Otty Gel Memory Foam Mattress Review
Disclaimer: This is my personal honest review of my Otty Mattress. I paid for this mattress and I did not receive a discount or free mattress for review. The links to the Otty website are affiliate links, this means I get small commission if you buy through my link but you pay no extra. Just making it all clear 🙂 This review is my personal and honest opinion.Note – Otty Hybrid Original Now Updated
Otty have updated the mattress since this review. My mattress had 14cm pocket springs but the new one has 16cm pocket springs. This will change the feel possibly.The Company
The company behind the Otty mattress is called Otty Sleep Ltd who were formed in July 2016 and are based in Leeds in the UK. The sole founder was Michal Szlas. His story as told on the Otty website is very similar to that told on other online websites. The founders not being to find the right mattress at the right price and so deciding to start a company and design and sell their own. At the time of writing Otty plan to expand into Germany and Holland.The Headlines:
Gel Memory Foam top layer, 2000 encapsulated pocket springs, 100 night trial, 10 year guarantee, Otty Regulating Airflow System, 2 man delivery to room of choice (small surcharge), CertiPur certified, Otty where dreams are made!Regional Differences
Otty plan to expand across the EU but the mattress will not be exactly the same as the UK version.Stores
The Otty hybrid mattress can be tried at several stores throughout England.
Otty Mattress: Thoughts
How it all works – unboxing:
This is the tried and tested bed in a box and 100 night trial that seems to have become the defacto for online mattress companies. However Otty also sell on Amazing and supply to Next Home stores and Otty can be tried at some selected Next stores before purchase. Otty has several delivery options including next day delivery if you just want a one man delivery to your front door and two man two day delivery to room of your choice. Saturday delivery will incur an extra charge. So your Otty mattress will arrive in a big oblong box with the Otty branding. The size of the box depends on the size of the mattress and varies as follows.
Small Double 125 x 44 x 44cm
UK Double 142 x 44 x 44cm
EU Double 148 x 44 x 44cm
King 158 x 44 x 44cm
EU King / UK Queen 168 x 44 x 44cm
Super King 188 x 44 x 44cm
The unboxing instructions will be on the top of the mattress as you open the lid of the box. It is recommended you use scissors to cut away the plastic wrapping and allow up to 48 hours for the Otty mattress to achieve its full height. Leaving any new foam mattress at least 48 hours to air is always a good idea anyway to allow for most of the leeaching of the VOCs (volatile organic compounds) that always occurs. However Otty say you can sleep on the mattress after a few hours if you wish.
If you have taken advantage of the free pillows offer they will arrive separately.
Otty comes with a dust cover for the mattress if you are storing or moving it. First mattress I have received that included this.
Try Before You Buy:
You get a 100 night trial period. If you return the mattress undamaged within the trial period you will get a full refund.
The Mattress
So what exactly does Otty bring to the table. I must start this section off by mentioning that Otty is CertiPur certified. The mattress is listed on the Europur website as being CertiPur certified. This is something that surprised me given its price level but certainly something to be applauded.
The Otty mattress is certainly different to the main 3 foam layer offerings so abundant on the internet. Here we have two unique selling points. First of all we have gel embedded memory foam. Unfortunately technical specification are not available for any aspect of the mattress. There are many ways to combine gel and memory foam so I can only assume they have used the most widely used technique of embedding gel beads. In theory this will improve the cooling of the memory foam but the jury is out on whether this truly is the case. While there is a sector of people saying it does improve cooling there is also a large body of opinion that says at best gel delays rather than stops the heat build up. However the option here of gel memory foam does make Otty stand out from the crowd. Then we have those 2000 pocket springs in the third layer down. These are full size springs and not micro coils as seen in some other online offerings such as Simba. However that is not to say one is the better than the other, they are designed for different purposes. Microcoils being used more for comfort while pocket springs are more about support. Otty is made in China.
