Tempur-Pedic Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review

Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review in brief

• A luxury hybrid mattress available in two depths
• Superb pressure relief and supportive ‘body cradling’
• Great motion isolation, but poor edge support lets it down

The Tempur-Pedic Tempur Hybrid Mattress is one of five mattresses in the brand’s growing range of foam and hybrid beds. Rated as a medium firm, the Tempur Hybrid Mattress offers the pressure relieving comfort Tempur material is known for, plus the bounce and cooling support of micro coils. 

It’s available in two depths: 21cm (Supreme) and 25cm (Elite), and we’ve reviewed the Hybrid Elite to see how it measures up in terms of support, cooling, temperature regulation, edge support and all other key areas.

We rate it as one of the best mattresses for all sleepers seeking comfort and relief from aching joints, and to boost their sleep comfort in general. Tempur-Pedic has an exceptional mattress pedigree and is known for its use of NASA-developed Tempur, a memory foam-esque material that somehow manages to sleep cool too.

The Tempur Hybrid Elite mattress is priced from £1,319, though a good Tempur-Pedic mattress sale can shave a percentage off your overall cost - or get you a free mattress protector, depending on the size of Tempur Hybrid you buy. But is it worth the money? After testing it for over three weeks, we can now say that the Elite is very well made from premium materials and with superb attention to detail.

Our main reviewer and testing panel reviewed it in all key areas: pressure relief, comfort, support, temperature regulation, motion transfer and edge support, and the only area it disappointed in was edge support. The general testing consensus is that this medium firm mattress is a great mattress for side sleepers and back sleepers. That said, even our lightest weight combination sleeper was able to find a comfortable stomach sleeping position on the Tempur Hybrid.

The Tempur Hybrid is available as a Supreme (21cm) and an Elite version (25cm), the latter of which we tested. It relies heavily on world-famous Tempur Material, derived from foam originally designed by NASA in the 1970s to protect crew during space-shuttle flights. There are four layers: 4cm of Advanced Tempur material, 8cm of Tempur dynamic support tech, 10cm of Precision micro coils, and 3cm of Durabase tech to shore up the entire bed.

The Advance Tempur Material is the star player, and the cushioning support it delivers is superb. During testing we sank in, enjoying an almost floaty, weightless feel yet with our spine always aligned. That floaty feeling takes a little getting used to, but it’s extremely cosy without causing you to sink in too much. The material magically softens under the areas where your body places the most pressure, then stays firmer where there’s less pressure to offer support and to distribute your weight evenly across the mattress. 

We tested the Tempur Hybrid Elite during summer, including through a relentless heatwave. While we experienced the restlessness you would normally expect when trying to sleep in really hot weather, the mattress itself didn’t cause us to overheat – in fact it provided a breathable surface to rest on once we’d kicked off the covers. Motion transfer was also excellent, even with the most restless of co-sleepers. 

Our main criticism is that the Tempur Hybrid has pretty weak edge support. This issue cropped up for us when sitting on the edge of the bed and when getting in and out. While it didn’t have any big negative effect on our experience of sleeping on the mattress, with better edge support we would have rated the Tempur Hybrid Elite as perfect all round. 

Another issue is the current lead times on delivery. If you need a Tempur Hybrid Elite immediately, you might be out of luck as delivery is currently taking several weeks depending on the size you order. And while you do get free delivery and setup in a room of your choice, this is only available on certain days according to where you live. If you did want delivery on a specific day outside of the allocated times, the cost is £60.

Those issues aside, the Tempur Hybrid Elite is an exceptional choice if you want a durable, breathable and pressure-relieving mattress that supports you in all sleeping positions. The fact that it has a removable cover for washing and never needs to be flipped or rotated is the cherry on the top. It is expensive though, so we’d recommend one of this year’s best cheap mattresses instead if you have a much smaller budget.

See the Tempur Hybrid Elite from £1,319 at Tempur-Pedic
We rate the Tempur-Pedic hybrid mattress as having a medium firm feel, with a sink-in feel that provides an almost weightless sleeping experience. The Elite is 25cm deep and sports a removable cover for washing, and is otherwise very low maintenance requiring no rotating or flipping. Tempur-Pedic makes it in a large range of standard and custom sizes, with a 100-night trial to make sure it’s right for your body and sleep.

