Our group of 9 mattress consultants 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 implies our group is concerned to make sure we’re representing all sorts of folks. Our group has a mixture of genders, physique varieties and sleeping positions.
CNET mattress professional Owen Poole exams movement isolation utilizing a glass of water.
Firmness
We price and file two sorts of firmness: Subjective and goal. Once I take a look at firmness, I lie on the mattress in each sleeping place and observe the way it feels towards my again, abdomen and hips. Our entire group takes half on this course of to make sure that the firmness ranking is just not based mostly on one physique kind.
The Mattress Smasher 9000 objectively measures the firmness ranges of mattresses.
The target firmness degree comes from our Mattress Smasher 9000. Not solely is it impressively orange, however it could actually scientifically price the firmness of a mattress based mostly on the power of a 160-pound individual. We at all times be certain that 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 won’t seem to be a giant deal, however if you happen to sleep with one other individual or furry good friend, a mattress with poor movement isolation can maintain 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 price how a lot motion I really feel the entire time. Second, we carry out the water take a look at, which entails 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
When you’re like me and have a tendency to sleep on the sting of the mattress or have mobility limitations, then you understand how essential edge help is. To check the power of the mattress’s perimeter, we sit and lie on the sting and price how a lot it caves. It does not have good edge help if it looks like we’d roll off or the sting collapses beneath our weight.
Lots of our favourite beds, like Large Fig, have robust edge help, that means you’ve gotten entry to your complete floor space of the mattress to sleep.
Temperature
All the beds that come by means of 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 obsessed with ensuring a mattress backs up its claims. We study the mattress’s building and depend on our first-hand expertise with it to price how cool it feels.