The Layers:
Otty has four different layers and all foams are CertiPur certified. The top gel memory foam layer to provide the comfort, something Otty describe as “luxurious foam” as the second layer, the encapsulated pocket springs in the third layer and a high density foam layer providing the base. Otty have provided me with the density of each foam layer.
Cover:
The cover on the Otty mattress is the pretty much the bog standard for so any of these mattresses, white top with grey surround and white bottom section. I can only imagine these covers are easy to cheaply source in bulk because to me they are quite bland. In a market where giving the mattress a character is a huge part of the marketing not giving some individuality to the cover is missing a trick in my book. The branding here is the otty name on one end with its signature green on the ‘Y’. While I have seen some sites describe this as a cotton cover it is not. It is in fact 97% polyester and 3% spandex on the top cover, 83% polyester and 17% cotton for the rest of the cover. 3% spandex is good, it gives it a stretchy feel and the cover weighs in at 500gsm, which is a very good quality. It is noticeably thicker than many other mattress covers I have seen. The rear does not have handles which is something more and more mattresses are incorporating. You can find handles on Eve, Bruno, all the Emma mattresses and Casper. Also note that you can machine wash the cover which again is not something you can do with a lot of other covers.Top Layer:
3cm 1.1 inches Gel Memory Foam Density: 40 kg/m3 40 kg/m3 would be ok but not fantastic for a top layer but will have the benefit of being softer. There may be a slight trade off here between comfort and durability. Also note that being produced with holes for air circulation also reduces density so this is would be another reason it would be lower than often used on a top layer. However the big deal about this layer is the fact that it uses a blend of gel to help with cooling and gel beads can improve foam durability as they don’t break down as quickly as foam. There are many ways gel can be incorporated into a mattress and without knowing both the method and ratio of gel to foam it is hard to provide much information on this. The most usual method would be gel beads. The gel itself is actually contained inside the solid bead and the idea here is that as it absorbs heat the gel changes from solid to liquid which in the process absorbs heat as part of that process. This is also known as a phase change material. Depending on the quality of the gel beads they can affect the memory foam in a number of ways, not just the heat issues. They can improve responsiveness, thermal conducting (spread of heat away from the body) and overall density. It really depends on the type of beads used and the quantity. Does it work? The jury really is out and there is a wide spectrum of opinion. One body of opinion says the gel beads will delay the heat build up not prevent it. Others will swear by it. At least with the Otty mattress we have a version to try. Personally I am not very sensitive to heat partly because I use a very low tog duvet which means I always sleep cool. So I can say I never had any issues and don’t normally anyway. I have had some people tell me this does seem to work for them and they sleep cooler but others still say it gets too hot for them. The point here is that memory foam by nature sleeps hot and you must consider this whenever buying a memory foam top layer mattress. These days a lot of mattresses seem to use something of a hybrid when it comes to memory foam. Remember that memory foam is simply polyfoam with certain additives to give it that shape retaining property. To address the heat and slow response issue some companies are using memory foam that is really a 50%-50% memory foam and polyfoam to try and find a sweet spot. I can say that the memory foam used on Otty is very much like the older traditional or maybe I should say true memory foam. That slightly sticky feel as you push down and slow response to come back to shape. This is exactly how memory foam should be. Memory foam displaces rather than compresses which is why it is slower to respond. I would say this is a just what I am looking for if I want that memory foam top layer, that true contouring property. Now it does not give that stuck feel that I myself do not like so that is not an issue here. However the layer is just 3 cm (1.1 inches ) in depth so is about the minimum you can have and still get the benefit. Personally I would have liked another 3cm in depth but that is just me and what I like. I also found the same 3cm top memory foam layer on the Eve too shallow for me personally. Also note that the memory foam has holes over its entire surface, these will increase airflow and provide better cooling and works in conjunction with overall air flow system of holes used on the entire mattress.Second Layer:
