Hybrid mattresses are difficult to tell apart sometimes. To the untrained eye, you may find most of them are almost identical, to examine and to sleep on—but with Simba and Emma, things are a bit different.
To compare these two vastly different mattresses, I've conducted a deep dive into the pros and cons of each. Hopefully, this Simba vs Emma comparison will reveal a winner to help you decide which one is right for your needs.
Should I Buy Simba or Emma?
It’s difficult to say, with 100% certainty which is better since they’re both hybrid mattresses, however, they have their distinct differences.
If you're looking to make a quick decision, here are some key elements for each.
Choose Simba If:
- You’d like a 200-night sleep trial
- Lot's of positive customer ratings
- You don’t mind paying for luxury
- An eco-friendly option is a must
- You’d like a 10-year warranty
- You need excellent edge support
Choose Emma If:
- Something designed specifically for the UK market is best
- A 10-year warranty is great
- You want a 200-night sleep trial
- You prefer your coils to be closer to the surface
- You don’t mind a lack of EU sizing
- A machine-washable cover is a must
What Goes Into These Mattresses?
As stated above, although they’re both hybrids, these mattresses have less in common than most. This comes down to Emma’s unique construction—so what does this mean and how does it compare to Simba?
Comparing Construction
Simba
Simba has seven layers of luxury to peruse, each serving a specific function, and when you put the layers together they work to help each other, too.
Top Cover
Simba has a breathable and soft top cover, but it’s otherwise unremarkable. There are no infusions or special techniques to make it feel cooler, softer or plusher.
Wool
The active cooling comes in right underneath the top layer. Wool is naturally breathable and some types of wool can help regulate body temperature. That’s its purpose in the Simba mattress.
Simba-Pure
Sima-Pure is a cushy foam that adds comfort, giving the mattress a soft and luxurious feel. The “pure” comes from the chemical construction as it’s free from the types of toxic chemicals often found in other mattresses.
Double Coil Layer
The coils make up two layers of the mattress. There are 5,000 of them in total meaning they’re small and short, so each one has less surface area to try and keep strong over the years. This makes them more durable.
Being smaller and higher in number enhances the coils’ ability to support the heavier and lighter parts of your body with more precision. This results in a pressure-free, weightless sensation.
Simba-Pure
This Sima-Pure is slightly firmer, to add support and help the springs do their job.
Supportive Base
The base layer of foam has got zones that help support you, at the top, middle and end. The zones are all identical, constructed of long ridges cut into the foam.
If there’s weight placed on these ridges they part so your body sinks into the support. As the ridges compress the surrounding foam, the rest of the mattress becomes firmer. This leads to great pressure relief and spinal alignment.
Emma
Emma is uncomplicated compared to Simba. Here there are only four layers, but they do their job splendidly.
A Removable Cover
Emma’s top cover is moisture-wicking to help you stay cool during the night. This is fantastic for people with night sweats—but it gets better. The cover is removable. You can wash the reminisce of those night sweats away with ease, and it won’t cost you some annoying professional laundering fee either.
Airgocell Foam
Airgocell is of Emma’s design and makes up a relatively thin layer on top of the mattress. It’s a breathable foam that allows lots of airflow in an attempt to keep your body at the perfect temperature all night. The layer underneath helps with this.
The Airgocell is soft, providing a cushy sleeping surface you’ll enjoy, but it’s not overly so, and it feels quite springy because of what’s underneath.
Micro-Coils
Instead of the larger coils usually found deeper in a hybrid mattress, the Emma has its coils high up, just under the thin Airgocell layer. These coils are tiny, encased in fabric, and provide medium-firm support. They also add a bounce to the bed that some people may find enjoyable.
ZeroGravity Memory Foam
Memory foam is usually used for surface-level comfort in hybrid mattresses, but here it’s used to provide a weightless feel. It’s sandwiched between the two main support layers to make you feel like you’re floating as you sink down into it in all your heaviest areas.
