HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress review: Firm support that adapts to you

Mattress manufacturers are falling over each other to be the most technologically advanced. The latest innovation comes from HiGrid, crashing onto the bustling UK bed-in-a-box scene with its Japanese-patented “SmartGrid” technology, designed to deliver adaptive support to ease aches and pains.

This hybrid mattress is certainly supportive. In fact, it feels more robust than any mattress I’ve ever slept on, hotel mattresses included. But is it comfortable enough to rank alongside our favourite hybrid mattresses from the likes of Simba, Otty and Emma?

HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress review: What you need to know

The Premium Hybrid is the largest and most expensive of three hybrid mattresses from newcomer HiGrid. It’s also the heaviest thing I’ve ever tried lifting. Thankfully – for the sake of my back – I had help with the lifting part.

At a glance – and, indeed, in construction – the Premium Hybrid is not much different from other hybrid bed-in-a-box mattresses. Like all hybrids, it combines layers of synthetic material with springs to achieve the right balance of comfort and support. The layers provide the cushioning, while the springs add bounce and durability, both allowing air to circulate and absorbing movement.

Where the HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress diverges from most other hybrid designs is the SmartGrid which forms the third of its seven layers – this lattice-like structure works as a cross between springs and foam, providing both springiness and resilience. According to HiGrid, this open cell layer of hyper-elastic polymer effectively doubles your back support.

The SmartGrid is sandwiched by three foam layers (one soft and two high-resilience) plus an array of stainless steel coils, each wrapped individually in noise-dampening fabric. These work in sync to create the ideal ergonomic cocoon for your body and your sleeping position. Then, underneath it all, lies a structured anti-skid base to keep the whole mattress stable.

Not that this hulking beast needs much help with stability – while its 25cm depth is nothing unusual, its 58.5kg weight certainly is. That’s about the weight of a sleeping teenager and significantly heavier than the Emma NextGen Premium (34.5kg for a king size), or the Simba Hybrid Pro (49kg for a king size). That’s also despite the number of pocket springs apparently falling far short of its rivals – HiGrid’s “500+” compared with the Simba Hybrid Pro’s “up to 4,000” – so I have to conclude that the SmartGrid layer is doing a huge amount of the heavy lifting, or at least the heavy weighing.

As with many layered hybrid mattresses, this one does not need turning, which is probably for the best given how tricky it is to manoeuvre.

According to HiGrid, the Premium Hybrid mattress ranks 6.5 on the firmness scale (where 1 is firmest and 10 is softest – perhaps the opposite of what you may expect), compared with 5.5 for the HiGrid Luxe Original and 4.5 for the cheaper HiGrid Ortho Essential.

However, I have to disagree with this firmness rating. The top layer is deliciously soft, but the layers immediately beneath it are powerfully supportive. While the mattress gradually moulded to the contours of my body over the nights I slept on it before writing this review, it is as firm as any hybrid I’ve slept on, including the Emma NextGen Premium and the Otty Original Hybrid.

That said, at least the HiGrid Premium Hybrid maintains its firmness consistently right across its surface – from side to side, without a hint of lumpiness or the loss of edge support – and offers superb motion isolation. All of this helps to avoid having your sleep disturbed should you share your bed with someone larger or more restless than you.

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HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress review: Price and competition

The HiGrid Premium Hybrid starts at £899 for a single mattress at full retail price, rising to £1,199 for a double, £1,399 for a king size and £1,599 for a super king. While that’s a chunky price tag – the latest Japanese-patented sleep technology doesn’t come cheap, after all – it’s still less expensive than many other “premium” or “pro” hybrid mattresses.

Eve’s Premium Hybrid mattress, for instance, costs £1,449 for a king size, while the eight-layer, 28cm-deep Simba Hybrid Pro costs £1,749. Then there’s Simba’s new Hybrid Ultra, which commands a whopping £4,009 RRP.

However, the Simba Hybrid Original mattress may be a fairer like-for-like comparison with the HiGrid Premium Hybrid, given that it’s 25cm deep and has six layers, including an open-cell “Simbatex” layer that at least sounds similar to HiGrid’s SmartGrid layer. The RRP for Simba Hybrid Original is £1,259 for a king size.

