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Article overview
I recently bought a Panda memory foam mattress topper with the bamboo cover. In this review, I share the whole process from choosing the topper to the set up and sleeping on it.
If you’re short on time, you can skip to my verdict at the end.
Please note that all the photos are my own, but the company may make changes to the design and materials in the future.
Why I chose the Panda mattress topper
I periodically try out new mattress toppers for two main reasons. Firstly, because my mattress is on the firmer side, so it feels better with some extra cushioning.
Secondly, because I also regularly test bed cooling systems, I’m always on the lookout for the right topper to support both the cooling pads and my body.
I recently got a new cooling pad, so I thought it was a good opportunity to replace my current mattress topper – the MightySoft. It felt very soft and fluffy at first, but has compacted over time.
I decided on the Panda for a couple of reasons: I liked the idea of the cushioning the medium-firm memory foam promised to provide, and the bamboo cover appeared to be both stylish and practical.
Ordering, price, and sizes
I bought mine from the Panda website in the UK. I ordered the king size, which cost £159.95. I thought this was a reasonable price for a king size memory foam mattress topper that includes a cover.
It’s more expensive than the last memory foam topper I bought on Amazon – the Sleep Innovations. However, it turned out to have a higher quality look overall, with better finishes and much denser memory foam, so I felt the price was okay.
It’s available in a wide range of mattress sizes. However, aside from choosing the size, there are no other options for thickness, density, or cover design.
Sizes
- UK Single
- UK Small double
- UK Double
- UK King
- UK Super King
- EU Single
- EU Double
- EU Super king
- EU Emperor
Confusingly, if you change the currency to US dollars or the other countries listed on their website, the sizes don’t change appropriately. So if you’re in the US, and you look on Amazon, for example, I’d check the sizes carefully. You don’t want the same issue I had with the Sleep Innovations when they sent me the wrong size.
If only every country in the world had the same mattress size!
Unboxing and setup
Like just about every other topper I’ve bought over the years, the Panda topper arrived very tightly compressed in a small box that you’ll never get it back into if you want to return it (there is a way though if you need to).
On the plus side, it’s easy to carry to the bedroom compared to shifting a fully unrolled wobbly king size topper around and knocking pictures of the walls.
As per the instructions, I carefully cut the plastic wrapper and watched it do the reverse snail move as it unrolled onto my bed. There’s a lot of plastic, which I later took to my local supermarket to recycle.
Non-slip mat on the reverse side
I was impressed by the non-slip reverse side of the topper. It’s annoying when toppers shift on the bed and you keep having to adjust them in the morning. While it does move about a bit, it’s much better than basic memory foam slabs I’ve tried.
Practical adjustable straps
As well as the non-slip underside, there are four well-designed straps to attach the Panda topper to your mattress.
It’s unusual for a topper cover to have adjustable straps in my experience. Now I think about it, all mattress toppers would benefit from having them. It makes it much easier to attach it nicely to your exact mattress height without ending up with the corners lifting, which often happens if the straps are too short.
Once I’d attached the topper to my mattress, I thought it looked very neat and was a perfect fit.
Panda says you need to give the topper some time for the memory foam to fully expand. So I left my straps loose at first to give it some breathing room, and tightened them later.
However, after just two hours, my topper appeared to have reached its full 5 cm height. I did find I needed to adjust the cover a little to align the zip and seams, but that was easy enough to do.
Cover materials
The cover of the Panda mattress topper is listed on their website as having a 70% bamboo fibre outer layer and 30% polyester support (the non-slip mat presumably).
At the time of writing they actually label the topper ‘Bamboo Mattress Topper’ on their website. This is strange though in my opinion. The box it comes in is labelled ‘Memory Foam Bamboo Mattress Topper’.
Really, it’s a memory foam mattress topper with a bamboo cover. Let’s call a spade a spade!