3cm (1.1 inches) soft standard foam. The Otty mattress does not have layers in the traditional sense. Because below the memory foam layer foam is used to create a solid side to house the pocket springs the second layer down is actually shorter by about 3 inches around the sides so is a partial layer not extending to the within 3 inches of the sides. This is described as a luxury layer and seems to be a soft standard foam. There is not much to say about this layer since it does not extend out to the sides and is of unknown density. This is the foam that actually covers the pocket springs.Third Layer:
14 cm (5.5 inches) encapsulated pocket springs. Gauge: 1.8 mm This is the second main unique selling point that the Otty Mattress offers. Here we have the encapsulated pocket springs. Otty say they have 2000 pocket springs in a king size mattress so all smaller mattresses will have proportionately less pocket springs. Encapsulated means the pocket springs are effectively boxed in by support foam. This is to try and give more support to the sides. One of the downsides of pocket springs is the tendency to have a roll-off nature as you get close to the edge. Boxing them in this way helps to add support to the edges. However I still found the edge support to be lacking and perhaps the foam being used isn’t quite firm enough. The pocket springs do however add a good degree of bounce and push back that makes this memory foam mattress unusually bouncy. Pocket springs are individually wrapped springs, each adjusting on their own to pressure from above. Materials used to pack the pocket springs are a significant factor in durability. I do not know what is used for the Otty springs but the material appears on the thin side. The gauge used is 1.8 mm. Range is normally 1.2mm to 1.9mm with 1.6mm giving a firmer feel (greater resistance) than lower gauges.Base Layer:
5 cm (2 inches) high density Polyfoam. 28 kg/m3 density This base layer sits below the pocket springs on the Otty mattress and provides a base for them to sit on. It isn’t a traditional base layer which would bear the brunt of the support duties, on Otty support is provided by the pocket springs. This is a standard density for a base layer and is also the same foam that is used to box in the pocket springs. Otty require the mattress to be on a firm, solid-surface, on a bed base that is structurally capable of supporting the weight of the Mattress and user.Total height:
25 cm (9.75 inches).Average Density:
46.7 kg/m3
Weights of the mattresses:
The containing box will weigh about 3 kg.
Mattress weights:
I can find no information on the weights of the Otty mattress. I have weighed my own single and calculated the other mattress weights. They are:
UK single 20 kg
EU single 21 kg
UK double 30 kg
EU double 33 kg
UK king 35 kg
EU king 37 kg
UK super king 42 kg
Mattress Thoughts
Given that the majority of mattresses being offered online in the UK are all foam, or have standard memory foam, or use micro-coils for the comfort layers Otty certainly have given a different option to the market. Mixing CertiPur gel memory foam with pocket springs adds up to the promise of cooler sleeping cooler, having the contouring properties of memory foam and still having more bounce than an all polyfoam mattress. Also note the attempt to create good airflow but punching holes into the top memory foam layer and also airs on the walls of the supporting side foam to increase airflow again around the pocket springs. The questions that remain open are in respect to the actual materials used themselves. While the top layer density is lower than I would like I have to point out that this is possibly countered by have used gel beads and is also lower because of the holes used to improve air circulation. It would also be helpful to know what material is used to pack the pocket springs as this too has a bearing on longevity.
Tests and Analysis:
Edge support:
None of these online foam mattresses are particularity great when it comes to edge support. You wont roll off the edge but when sitting on the edge to put on shoes you will find a significant dip at the edge. Otty is pretty much inline with what I have come to expect but isn’t terrible. Only Eve is really better in this regard while some are worse such as the softer mattresses such as Leesa, Simba and Emma Hybrid.
Firmness (sinkage):
This is a firmer feeling mattress and the feel of the pocket springs is obvious. However the contouring of the memory foam adds a degree of sinkage and comfort that in some ways gives Otty a unique feel. It is not a hard firm feeling but more of a push-back type firmness from the springs. I call it firm relative to other mattresses I have tried but it isn’t as firm feeling as the Bruno which is very springy with little comfort layer. Otty is more bouncy than springy. The actual firmness level is just a bit firmer than Eve original and the Emma original Mattress. Much firmer than all other mattresses I have so far reviewed.