All in all, HiGrid has priced its new upstart quite fairly when compared to other premium hybrid mattresses harnessing innovative sleep technology, such as flexible polymers and open cell layers. What’s more, the Premium Hybrid is so robust that it should prove to be an excellent long-term investment.

It’s worth noting that HiGrid’s other mattresses are cheaper than the Premium Hybrid: the Luxe Original (25cm deep, six layers) costs £1,180 for a king size at full price, while the Ortho Essential (20cm deep, five layers) costs £1,049 for a king size. HiGrid has also shown that it’s not opposed to heavy discounts, with regular 45%-off sales.

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HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress review: Comfort and performance

The Premium Hybrid arrived compressed, rolled and wrapped in an attractive zipped fabric bag, which I initially hoped I could reuse for duvet storage. Unfortunately, the mattress was so heavy that my first attempt to lift it ripped the bag’s handles clean off. Further attempts made the bag fall apart, leaving the mattress stranded in the hallway, wrapped in layers of clear plastic.

Take note: when your delivery driver offers to deliver the mattress to a bedroom, I recommend that you take them up on that offer.

Once I eventually wrestled the monster upstairs (well, technically my husband did, with ostensible support from me) and cut the plastic open, the mattress expanded to its full size very quickly. It gave off barely any chemical smell – especially compared with other hybrids and memory foam mattresses I’ve tested – and was effectively ready to sleep on straight away.

HiGrid describes the mattress as “soft yet firm”, which may sound paradoxical but is the main aim of all supportive mattresses. However, some people will find the Premium Hybrid too firm for comfort, at least for the first night or two.

Whether you find a mattress too firm depends on many things, including your body composition and weight, your sleeping position and even your bed base. For the record, I’m a side sleeper with a flat divan base. For back sleepers, heavy people and those with slatted bases, the HiGrid Premium Hybrid will likely feel somewhat less solid, while its firmness will offer much-needed back support.

After a few nights of sleeping on it, the mattress seemed to adapt to my body shape and this made it much more comfortable. It was still firm, but it let my hips, knees and shoulders sink in just enough to allow my spine to align and my back to feel supported.

I reviewed the mattress during the chill of January, so it’s possible it will mould to your position more quickly in warmer weather.

The mattress’s combination of SmartGrid, springs, and multiple foam layers gives a superb level of ergonomic, edge-to-edge support. When you lie on it, even when you toss and turn, support feels consistent across the entire surface. This will be very welcome for anyone suffering from chronic pain, recovering from injury or needing pressure relief.

Motion isolation is also excellent, and you’ll be grateful for this if you share your bed with a restless sleeper. Conventional pocket-sprung mattresses tend to transmit bounces when your partner shifts in the night, and this can really disrupt your sleep. The Premium Hybrid absorbs movement and spreads the weight, so you are protected from your partner’s restlessness without feeling isolated from them.

The best hybrid mattresses let the air circulate, avoiding the clamminess of some memory foam mattresses. I certainly found this to be the case with the HiGrid Premium Hybrid. Its tightly woven cotton viscose top layer – which you can unzip and throw in the washing machine – is wonderfully cosy but also light and breathable. The mattress never made me feel overheated.

HiGrid Premium Hybrid mattress review: Verdict

My first impression of the HiGrid Premium Hybrid was that it was heavy and firm, but my initial opinion softened quite quickly – along with the upper layers of the mattress, at least up to a point.

The clever SmartGrid layer and individually wrapped springs give the mattress an incredibly supportive, orthopaedic feel, coupled with a durability that should see it last for many years. If you love a firm mattress or you’re craving better pressure relief, the Premium Hybrid would make a great choice. For that reason, I’m happy to give it four stars and an Expert Reviews Recommended award.

Above that sturdy centre, the upper layers become more supple as they adapt to you and your sleeping position, but they never quite feel soft. If you’re used to pocket springs, or you need extra “give” for your body’s curves – if you sleep on your side, for example – this mattress may be too firm for you, especially at first.

Luckily, you get 200 days – nearly seven months – to try it out, so if you find that you still can’t quite get on with it, you can ask HiGrid to collect it for a full refund.