Anyway, marketing blurb aside, I really like the cover. It has a soft feel and can be unzipped to wash. The feel isn’t so relevant in the long run as I’ll use a mattress protector. But if you only use a thin bed sheet, it’s good to know the cover is smooth and soft.
Main memory foam section
The main section of the topper is a huge slab of memory foam. It has the typical blue colour that most seem to these days, with darker blue capsules scattered throughout.
Panda describes their memory foam as hydrofoam, with the idea that it’s both supportive and better than standard memory foam for heat retention.
Here’s a quote from their website that explains it in more detail:
Many memory foams can cause overheating due to their tendency to retain heat. Our Hydro Foam™ is designed using tiny heat-sensitive capsules forming an open-cell technology that expands when the memory foam wanes. The extra space between the cells releases heat, keeping you fresh and comfortable. Third-generation memory foam adapts to every sleeping position to ensure healthy alignment and optimum support for incredibly comfortable bedtimes, you can rely on.
Interestingly, the Sleep Innovations topper didn’t have these type of capsules, but the Lucid I used last year did. So even if they did design this one with their own engineers, it’s not a concept I haven’t seen before. Having said that, the foam is much more supportive than the Lucid I tried, so their combination of capsules and support seems much better to me.
Materials compliance / safety
On the Panda website, they list their compliance as follows:
Complies with BS 7177 UK fire safety regulations. Standard 100 by OEKO-TEX® : SH025 177569 TESTEX
So it’s good there are some quality standards in place (not always the case with online bedding).
Thickness and density
As I mentioned above, the Panda mattress topper is 5 cm thick. All toppers compress when you’re on top of them though – some more, some less. The company lists the density as 5lbs per sqft (80 kg/m3).
I was very happy to discover that the Panda doesn’t compress to a wafer thin slither when I squeeze the edge hard in my hand.
Some toppers easily compress to a disappointing ‘where did it go?’ point. But the Panda kept a couple of cm even with all my force, which is great as it means more effective body support.
You can see in the photo below, that even when I push on the top with my hands with a lot of strength, it has a healthy amount of give, but I can’t flatten it against my mattress.
Off-gassing and smell
Memory foam is notoriously smelly out of the box. Off-gassing, to use the technical term. The Panda did have a bit of a smell when it first rolled out of its cage, but not as bad as some generic foam I’ve tested.
I could still smell it very lightly a few hours later, but by the next day there was no noticeable smell.
Feel, firmness, and how well it supports my body
You can see in the photo below that when I lie on my back, the Panda mattress topper supports my body really well. I currently weigh 84 kg (185 lbs) to give you an idea.
The first thing I noticed when lying on the topper is how much support it provides from head to toe. With the Sleep Innovations and Lucid, which also have the blue memory foam slab, I sunk in much more.
The density of the Panda keeps me raised, but with enough give around the heavier areas of my body such as my hips and shoulders to make me feel that I’m well cushioned.
When I lie on my side or front, I also find it lets the weight of my shoulders and hips sink in enough that they aren’t pressing firmly onto the bed, while the rest contours well to my body.
So, I feel very well cushioned in all three sleep positions. I wouldn’t describe it as sleeping on a cloud, to use that old cliché. That feeling sometimes comes at the cost of less effective support though. The Sleep Innovations, by comparison, did give that fluffy cloud-like fee, but I prefer the more engaged cushioning of the Panda.
I also prefer not to feel like I’m ‘stuck’ in a position on my bed when foam is too thick and lacks density, resulting in you sinking in so far that even a simple roll takes more effort than it should. Again, the Panda cushions, but doesn’t cave in, which is my personal preference.
My partner is much lighter and prefers a firmer surface than me, so the medium-firm density of the Panda suits her very well too. I wondered if her lighter body might not feel so cushioned, but she’s been loving sleeping on for the last couple of weeks.
Does it sleep hot?
