Starlight Beds Virgo Hand Tufted Mattress reviewed

The Starlight Beds Virgo is a 20cm open coil mattress with a layer of memory foam, hand tufted and sold direct by Starlight Beds from £63.99 for a small single. Starlight makes it in the UK, then vacuum packs, rolls and boxes it for delivery.

What is inside

Support comes from a traditional Bonnell open coil unit in 13.5-gauge wire. Above it sits a layer of visco-elastic memory foam, then a filling Starlight describes as hypoallergenic and anti dust mite, with a box tile border and hand tufting to hold everything in place. The National Bed Federation describes 12.5-gauge as a very firm starting point for open coil tension; the Virgo’s thinner 13.5-gauge wire gives a little more.

Feel

Starlight calls the comfort medium soft, which we place at 4 out of 10. That sounds odd for an open coil, and the NBF’s guide to coil springs says open coil mattresses generally feel firmer and bouncier than pocket springs. The memory foam layer is what softens the surface here. The same NBF guide notes that linked coils pass movement across the whole mattress, so a partner turning over will be felt on the other side.

Who it suits

The Virgo makes sense for a guest room, a child’s bed or a short-term let, where a low price matters more than how it holds up after years of nightly use. The open coil is light, which makes it easy to move and rotate, and the 75 x 175cm shorty size fits cabin beds and children’s frames that a standard single will not. For two adults sleeping on it every night, the Starlight 09 Pocket Sprung Mattress is the better Starlight, with independent springs, at £244.99 for a double. If you want no springs at all, the Starlight 07 is the all-foam option.

Delivery and unpacking

Delivery is free to most of the UK mainland. Starlight asks you to unroll the mattress within 7 days of delivery and warns that vacuum-packed mattresses have no side supports, so sitting on the edge for long periods is not recommended. There is no sleep trial; an unused mattress in its original packaging can be cancelled within 14 days, with the return at your cost. The product page gives no guarantee period.