Tom's Guide Verdict
The Otty Firm Hybrid is an upper mid-range flippable hybrid mattress that’s specifically designed to offer a firmer sleep surface. With two firmness options, it’s particularly suited to stomach sleepers and those of a heavier build, but its orthopaedic qualities also make it a joy for back pain sufferers. Motion isolation is excellent and the bamboo and charcoal foam - combined with encapsulated pocket springs - do a great job of keeping sleepers cool. We didn’t really have many quibbles but did note that the edge support was bizarrely weaker on the extra firm side.
Pros
- +
Flippable, with two firmness options
- +
Good motion isolation
- +
Excellent pressure relief and spinal alignment
- +
Premium bamboo and charcoal foam
Cons
- -
Edge support is weaker on the extra firm side
- -
Small range of sizes
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Otty Firm Hybrid mattress review in brief
The clue’s in the name, with the Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress being one of the firmest beds our lead tester has slept on. We slept on the Otty Firm Hybrid for four weeks, with our tester being particularly interested to see if it would help ease her ongoing back pain. Did this bed hit the right notes, and has it earned a spot in our best mattress buyers guide?
Below you'll find our in depth review of the Otty Firm Hybrid, where we rate its performance across all key areas including motion isolation, pressure relief and edge support. However, if you only have time for the highlights, here’s our Otty Firm Hybrid review in brief…
Type: Hybrid
Materials: Memory foam, coils, bamboo and charcoal foam
Firmness: Firm (8.5/10) and Extra Firm (9/10)
Depth: 25cm
Trial period: 100 nights
Warranty: 10 years
RRP: from £549.99 at Otty
Like the Otty Original, the Otty Firm contains a layer of memory foam made from bamboo and infused with charcoal, both of which have traits that should help with temperature regulation. And, in practice, the Otty does sleep cool, with our resident hot sleeper never overheating through the night. He felt it was one of the best beds he’d slept on for keeping sleepers cool.
The big USP of the Otty Firm is the fact that it’s flippable, which in itself is quite an unusual trait in a modern mattress. You’ve got the choice of a firm side and an extra firm side. Otty rate these at 8/10 and 9/10 respectively, but all our testers felt that the firm side rated at around 8.5/10.
Our main tester is a lightweight back / side combi sleeper who generally prefers a firmer mattress to help with back aches and pains. She had just come off the back of testing the Brook + Wilde Suprema Firm, so was interested to see how the Otty Firm compared. Much as with the Brook + Wilde, it took a few days to adjust to the firmness of the mattress but, once she had, upper back pain in particular was significantly reduced. Our main tester’s co-sleeper, who is also a combination sleeper, is of average weight and found the mattress comfortable from day one.
We felt that the Otty Firm has more of a traditional feel than many of the modern mattresses in a box, almost feeling a little like a traditional innerspring mattress. This is a mattress that you very much lie ‘on’ rather than sinking into. That’s not to say that there isn’t cushioning, it’s just that the foams are designed to keep you supported without moulding around your body.
Unless you’re a back pain sufferer and enjoy a firmer mattress, we wouldn’t recommend the Otty Firm to most sleepers under 150 lbs unless they sleep on their stomachs. But if you are a stomach sleeper or of a heavier build sleeping in any position, this is an excellent choice with the firmer coils and foams doing a fantastic job of keeping the spine aligned.
Price wise, the Otty Firm is an upper mid-range mattress at full RRP, but regular sales and discounts mean you could find it knocked down into the mid-range price tag. The mattress comes with a 100-night trial period, which is about the minimum you should expect, and a 10-year warranty. Delivery is free to your door, but you can choose to pay extra to have it delivered to a room of your choice and / or to have it unpacked and your old mattress taken away.