HRX Supreme Foam
This foam makes up most of the mattress and provides tons of support while being rigid—but it’s a little better than that. There are three zones where it’s contoured to allow your heavier body parts to sink further in, helping align your spine.
Your shoulders and hips will sink in and the third zone is also for your shoulders, but for when you rotate the mattress. Your legs won’t be heavy enough to sink into that area the rest of the time, so it’s really only two zones actively providing pressure relief at once.
Thickness
A thicker mattress can be better if you’re highly sensitive and need a lot of space between you and the bed frame. It’s also great for people who want to sleep raised high off the ground. However, people with mobility issues or sensitive joints should opt for a lower mattress so you don’t have to jump down or land in a way that puts pressure on you.
A standard mattress is 20–35 centimetres thick, which both Simba and Emma fall into.
- Simba: 28 centimetres.
- Emma: 25 centimetres.
Firmness
A medium-firm mattress is a fantastic choice for most people, excluding those who need something firmer—mainly those with back issues and higher weights. Preference can come into it too, which mostly depends on how the mattress feels. This pair provides similar sensations, but there’s one key difference.
Simba
Although it’s medium-firm, Simna’s mattress doesn’t feel it. The extra, stacked springs make it feel more resistant to bouncing and movement, creating a firmer sensation when you move but a soft, medium-firm one when you’re still.
The zoned support also adds an illusion of firmness. The non-zone areas feel harder compared to the zones as your body sinks into the latter.
Emma
Emma feels firmer than it is, too. Again, that’s because of the zones that your shoulders and hips sink into. You still feel somewhat weightless thanks to the memory foam as you sink in, and the springs add to that sensation too.
The springs also add some bounce, making the mattress feel softer, which is great for people who enjoy that sensation in sleep.
All in all, it’s medium firm with the properties of something softer and firmer in one, making it a multi-faceted, versatile piece.
Edge Support
It’s nice to know that you can use your mattress’s entire surface, and with this pair, there’s one of them where you clearly can.
Simba
Simba has edge support along the sides, but not the top and bottom of the mattress. Some of the foam is optimized to add this support.
Emma
Emma doesn’t have dedicated edge support, and unfortunately, the coils are too small to provide it as they would in a regular hybrid mattress.
Thankfully, the zoned base comes into play and helps you out. As your shoulders and hips are sinking in deeper, you’re somewhat anchored into the mattress. This adds support all across the board so you shouldn’t have any issues with the edge sinking down and ejecting you.
Motion Transfer
There’s a big difference in the motion transfer here, which is unfortunate for some. The Emma mattress isn’t the most suitable for people who move around a lot at night. With Simba the springs are larger and buried deep in the mattress, creating less of a bounce and damping vibrations caused by movement. With Emma that doesn’t happen.
Emma’s micro-coils are only a few centimetres from the surface, meaning the bounce will create a higher level of motion control. It’s not going to be huge like in a super-soft mattress with sparse coils, but it’s palpable.
Breathability and Temperature
Neither mattress goes out of its way to be breathable, but their construction and the coils in them make them naturally cool. There’s a bit that they do to help those coils and keep the air moving.
Simba
Simba’s mattress has a breathable cover, a wool layer for cooling you down, and the foam won’t reflect heat the way memory foam does.
These elements result in a pleasant night that should be free of overheating. Although, it would be nice if the cover would wick moisture to really seal the deal.
Emma
Where Simba lacks the moisture-wicking, Emma’s got it in the bag with that top layer, which is also cool and breathable. The top layer of foam keeps you cool by letting air circulate too.
After that, the coils help air circulate, but that’s about it. Memory foam isn’t breathable at all and Emma doesn’t specify how well the HRX foam works for breathability. Thankfully the top layers being breathable is all you really need and air can circulate around the edges of the bed when you and the coils move.
Simba vs Emma: An Overview
With all the cards on the table, let’s put this deck back together and see who these mattresses suit as a whole, and see how all their attributes work together.