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Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review: materials

• NASA-developed Tempur foam
• Breathable and supportive micro coils
• Removable cover for washing

The Tempur Hybrid Elite is made with Advanced Tempur Material supported by Precision micro coil pocketed springs for comfort and support. This 25cm deep mattress has four distinct layers: two layers of Tempur foam, a layer of precision micro coils, and Durabase technology at the foundation. Tempur has a similar feel to memory foam mattresses that are designed to relieve pressure and ease aching joints. 

During testing, we found that the Advanced Tempur Material delivered superior comfort and cushioning. The dynamic Tempur layer added in a generous amount of full-body support, while the coils provided bounce and breathability (air flows freely through and around coils). Finally, the Durabase delivers an excellent foundation for sleepers to feel stable and supported no matter what. The layers are encased in a quilted cover that can be removed for washing (up to 60°C). 

Tempur Material was first developed by NASA to cushion pilots during test flight, but back down on earth it provides support where you need it as you sleep. The pressure-relieving material is composed of viscoelastic cells that respond to your body temperature and weight, then shift to mould to your body. It softens where your body makes the most contact with it, and remains firmer where there is less contact. The restless sleepers on our review panel definitely noticed a reduction in the amount of tossing and turning they go through at night to get comfortable.

Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review: price

• A premium hybrid with a price tag to match
• A double size costs from £1,999 and sales are rare
• Nearly twice the price of competitor luxury hybrids

The 25cm-deep Tempur Hybrid Mattress is priced from £1,319 for the Supreme (21cm) version and from £1,499 (25cm) for the Elite. If you don’t need the extra depth but want more width, opt for the 21cm-deep Supreme. Compared to Tempur-Pedic’s all-foam Original Elite, the Hybrid is less expensive than the Original’s £1,699 for a single size, while the Original Elite in super king is £2,939 to match the Hybrid. 

While there seems to be mysterious pricing criteria between the models and sizes, one thing is for certain: a Tempur-Pedic mattress will cost you more. While there is no direct comparison for a Tempur bed as such thanks to its unique design and mix of materials, if you were looking for a cheaper foam-and-coil mattress, then the Simba Hybrid starts at £749 for a single when not in the Simba mattress sale.

Here's the official pricing for the Tempur Hybrid Elite mattress:

• Small Single: £1,499
• Long Single: £1,699
• Single: £1,699
• Double: £2,319
• King: £2,729
• Super King: £2,939
• Special Size - 120 x 190cm: £2,119
• Special Size - 120 x 200cm: £2,119
• Special Size - 135 x 200cm: £2,319
• Special Size - 160 x 200cm: £2,839

At the time of writing, there were no offers on the Tempur Hybrid Elite, but there’s plenty of other models to choose from if you want to save on a Tempur-Pedic bed.

Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review: firmness and Comfort

• Medium-firm hybrid with exceptional pressure relief
• Superb spine alignment for back sleepers
• Lighter weight stomach sleepers may struggle

When it comes to comfort, quality, firmness and support, this mattress is one of the best we’ve tested. Each tester was pleasantly surprised by the immediate support and cushioning. We have to admit, at first it felt a little unusual, as the ‘cradling’ effect is very noticeable and gives a kind of floating sensation. But even our lightest weight tester, at 50kg and 5”2, felt incredibly supported and enjoyed the slow sinking-in feel that this mattress provided. 

We were cynical at how it would fare when it came to sleeping hot, but we can confirm this mattress was effective during July’s 35-degree (and rising…) heatwave, and we managed to keep our cool even during those incredibly warm nights.

Back sleepers will love this mattress, we could feel each pressure point being cushioned and our spine being held evenly as we slept on our backs. It’s the same story for side sleeping, and those of average or heavier weights in particular will benefit from the firmness and cradling on offer. Front sleeping is always going to be tricky to get right, and while our lighter weight combination sleeper occasionally struggled, they were still able to eventually find a comfortable front-sleeping position.

The medium firmness seems to be suitable no matter what, offering plenty of support as well as a squishy cosiness. Each one of our testers reported being able to feel the Tempur material conforming to them (rather than the other way round), and as such, it makes sleeping on this mattress unique in plenty of ways.

Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite review: performance

• Great temperature regulation
• Excellent motion isolation for restless sleepers
• The edge support is the Hybrid’s weak point

We tested the Tempur Hybrid Elite in a special size of 120cm x 190cm, which equates to a small double or queen size bed. We slept on it for well over three weeks, testing it in all key areas including pressure relief, motion isolation, edge support, cooling and support. 