Overall, this is a really solidly built mattress that we think will offer heavier and stomach sleepers in particular a comfortable and supportive night’s sleep.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Price & trial
- Upper mid-range at full RRP, but Otty has frequent sales and offers
- Trial is shorter than many competitors
- Good bundle options to save more money
The Otty Firm is the brand’s newest mattress (released in late 2023 and, at the time of writing, has been available for around six months), sitting firmly in the upper mid-range price bracket at full RRP. But, as with all Otty mattresses, there are regular Otty sales and deals to take advantage of to reduce its price.
We’ve seen discounts on the Otty mattresses ranging from 15-50%, although 35% is probably a more realistic aim for the Otty Firm. Even at full price, the Otty Firm is still cheaper than the Otty Original Hybrid and the Otty Pure, making it one of the cheaper mattresses the brand offers.
Here are the official RRP for the Otty Firm mattress in 2024:
- Twin RRP: £549.99
- Double RRP: £749.99
- King RRP: £839.99
- Super King RRP: £939.99
As you’ll see from above, there’s only a limited number of sizes for the Otty Firm but, even at full RRP, this mattress is good value for money. There’s also the option to save more money by bundling – you’ll get discounts on products such as pillows, protectors, sheets, duvets and even bed bases if you buy them alongside the mattress.
Extras are fairly standard with the Otty – you’ll get a 100-night trial and 10-year warranty, both of which are the minimum you’d expect for a mattress in a box. Delivery is free, but it’s only to the door of your building and you’ll have to pay more for premium features. If you are prepared to pay a small fee you can have it delivered to a room of your choosing and / or the mattress unpackaged and your old one taken away.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Design
- A 25 cm thick hybrid mattress with six layers
- Breathable and washable top cover
- Bamboo and Charcoal memory foam, with encapsulated pocket springs
At 25 cm deep, the Otty Firm is a nice solid mattress that’s not ridiculously high and difficult to find sheets for. Starting at the top (and bottom, as the mattress is flippable) is the double-sided cover. The two sides are clearly marked with Firm and Firmer, with the firm side being a lighter grey and the extra firm a darker grey. The cover is washable, but we’d recommend using a mattress protector to keep it clean of spills and stains. The cover is made from a 400g knit material and has a nice soft and plush feel.
Starting with the firm side facing up, you’ll find a layer of Otty’s FlexFoam underneath which gives the mattress its firm support. These sit on top of a layer of larger and thicker encapsulated pocket springs, which provide extra support and resistance to give the mattress its firmer feel.
Next up is a layer of high-density support foam that’s designed to provide additional support on top of the springs when you flip to the extra firm side. And last up is the layer of bamboo and charcoal memory foam, providing breathability, moisture-wicking, temperature regulation and hypoallergenic features.
The mattress also has side supports in the form of thick foam boarders to help improve edge support and stop sleepers sliding off the mattress.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Comfort & support
- Flippable, with two firmness options
- We rated the firm side at 8.5/10 (Otty rate it at 8/10)
- No sinkage or bounce but a little contouring around pressure points
This is the firmest mattress our lead tester has slept on and even the ‘softer’ of the two sides rated at an 8.5/10 in our books, although Otty rate it at 8/10. In general during testing, we’ve found that several of the Otty mattresses rate firmer than the brand suggests, so this does seem to be a common pattern. When we placed our big 20kg weight in the middle of the mattress, it only sank in 5cm on both sides.
Whichever side of the mattress you’re sleeping on, you’ll find that you sleep very much on the surface of it, with no sinkage or bounce to speak of. There’s no body-hugging sensation as you’ll get with memory foam, rather a very supportive and sturdy sleep surface with a lightly cushioned top. Our main tester felt that the mattress slept more like a traditional innerspring than a modern hybrid.
Because we felt that the firm side rated at 8.5 as opposed to 8/10, there was a negligible difference between this and the extra firm at 9/10. However, the extra firm side is undoubtedly slightly firmer, and we’d suggest this for heavier bodies as it’s rated to support a maximum weight capacity of 25 stone on each side.