Simba
Pros
- Chemical-free, great for the environment
- Pressure relief in all the right areas
- Spinal alignment is easy
- Suits sleepers that a medium-firm mattress isn’t usually good for
- Minimal motion transfer
- A fantastic sleep trial and warranty period
- Some active cooling and breathability
Cons
- Not the best pick for people with heavy-set shoulders
- A moisture-wicking cover would be nice
- Only one actively cooling layer
Simba is definitely a solid choice. It’s eco-friendly thanks to its lack of chemicals, and it’s body-friendly too. The Simba mattress suits just about anyone, even people who need a firmer mattress such as those with back issues or high weights.
The only group that Simba doesn’t suit is the heavily muscled, who carry a lot of muscle in their shoulders. Then you run the risk of sinking too far into the mattress and getting your spine out of alignment, and we don’t want that.
Everyone else can have a fantastic time. If you’re a hot sleeper you’re covered by that wool layer, which counts as active cooling and incredible breathability. If you’re short and have joint problems, that’s fine, because the mattress isn’t too thick.
People with back pain are covered as the non-zoned layers feel firmer once your heavier body parts press into the pressure-relief areas. Plus, if the back pain persists and you decide to go with a different mattress, you’re fine. You can send the mattress back within 200 nights with no issue, and find one that suits you better.
If you do decide to stick with Simba, though, then you’re in for a great lifespan thanks to these well-constructed and durable layers. You should have a peaceful time with the mattress, but if anything goes wrong you have a decade of warranty.
Your nights should be peaceful too, thanks to the limited motion transfer. So just sit back, relax on top of the precise support from the many coils, and enjoy—it’s difficult to go wrong with Simba.
Emma
Pros
- Bouncier feel if you like that
- Great for kids
- Pressure relief
- Each movement helps air circulate
- Machine washable cover
- Great for people with back pain
- The bounce may help you get out of bed if you have mobility issues
- Risk-free for 200 nights
- 10-year warranty
Cons
- Not for people with heavy shoulders
- Some motion transfer
- Not the best if you don’t like a semi-soft feeling mattress
Emma is a lot like Simba. It suits everyone from people who need a low mattress, to those who need something firm. It’s even not the best for the same group—the people with heavy shoulders who’d sink too far into the shoulder’s support zone.
It’s the feel that’s entirely different.
Emma’s mattress is the same firmness as Simba’s, but it’s constructed in such a different way. The coils so close to the surface give the mattress some bounce, great for kids who like to jiggle around on their bed, and perfect for people who need some oomph from their mattress to help them get out of bed.
The coils come with the downside of more motion transfer, but if you don’t move around excessively while sleeping then you should have no problems. Turning onto your other side won’t send your partner bouncing into the ceiling. At most, it’ll jostle them slightly, not enough to wake them and send a breath of fresh air their way while you’re at it.
Thanks to the gaps between coils and between the layers of the mattress, each movement helps air circulates. It helps warmer air shoot out of the mattress’s edges, then when you’re still again, the cooler air can sneak in, up through the coils, and onto you.
If the cool air doesn’t get you cool enough and you start sweating, you shouldn’t feel uncomfortable. The mattress will wick that away and you can throw it in the washing machine the next day without a care in the world.
Still not cold or comfortable enough? Send the mattress back within the first 200 nights. It’s risk-free to try the mattress out, and once you decide to keep it, you have a 10-year warranty covering you should anything go wrong.
Final Thoughts
These mattresses may be constructed differently but they cater to the same group of people in the end. There’s some individuality in there still, though. With this pair, the focus is more on the feeling you want rather than the attributes you need in a mattress, but there are still some people who’ll find better use out of one mattress more than the other.
If you value breathability, then the Emma mattress is the way to go, especially thanks to that washable, moisture-wicking cover.
However, if you need as little motion transfer as possible and you dislike bouncing, then Simba is the best choice for you. Simba is also the better choice for edge support.
