to pay full price for any of these mattresses. Regular offers mean you can typically expect to pay 60% or less than RRP.
But in terms of standard pricing, Simba’s mattresses are generally cheaper. At RRP, the Simba Essential starts at £749. The Simba Hybrid costs from £799, the Simba Hybrid Pro from £1,159, the Simba Hybrid Luxe from £1,579 and the Simba Hybrid Ultra from £2,599. Head to our Simba sales page for details of the kinds of deals you can expect – it's typically 36% to a maximum of around 41% off asking price, although some deals are only available to new customers. Our Simba discount codes page also includes the best current ways to save.
The Brook + Wilde Ultima mattress
At RRP, Brook + Wilde’s mattresses start at around the same price, but quickly become more expensive than Simba's offerings. The Brook + Wilde Lux mattress officially starts at £999, the Brook + Wilde Suprema mattress at £1,499, the Brook + Wilde Ultima at £2,099 and the Brook + Wilde Perla at an eye-watering £3,499.
However, we have a long-running Brook + Wilde mattress discount code that gets you a massive 52% off your new mattress (enter T352 at the checkout to claim), so again, you can basically ignore those prices.
Verdict: Simba wins
Simba’s prices are lower than Brook + Wilde’s, especially at the upper end of the product range.
Simba vs Brook + Wilde: verdict
The main difference between Simba and Brook + Wilde brands is that the latter pushes the luxury angle, best illustrated by those super complex and premium priced models at the top of the range. In terms of comfort, these two are our favourite mattress brands right now, and neither will let you down if you're looking for a comfortable, cool and well supported night's sleep. If pushed, we'd say Brook + Wilde just edges it on comfort, but really there's very little to separate them.
Where Brook + Wilde does shine is in offering customers the ability to pick their personal preference in terms of firmness. If, for example, you're looking for a firmer-than-average or softer-than-average mattress, this will push that brand ahead. Simba, however, wins out on extras, offering a longer trial period for its mattresses.
In terms of pricing, regular deals muddy the waters a little, but broadly Simba's models will often come in cheaper, although at the bottom end of Brook + Wilde's range there might not be much in it.
Overall, if money’s no object, or there's a deal that makes it worthwhile, we'd say go for a Brook + Wilde's mattress. But if the Simba you fancy is better value, we'd still confidently recommend it.