Our tester tried both sides over the testing period, but ultimately felt that the firm side was more suited to their sleeping style and requirements. As a lightweight combi sleeper suffering with back pain, the firm side provided just enough light cushioning to relieve pressure at the shoulders and hips whilst still offering exceptionally firm lumbar support. However, it should be noted that she prefers a firmer mattress in general, unlike the majority of lightweight sleepers.
Our main tester’s co-sleeper is of average weight and also a combi sleeper – he found the mattress comfortable from day one, noting the excellent pressure relief around the lumbar region.
We asked a variety of people of various shapes and sizes to try out the mattress, with it being particularly popular with stomach sleepers of all weights and back sleepers of average and heavier builds. This isn’t surprising as the firmer feel of the mattress does an excellent job of lifting the hips and keeping the spine perfectly aligned. However, there is no getting away from the fact that this is an extremely firm mattress so if you’re looking for any give and sinkage, this isn’t the choice for you.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Delivery & setup
- Free delivery
- You can opt to pay for premium delivery
- Ready to sleep on in four to six hours, with very little off gassing
Otty’s standard delivery means that the mattress will arrive at your front door vacuum packed and rolled into a box. You can also choose to pay for premium delivery services, which are fairly inexpensive compared to the cost of the mattress. For £10 the mattress can be delivered to a room of your choosing and there are several other options all the way up to £50 to have the mattress delivered to your bedroom, unpacked and the packaging removed, plus your old mattress taken away at the same time.
Once our mattress had been dispatched, we received an email from the couriers with a calendar booking system, which made it easy to pick a suitable day for delivery. This process was incredibly quick and we could have had the mattress delivered as quickly as two days after ordering. The mattress arrived safely within the delivery slot and the delivery team brought it to our front door.
The Otty is delivered rolled and boxed in a recyclable cardboard box and wrapped in a layer of plastic. It was easy to cut open and, once out, did take a little while to initially start expanding. It was ready to sleep on in around five hours, although it did continue to expand ever so slightly over the next 48 hours. Off gassing was minimal, with a slight smell fading within an hour or two.
We also liked the fact that the Otty comes with a protective cover bag, meaning that if you’re moving house, you can keep it from getting dirty or damaged in said move.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Performance
- Excellent motion isolation
- Good temperature regulation
- Edge support is bizarrely better on the firm side
Our main tester and her husband slept on a UK double Otty Firm mattress for four weeks and invited other adults with different body types and sleeping styles to come and try it out. As well as recording our own personal experiences, we also ran tests to objectively gauge its motion isolation, edge support and temperature regulation. Read on for more details…
Motion isolation
A mattress with good motion isolation means that if you’re sharing a bed, movement from your partner won’t reverberate across the mattress and disturb your sleep. This can be particularly important if you’re a restless sleeper or share your bed with one.
With the firmer feel of the Otty Firm and the relatively small amount foam in it, we were concerned that the mattress might suffer from more motion transfer than others. However, the thicker coils and the layers of foam the mattress does contain did an excellent job of isolating motion, and we never felt any movement throughout the night.
We backed this up with tests, using an empty wine glass on the bed and dropping a 4kg weight from a low height onto the bed to observe motion. At 60cm there was no movement in the glass at all and at 25cm there was a slight wobble. The glass did topple over very gently at 10cm. We also got the same results on both sides of the mattress.
Score: 4.5/5
Temperature regulation
We tested the Otty Firm through late March and an April with vastly differing night time temperatures ranging from 3-10C. We slept under a 10-tog duvet with either a thick fake fur throw or thin cotton cover on top, depending on the weather.
Our main tester is always cold, but her husband sleeps warm so was the ideal tester for this section. He felt comfortable all night, whatever the ambient temperature and felt that the mattress did a great job of keeping him cool.