This is a key question for me personally; I don’t mind a warmer bed in the winter, but in the hotter summer months, if my body heat builds up underneath me, I really notice it and struggle to sleep if it doesn’t dissipate.
It’s May at the moment and we’ve had some untypical warm weather here recently. Not enough to give it a true test yet though.
However, I do feel like it’s going to hold some of my body heat and not let it escape as well as latex or wool do, for example. On the other hand, it’s nowhere near as warm as the previous two memory foam toppers I’ve tried, which is good.
My view is that no matter how breathable a memory foam topper’s cover is, or how much they try to mitigate heat issue with clever heat reactive capsules or whatnot, memory foam is simply one of the warmer materials to sleep on.
So although my experience so far hasn’t been that it sleeps hot per se, it also doesn’t feel incredibly breathable. My suspicion is that if you’re a very hot sleeper and sleep in a warm bedroom, you’re going to feel that it’s a warm surface to lie on.
Better than some other memory foam topper, for sure. But not better than other materials altogether.
Good motion isolation
Another point memory foam is known for is the good motion isolation. The Panda does well on this front, with neither my partner or I feeling disturbed by the other’s movements in the night. So if you sleep next to someone who is quite restless at night, it could be a good choice to add an extra bit of dampening of their movements on your side of the bed.
Cleaning
The cover unzips and can be machine washed, which is great. The internal foam would need to be spot cleaned, as is always the case with memory foam.
I did try removing the cover and putting it back on. It’s a bit of a faff, which didn’t surprise me, but I’m happy that it didn’t shrink in the wash and I could get it back on with some wriggling and patience.
Trying it with a cooling pad on top
As I mentioned at the start, I’m always keen to find the best combination of mattress + topper + cooling mattress pad.
After using the Panda topper alone for several days, I installed the Adamson cooling system (which I’ll be reviewing soon too). It’s been a good base for the cooling pad section, which is very lightweight anyway, so it didn’t surprise me.
I bought the Eight Sleep Pod 5 this week too, which I’ll also review later this summer. I’m not 100% sure they will work well together as that is a much more substantial pad to install on a bed. I might give it a go though, and see how well it holds in place as I like the Panda and would like it to keep the extra cushioning in place if possible.
Verdict
Overall, the Panda mattress topper impressed me and I’ve been sleeping well on it. It looks smart out of the box and is clearly finished to a high standard compared to some of the basic slabs of memory foam I’ve bought over the years.
The cover appears to be high quality, with a useful non-slip base and practical straps that can be adjusted to attach it just right to your mattress.
Most importantly, both my partner and I feel that it supports our different body weights well in all sleep positions. As a predominantly side sleeper, I appreciate how well it absorbs the weight of my hips and shoulders, but doesn’t make me feel like I’m sinking in too far.
The medium-firm density doesn’t feel too firm, and although it’s not as soft as some memory foam, we both prefer the effective cushioning it provides.
My main criticism is that it does feel slightly warm, even with the promise of better breathability with the hydrofoam design and reactive capsules. They may help a bit compared to very basic foam, but it still feels warmer than latex or wool at the end of the day.
If you’re a cold sleeper, it could be a good choice then. Hot sleeper? Perhaps try it and see how you get on, but don’t be surprised if your body heat still starts to build up under you if you lie in the same place for a long time on hotter nights.
Finally, I think the Panda mattress topper is fairly good value for money. Yes, there are lower cost foam toppers out there, but considering the density of the foam and quality of the cover, I think the price is reasonable.
Price and warranty
Please keep in mind that the prices are likely to fluctuate over time. But at the time of writing, they range from £99.95 to £174.95 depending on the mattress size.
Panda offers a 30 night trial period and a ten year warranty with their toppers.
Availability
In the UK, It’s available on the Panda website and also on Amazon UK. You could also check B&Q, Habitat, and Argos.
If you’re in the US, it’s also available on Amazon US. But the prices are higher as it’s imported by a UK company.