Cooling:
Cooling of course is one of the big selling points of Otty. You have to remember this is a memory foam top layer at the end of the day and you have to accept that memory foam sleeps hotter than latex or polyfoam, relatively. However compared to other memory foam top layer mattresses such as Eve, Otty has some clear advantages. The use of gel might help with cooling, i personally cant say one way or the other since I don’t have heat issues generally. The memory foam has holes in which will again improve cooling via air flow. Then you have the fact that the inner core is pocket springs and the foam around it has holes so again you have increased airflow. This all adds up to potentially making Otty a cooler sleeping memory foam mattress.
Spot Relief (point elasticity):
When it comes to spot relief or contouring you cant really beat memory foam. One of the top scores I have given was to the Nectar memory foam mattress. My scoring takes into account the amount of foam effected for a given weight and the firmness level of the mattress. Firmer mattresses will normally always have less foam effected. taking into account a balance of factors I rate Otty about average for point elasticity.
Mattress for Sex/Bounce:
Surprisingly for me this is the big win for Otty, it is a great mattress for sex, something that shocked me for a memory foam mattress. The pocket springs add a good deal of bounce, only just behind the latex of Bruno. Add to this the comfort of the memory foam layer and it is quite an appealing combination. This is certainly an area where Otty excels. Another full size pocket spring option is the Leesa Luxury Hybrid mattress which perhaps has a better combination of bounce and comfort as it is a little less firm than the Otty mattress.
Weight Capacity:
2x 22 stone (139 kg). This is just a guide. This about the weight at which Otty think the mattress loses its supportive properties. This is higher than average and makes this a good option for heavier individuals.
Motion Transference:
When you factor in pocket springs you know you are adding bounce and thus reducing the ability to absorb sudden forces such as falling onto the mattress or bouncing on it or even just moving during the night. In this regard Otty wasn’t terrible, certainly better than Bruno and Casper and similar to Leesa and Emma Hybrid. Nectar and Ergoflex memory foam mattresses beat most in this category.
Type of Sleepers this mattress suits:
The weak point of Otty in my opinion is for side sleepers. There is too much push back from the pocket springs to be comfortable on the shoulder area. Some pocket spring mattresses address this by using softer springs in the shoulder area as an attempt at zoning, this isn’t the case with Otty. Otty is fine for back and stomach sleepers but I would say still favours back sleepers with the amount of push back it has.
Back sleepers 8/10 Side sleepers 6/10 Stomach sleepers 8.5/10
Price:
Price is a tricky section when comparing mattresses, while cheaper is good you have to take into account the quality of materials too as they have such a bearing on the life of the mattress and how long it will stay with the same feel as day one. Otty is the cheapest mattress taking into account the average across the range and full retail prices of all the mattresses I have tried to date.
Materials/Design:
The foam densities are not too high, a bit below average but as the mattress is really about the full size pocket springs I can’t mark it down too much for that. Though lower density than I would prefer the top memory foam layer Otty have used both Gel and holes to help improve the heat issues of memory foam so that’s a plus.
Small holes are also present on the sides of Otty to allow some air circulation to the inner core and around the pocket springs. Indeed the use of pocket springs to overcome the dead feel of memory foam is also a good design element. A surprise here is that Otty is CertiPur certified which is great. The top cover is removable and washable and can be used with an electric blanket. So a real balance between the lowish foam densities and some welcome design elements.
Off-gassing/Smell:
Otty did have a more obvious odor for the first few days/week than other mattresses I have tried. While it did eventually subside it took a little longer than I would have liked but was never overpowering, just obvious.
