Our crew of 9 mattress specialists has been doing this for years. We’ve examined and reviewed round 300 mattresses and dozens of sleep equipment, from bedding to toppers to headphones for sleep. Throughout that point, we’ve established a testing methodology that every mattress undergoes when it arrives at our Reno testing facility.
We take a holistic strategy to mattress testing, which suggests our crew is concerned to make sure we’re representing all sorts of folks. Our crew has a mixture of genders, physique varieties and sleeping positions.
CNET mattress skilled Owen Poole assessments movement isolation utilizing a glass of water.
Firmness
We fee and report two sorts of firmness: Subjective and goal. Once I take a look at firmness, I lie on the mattress in each sleeping place and notice the way it feels towards my again, abdomen and hips. Our complete crew takes half on this course of to make sure that the firmness ranking isn’t primarily based on one physique kind.
The Mattress Smasher 9000 objectively measures the firmness ranges of mattresses.
The target firmness stage comes from our Mattress Smasher 9000. Not solely is it impressively orange, however it might scientifically fee the firmness of a mattress primarily based on the power of a 160-pound particular person. We at all times be certain to check a mattress ourselves earlier than the MS9K will get a flip to make sure our expertise is unbiased.
Movement isolation
Movement isolation is how effectively a mattress dampens motion throughout the floor. It may not seem to be a giant deal, however when you sleep with one other particular person or furry good friend, a mattress with poor movement isolation can hold you up at night time.
To check movement isolation, we do two issues. First, I lie on a mattress and shut my eyes whereas a teammate strikes round on the mattress subsequent to me. I do that from each sleeping place and fee how a lot motion I really feel the entire time. Second, we carry out the water take a look at, which includes setting a glass of water on the sting of a mattress and rolling towards it. The mattress receives a decrease movement isolation rating if the water sloshes round or topples.
Edge help
In case you’re like me and have a tendency to sleep on the sting of the mattress or have mobility limitations, then you understand how vital edge help is. To check the energy of the mattress’s perimeter, we sit and lie on the sting and fee how a lot it caves. It does not have good edge help if it appears like we would roll off or the sting collapses underneath our weight.
Lots of our favourite beds, like Huge Fig, have sturdy edge help, that means you will have entry to your entire floor space of the mattress to sleep.
Temperature
All the beds that come via our lab are examined in a temperature-controlled room. Many manufacturers declare their beds are cooling, however their efficiency does not again it up. We’re captivated with ensuring a mattress backs up its claims. We study the mattress’s development and depend on our first-hand expertise with it to fee how cool it feels.