While it’s hard to comment on how long this mattress will last after only sleeping on it for a few weeks, from this initial period of testing it’s clear that this bed is extremely well made so we feel confident it will last beyond that average lifespan of a mattress.

It comes with a 10-year guarantee too, protecting against “material defects due to faulty workmanship or materials, or changes which cause a visible indentation more than 2cm in the Tempur material”. Here’s what we discovered during our Tempur Hybrid mattress review…

Setup

Score: 5 out of 5

Order your Tempur mattress from the Tempur website and you’ll get free home delivery and installation. This takes a lot of the stress away if you live by yourself or, like our main tester, live in a top floor flat. The delivery team were excellent and placed the mattress onto our bed frame with no issues, and they also took away the packaging so we had nothing to recycle. 

The caveat to the free shipping is that Tempur dictates the time and day according to when their team is in your area. If you need to schedule it for a different day, you’ll have to pay £60 for delivery. Returns are free and you’ll have 100 nights to trial the Tempur Hybrid at home. 

It’s worth noting though that Tempur-Pedic is currently experiencing delivery lead times of seven to nine weeks, so if you need a mattress urgently, a Tempur mattress may not be the best choice. In that instance, we’d recommend one of this year’s best hybrid mattresses available now.

Off-gassing

Score: N/A

Unlike mattresses in a box that are compressed with heavy weights then rolled for shipping, Tempur Hybrid Elite arrived flat, so it was already filled out, meaning there was no off-gassing and the bed was ready to sleep on immediately. 

Tempur-Pedic mattresses are Certi-Pur certified, meaning they don’t contain toxins that are harmful to human health - there’s no formaldehyde, ozone depleters, flame retardants, mercury, lead or heavy metals here. The Tempur Hybrid is also low VOC, so you can be assured of safer levels of indoor air quality.

Regardless, when you receive your new bed make sure the windows are open so that the mattress can air for a while before you sleep on it. This is especially important if you suffer from breathing difficulties or asthma.

• Read more: What is mattress off-gassing?

Pressure relief

Score: 5 out of 5

From the minute we lay down on the Tempur Hybrid Elite, we could feel the layers working to keep our spine aligned and our pressure points cushioned. At first, the slow-sinking sensation felt a little strange and was almost weightless (this is proper NASA space-age stuff after all), but it didn’t take long to feel supported and never stifled.

We placed a 6kg and a 20kg weight on the mattress to see the sinkage in action – it was neat and pronounced and held the weights in place perfectly. Translate that to the pressure points, such as the hips, knees and shoulders, and it’s easy to see how easily this hybrid will hold you in place with your spine aligned as you sleep. We experienced no pressure soreness, so we’d highly recommend the Tempur Hybrid Elite to people dealing with aches and pains during sleep.

While our main tester is on the lighter side, the taller and heavier testers on our panel also experienced good levels of comfort. However, our heaviest tester did comment that if they were any heavier, they might sink in too much, especially when side sleeping. Another good all-rounder for pressure relief is the Emma Original, which we found comparable to the Tempur Hybrid Elite in terms of support, although as we noted in our Emma Mattress review, it has a more typical memory-foam feel.

Motion transfer

Score: 5 out of 5

To test the motion isolation of the Tempur Hybrid Elite, we dropped a 6kg weight next to an empty wine glass at various distances of approximately 50cm, 25cm and 10cm. At all distances there was barely any movement from the wine glass. 

While a restless bed partner is considerably heavier than an empty glass, it was the same story when we tested the mattress with co-sleepers of different weights. We also tried a 20kg weight next to the wine glass and again there was barely any motion transfer from one side to the other. 

This mattress is extremely efficient at isolating movement, and if in the past a restless co-sleeper has meant disturbed sleep for you, or even your own tossing and turning has woken you up in the night, then this mattress could be the solution you are looking for.

Temperature regulation 

Score: 4.5 out of 5

Despite the fact this mattress dishes out ample levels of body-hugging contouring, it remained breathable throughout our review period - we slept fairly comfortably during a heatwave. The Tempur Material reacts to your body heat then sinks in where there’s the most pressure, staying cooler and firmer where there isn’t. 