Comfort:
This is highly subjective and very individual. I can only say how it was for me and my preference. It has been a while since I slept on a pocket spring mattress and I didn’t take to it the first night. I was very aware of the firm feel and the sense of springs below the foam, they are after all only 6cm below the foam which isn’t a huge amount of foam. Second night was better and by the third night I was starting to appreciate how much bounce Otty has even with the memory foam top layer. It still felt firm and I couldn’t describe it as comfortable but more of a pleasant sleep. Over the next couple of weeks while I still found it firm I was also having a decent night sleep. I had no back issues, this is a biggee for me. While I don’t feel the comfort layers filling out my lumbar region fully, the firm feel of the mattress was clearly back friendly as I am very prone to lower back aches over night. The downside of Otty and its firm push back nature is that it is not very shoulder friendly. I spend maybe 30% of my sleeptime on my shoulder and this is where it is most uncomfortable and harder on the shoulder. Maybe some future zoning can help with that.
Zoning:
There is no zoning, I feel Otty would benefit from zoning at the shoulder area.
Summary:
| Item | out of 10 |
|---|---|
| Edge Support | 7.5 |
| Firmness | 9 (firm) |
| Cooling | 6.5 |
| Spot Relief | 7 |
| Sex/Bounce | 8.5 |
| Motion Transference | 7.5 |
| Back Sleepers | 8 |
| Side Sleepers | 6 |
| Stomach Sleepers | 8.5 |
| Price | Average: £546 |
| Materials/Design | 7.5 |
| Smell/off-gassing | 7.5 |
| Zoning: | none |
Prices:
| Type | Price |
|---|---|
| UK Single | £349 |
| EU Single | £399 |
| UK Double | £449 |
| EU Double | £499 |
| UK King | £549 |
| EU King | £599 |
| UK Super King | £649 |
Otty Mattress Review – Conclusion:
So much to get to grips with when it comes to the Otty mattress. It is great that Otty brings something very different to the majority of online UK mattresses. Gel memory foam seems to work for some people if not everyone but then you also get aerated memory foam (holes) to increase airflow and cooling and holes in the sides to get air into the inner core and around the pocket springs. The pricing is great, certainly the lower end for similar online mattresses and yet it is still CertiPur certfied. The real questions for me come on the subject of the density of foam materials used. 40 kg/m3 based on Otty provided information. This is ok but certainly you would not want a lower density on the top layer for decent resilience down the line. The other foams are said to be 28 kg/m3 which would be quite normal for the base and side portions used for the boxing. I am not sure if this is also the density for the foam directly above the pocket springs. Having said that, I am happily sleeping on the Otty at the time of writing this article and have had no back issues which is something I can be prone too on some mattresses, indeed this was what prompted me to start my mattress search. I do like the amount of bounce from Otty, and while Bruno is bouncier, that mattress for me is almost too bouncy/springy. I have to note also Otty was one of the smellier mattresses I have tried initially but has now subsided, it just took a few days longer than I would like. However it is Certipur certified so this shouldn’t be an issue in terms of problem gases being leached. You can try Otty at selected Next Home Stores.Iterations
Otty have made updates to their foam layers but I cannot be specific on the actual changes or timeline.Website Titbits:
Otty make no wildly outlandish claims which is quite refreshing. They do not claim to be the worlds most comfortable mattress nor to have redesigned the mattress from inside out. They are almost unique in this amongst online only companies.They Say:
All our mattresses are designed and engineered in the UK This is totally correct but just to note that the mattress is actually imported from China.Remember,
Otty has a memory foam top layer which is less responsive than polyfoam or latex. It also has pocket springs so will have more bounce than an all foam mattress. The memory foam has cooling elements but might still sleep hotter than a polyfoam or latex top layer.Warranty Highlights
- 10 Year Limited Warranty
- Deterioration causing the Mattress to have a visible indentation greater than one (1) inch that is not associated with an indentation or sag which results from use of an improper or unsupportive foundation
- Any physical flaw in the Mattress that causes the foam material to split or crack, despite normal usage and proper handling
Exclusions
- A normal increase in softness of the foam pressure-relieving material which does not affect the pressure-relieving qualities of the Mattress.
- Comfort preference beyond the 100 day risk free trial period.
- Physical abuse or damage to the structure and/or cover material, including but not limited to, burns, cuts, tears, liquid damage, or stains; provided, that the Defect is caused by such abuse or damage.