Eve Original Mattress review: A firm and supportive foam mattress

UPDATE: Since we initially reviewed the Eve Original, the brand has relaunched its entire mattress range. The new ‘Wunderflip’ range still offers a choice of memory foam and hybrid mattresses, this time with higher spring counts alongside a new feature that allows sleepers to choose between two comfort levels by flipping the mattress.

We’re hoping to review the new Wunderflip mattresses soon, so watch this space. Until then, our original review of the Eve Original continues below.

Eve has become an iconic brand, producing all kinds of mattresses from hybrid to memory foam. They have recently launched “the Hybrid” and “the Premium” but its first foam mattress, now known simply as “the Original”, remains its bestseller and one of the most popular bed-in-a-box mattresses in the UK. It stands out among its rivals thanks to its bright yellow and white colour scheme but how does it compare in terms of performance and comfort?

Promising “cloud-like comfort for every inch of your body”, the mattress is sold with a 100-night money-back guarantee, so you can find out for yourself without any financial risk. However, to save you from the hassle of having to return a mattress, not to mention being without one, I’ve been testing the Eve Original over recent weeks, trying it on both a solid and sprung-slatted base. To find out what it’s like to sleep on, and how it compares to our best mattresses, read on.

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Eve Original Mattress review: What you need to know

Hybrid mattresses are all the rage at the moment but the Eve Original is made entirely from foam and comprises only three layers. The top layer is 30mm of springy open-cell foam, below this there’s 35mm of softer memory foam for pressure relief and last there’s a 160mm-thick dense foam base. This foundation has seven different “zones”, which the manufacturer says contributes to pressure relief on the hips and shoulders.

Including its top cover and non-slip base, Eve claims the Original is 250mm deep but, in reality, I found it was closer to 240mm. Either way, it’ll take standard fitted sheets and, like all-foam rivals Emma and Casper, the top cover is removable and can be washed at 40 degrees.

To help it last longer, Eve recommends rotating the mattress every six months, or every four months if both people using the mattress are very heavy. You should never flip it, however, because the mattress is only designed to be used one way up.

The manufacturer claims the mattress can be used on any bed base, providing its not old and worn out. And if you have a slatted bed base, it also recommends the slats should be no greater than 70mm apart. If you need of a new bed, Eve sells its own range of bed frames that work with all of its mattresses.

Not only is the Eve Original manufactured in the UK but, unlike many of its rivals, all its materials are CertiPUR certified, meaning they have been independently tested to confirm they contain no harmful chemicals.

And, although most bed-in-a-box mattresses have the reputation of only being available online, that’s not the case with Eve. You can try its mattresses before you buy in various Next, Debenhams and Fenwick stores throughout the UK before embarking on the 100-night trial.

Eve Original Mattress review: Price and competition

The Eve Original is the most expensive of the company’s bed-in-a-box mattresses with prices starting at £349 for a single and rising steeply to £600 for a double and £700 for a king. That’s £100 more than the Eve Hybrid, which uses a combination of pocket springs and foam and costs £500 and £600 in the larger two sizes. The Eve Light – a mattress made from a mere two layers of foam – is cheaper still with double and king sizes costing £400 and £500 respectively.

As far as the Eve Original’s all-foam competitors are concerned, though, Leesa is pricier in double (£650) and king (£750) sizes, while Casper’s mattresses will set you back £575 and £650, respectively.

Currently, my favourite bed-in-a-box is the Otty hybrid, which is considerably cheaper, costing £500 and £600 in double and king sizes. For more points of comparison, be sure to read our best mattress list, which is updated regularly.

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Eve Original Mattress review: Performance and comfort

Bed-in-a-box mattresses do exactly what the name suggests: they arrive boxed, rolled and vacuum-packed in polythene and the Eve Original is no different. After removing it from its packaging, it quickly begins to expand and take shape and although it can take four to five hours to reach its full size, the company says you can sleep on it right away.

Like most of its rivals, the mattress emits an “off-gassing” smell at first and, strangely, although this odour was more subtle than many of its rivals, it also lingered for longer. Having said that, I usually only noticed it when first lying down to go to sleep and not at any other point during the night, so it is by no means a deal-breaker.

In terms of firmness, the Eve Original is harder than its all-foam competitors Casper, Leesa and Emma. This was apparent as soon as I pushed down on the mattress with my hand and was met with significantly more resistance than with the Emma Original next to it.

The same is also true when lying on the mattress. The comfort layers aren’t hard per se, but there’s less “sinkage” than I’ve experienced with other all-foam bed-in-a-box mattresses, and the transition between the comfort layers and firm foundation is also less subtle than softer mattresses such as the Emma Original. If I had to score it out of 10 (where 10 is the firmest), I’d give it a 7 or 7.5.

To give a comparison, the Eve Original feels only little softer – albeit much less bouncy – than the Eve Hybrid, which uses 90mm springs in its foundation, but it’s firmer than the Simba Hybrid because of the aforementioned lack of sinkage. I found it comfortable in all sleeping positions, but it’s probably better suited to those who sleep mostly on their back and front and might be less to the tastes of those who regularly lie on their sides.

It’s not uncommon for an all-foam mattress to be a little too soft when used on a sprung slatted base, owing to its yielding nature, but this wasn’t the case with the Eve Original and the mattress was never found wanting in the support stakes. Indeed, thanks to its extra thickness, it also fared much better than the Eve Hybrid when used on this type of bed.

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Despite its firmness and the lack of “sinkage” it offers, however, I did find the Original a little warmer than its Hybrid counterpart. For most months of the year, you can control this by using suitable bedding, but if you’re the sort of person who gets very warm in bed, then memory foam is best avoided altogether.

In its favour, I never once woke feeling overly damp, which perhaps gives credence to the company’s claim its foam is “thirty times” more breathable than regular memory foam. And the mattress remained suitably supportive even when warm.

Eve Original Mattress review: Verdict

The Eve Original stands out in the competitive bed-in-a-box market for the simple reason that it’s noticeably firmer than most of its all-foam rivals. Depending on your tastes, that could be a good thing, especially if you’ve found the likes of Casper, Emma and Leesa too soft.

Unlike many foam mattresses, you won’t ever feel like you’ve been enveloped in a giant marshmallow and the mattress remains supportive throughout the night, even when it warms up. The only caveat is that it’s warmer than traditional pocket sprung mattresses, so if you get very hot at night, there are better options available.