As such, Tempur-Pedic claims it helps with more efficient circulation, so you may find you need lighter bedding. As mentioned we never once overheated on this bed, and the spring coil layer adds to the breathability of the mattress. For another beautifully made and breathable hybrid, check out our DreamCloud mattress review.

Because we tested the Tempur Hybrid during summer, we used lighter sheets as a cover. However, during cooler evenings we tried it with a duvet, and again there was no overheating. Saying that, it didn’t take long to warm up, and we have high expectations for this mattress keeping us cosy during winter. 

Edge support

Score: 3.5 out of 5

There is one area that is weak (literally) on the Tempur Hybrid Elite and that’s edge support. While the mattress excels in every other way, if good edge support is something you need in a bed, then we’d recommend the DreamCloud instead (priced from £499 in the DreamCloud mattress sale).

Our lightest weight tester was unable to sit on the edge of this bed without sliding forward, although admittedly this was less pronounced when lying down as the mattress does such a great job of holding the body level at every point. Sitting on the edge is better when your hips are placed further back, but sit too close to the edge and you’ll soon be on the floor.

Durability

Score: 4.5 out of 5

While durability is a hard one to call after only a few weeks of testing, from how it performed during testing and the premium materials it’s made from, we think the Tempur Hybrid Elite will last longer than average. The look and feel of the mattress is extremely high quality, with neat stitching, a perfectly fitting cover and an even surface that we don’t feel would suffer from premature sagging. 

While the weaker edge support is a letdown, especially when sitting on the bed, we don’t feel as if this will impact the overall longevity of the mattress, as the bounceback is impressive and leaves no visible indentations. 

We like the addition of a removable top cover, which can be washed at up to 60 degrees in a washing machine. This will help keep the mattress feeling fresh and protected for longer. As ever, using a mattress cover will also prolong the life of the mattress. 

This is a one-sided mattress that does not need to be flipped. Also it does not need to be rotated, such is the resilience of Tempur material – a good sign this mattress will last the distance. Tempur does say you can rotate the mattress if you wish (if you have a different weight co-sleeper for instance), but this isn’t crucial. For more guidance, see our feature on how often should you rotate a mattress.

Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite: User reviews

When it comes to user reviews, there are very few to be found on the Tempur website. At the time of writing, the Tempur Hybrid Elite Mattress only had 14, collected via Trustpilot. 12 of these reviews awarded it a rating of 5 out 5 and included comments such as: “The mattress is comfortable and we had the best sleep the first night we slept on it.”

Another user review stated: “The mattress is so comfortable and you just sink into it. It almost hugs you back. Worth spending that bit extra.” Meanwhile the couple of negative reviews we analysed focused on the long manufacturing and delivery times, which can range from seven to nine weeks.

John Lewis also has reviews for the Tempur Hybrid Elite mattress. Again, there aren’t many reviews – just under 30 – to analyse, but what is there is positive, with an overall star rating of 4.7 out of 5. The majority of reviews are positive and praise the instant comfort and contouring feel of the mattress, as well as its ability to vastly reduce pressure points. 

Negative reviews complained that it was too firm for a medium firmness mattress, but the customer didn’t include their body type or weight so it’s hard to gauge whether they choose the right mattress for them (Tempur-Pedic makes much softer mattresses).

Should you buy the Tempur Hybrid Mattress Elite?

Despite the premium cost, if you want a breathable hybrid Tempur bed that excels at pressure relief and motion isolation, we’d highly recommend the Tempur Hybrid Elite. It’s one of the more advanced mattresses in the Tempur-Pedic range, with a mix of micro coils and extra Tempur foam to ramp up the comfort.

If you have the budget, then it’s worth every penny, especially if you sleep on your back and want something that conforms to your body to keep your spine aligned during rest and sleep. However, if you’re looking for good edge support then you might be let down by the Hybrid Elite, although this is more of a problem if you’re sitting on the edge of the mattress rather than lying on it.

For a softer or firmer bed, look elsewhere in the Tempur range at models such as the Tempur Cloud and the Tempur Sensation. Otherwise the medium-firm Tempur Hybrid hits the sweet spot for most body types and sleep styles unless you’re heavier than average. You’ll have 100 nights to trial the Tempur Hybrid Elite mattress at home, with free premium delivery straight to your bedroom.

Like the sound of Tempur but don’t have the budget for a new mattress right now? Then take a look at our guide to this year’s best mattress toppers, which rates the Tempur Topper Supreme as the number one pick.