The Otty Firm has several features geared towards cooling, starting with the breathable cover. Thick, encapsulated pocket coils also encourage airflow and stop heat from being trapped. There’s a relatively small amount of foam in the mattress and one layer is the dedicated bamboo and charcoal memory foam, which is naturally temperature balancing and helps to wick moisture away from the body. We obviously haven’t tested this mattress in high summer, but based on initial findings, we think it will do a great job in all seasons.
Score: 4.5/5
Edge support
Edge support refers to the sturdiness of a mattress’ perimeter, which is important for maximising sleeping area and providing a safe and stable edge surface to sit on when getting out of bed or getting dressed. The Otty has a set of foam rails around the edge to offer extra support, but somewhat bizarrely, edge support differed from the firm to extra firm side.
We placed a 20kg weight on the edge of the firm side of the mattress, which sank in by 5cm (the same as in the centre of the bed). But on the extra firm side, the weight sank in by 7cm and the mattress definitely didn’t feel quite as stable to sit on as the firm side. Because the mattress is so firm overall, you probably won’t notice this when you’re lying down though.
Score: 4/5
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Customer reviews
- The Otty Firm is a relatively new mattress so few customer reviews to go on
- Otty have an overall rating of 4.3
With the Otty Firm being a relatively new mattress with only six months on the clock, there aren’t many reviews on it as yet. Otty pull reviews in from TrustPilot, which bundle together reviews for all of their products. Still, this does paint a positive review of the company with over 9k reviews with an average of 4.3/5.
Manually searching for ‘Firm’ allowed us to find some reviews specifically about the Otty Firm mattress with the vast majority of these being really positive. Lots of customers stated how much it had helped their back and joints pain, with many praising the supportiveness and pressure relief. Of the complaints, quite a few of these were focused around a poor customer service or delivery experience, whilst others merely said that the mattress was too firm. This isn’t surprising, considering the mattress is indeed particularly firm.
Should you buy the Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress?
If you’re in the market for a really good quality orthopaedic firm mattress, the Otty Firm Hybrid is hard to beat. Its ability to ease back and joint pain makes it a highly desirable choice for all types of sleeper, but it also excels with its support for heavier build and stomach sleepers.
Impressive motion isolation means this mattress is an excellent choice if you sleep with a restless partner and the temperature regulation is also superior – whether that’s down primarily to the bamboo and charcoal or not. We were really impressed with the build quality of the Otty as well and, after a month, it still looks absolutely pristine. The only slight downside was the edge support on the extra firm side of the mattress, although this shouldn’t affect you when sleeping.
Fans of the memory foam ‘hug’ won’t enjoy this mattress and it really is too firm for most lightweight and side sleepers. But if you enjoy a highly supportive mattress that you lie ‘on’ rather than sinking into, the Otty should appeal. Overall, this is an excellent example of a truly firm mattress.
Otty Firm Hybrid Mattress review: Alternatives
If you’re on a budget or looking for that memory foam ‘hug’, the Emma is excellent value for money, with a slightly softer sleep feel. During testing we found the Emma particularly suited to side sleepers, with layers of memory foam that hug the joints and prevent pressure points. Motion isolation is excellent but, as the Emma is all-foam, it does trap more heat than a hybrid mattress.
Read more: Emma Original Mattress Review
The Elite is a hybrid like the Otty, but its USP is that it comes in three firmness options (soft, medium and firm) so that you can pick the one that best suits your sleeping style. The firm version is comparable to the Otty Firm, but we felt that it had a slightly softer top layer that offers a little bit more cushioning and contouring. With frequent offers available, you can usually pick one up for a similar price to the Otty.
If you’re looking for a mattress that you’ll sink into and get the classic memory foam ‘hug’ from, Tempur-Pedic are the originals and, some might say, the best. The Tempur-Hybrid Elite offers plenty of cushioning and pressure relief and it’s particularly suited to side and back sleepers. Stomach sleepers are likely to feel a bit swallowed up though.
