What We’ve Learned About Mattress Firmness, Thanks to Our Mattress Smasher 9000
Our sleep experts have been sleeping on mattresses for years—some members have been sleeping on them for eight years. Our team has tested approximately 350 beds from dozens of different mattress brands and has a good handle on bed firmness levels. Even after our training Test process As well as extensive experience comparing hardness, our assessments have always been subjective – until recently.
Built by CNET Labs technical expert lab engineer Bryan Adams, technical product test analyst Jared Hannah, and CNET Labs director Steve Conaway, our proprietary technology Mattress Crusher 9000 The device provides an objective way to determine the firmness level of a mattress.
This playful machine was officially launched in July and has provided nearly 100 beds so far. This number will increase each week as our experts continue to crush the beds currently stored in our extensive warehouse. mattress warehouse As well as new mattresses that we regularly receive for review.
Read more: We use technology to test our beds: say hello to the Mattress Smasher 9000
Watch Senior Video Producer Owen Poole explain how a mattress shredder works and why it changed the way we test beds.
The process of smashing the mattress
On average, it takes about thirty minutes to smash each bed. It took some time to move the bed to our designated mattress grinder room and place it on the platform. Once the bed is correctly positioned and the machine is ready, we click “Start” and wait three to five minutes for the machine to work its magic and provide us with an objective level of firmness.
This “magic” happens when a powerful actuator arm pushes its pressure-sensitive plate down into the mattress until it reaches a predetermined force, simulating body weight. The machine calculates firmness based on how far the arms and boards go into the mattress until it reaches that force value, further (or deeper) into a softer bed than into a firmer bed.
Through our custom programming software, we can vary the amount of force exerted on the bed to simulate different body weights, allowing us to understand how the stiffness of lighter and lighter objects feels. heavier body type.
We can adjust the Mattress Smasher 9000’s actuator arm to test multiple areas of each bed.
We can also adjust the position of the actuator arm. Moving the actuator’s position on the bed allowed us to test various areas of the mattress, which is crucial in determining whether the zoned support sections are actually softer or firmer, as the brand may claim.
Read more: Using the Technology Test Bed: Say Hello to the Mattress Smasher 9000
Mattress shredder results, ranked by firmness
Hardness is rated on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being the softest and 10 being the hardest.We use industry terms like “medium-soft” or “really firm” to describe it. Firmness ratings provided by Mattress Smasher are from the perspective of the average person weighing between 150 and 230 pounds, but we also test and discuss the firmness that people weighing above and below that range may experience.
We smashed each bed at least three times, but usually four or five times (sometimes as many as six or seven), and averaged those scores to determine the final objective hardness level. We’ve crushed nearly 100 beds to date, and the average hardness is 5.7, which is just above medium.
The image below shows the hardness scale of the beds we crushed with the Mattress Smasher 9000, in order from softest to hardest.
this Nectar Luxury Hybrid and Spiral Midnight Core The mattresses are the softest, with grinder hardness ratings of 2.1 and 2.17 respectively. A soft sheet like this one is best for people who sleep strictly on their sides and need to minimize pressure on their shoulders and hips.
The Mattress Smasher 9000 pushes the actuator arm into the bed.
No one on our team is surprised, Plank The firmest in the rankings, it scored an impressive 9.5 out of 10 from Mattress Smasher – confirming that it’s best suited for back and stomach sleepers looking for maximum support from their mattress.
As we continue to test and crush the bed, we expect the average hardness level to remain between 5 and 6. Many mattress companies offer middle-of-the-road beds that accommodate all sleeping positions and body types and offer a combination of pressure relief and support.
Read more: The Best Firm Mattress of 2024
What we know about mattress firmness
Not to toot our own horn, but we’ll… This new feature during our testing has confirmed that our team of sleep experts is very accurate when it comes to evaluating and ranking beds’ firmness levels. Brands also rank mattress firmness fairly accurately.
for Little Bear Original When it comes to mattresses, Mattress Smasher gave it scores of 7.6, 7.6, and 7.8, with an overall average firmness ranking of 7.65 out of 10, while the Bear scored 7.1. While not exactly the same, given the different methods and means by which we evaluate and determine firmness, they are close—and both rankings mean the mattress is around medium-firm.
We always test mattress firmness subjectively first and then objectively rate it.
It’s important to remember that even when technology is used to determine objective hardness levels, hardness is ultimately still subjective. One person’s perception of the firmness and feel of a bed may differ from another’s, depending on body type and weight. Our sleep team is made up of members of various shapes, weights, and genders, allowing us to test each mattress from different angles and review the bed from all angles.
Partition support
Many mattresses feature zoned support, which means different firmness levels throughout the bed to provide support and pressure relief where your body needs it most. Its purpose is to help the spine remain neutral throughout the night.
This is accomplished by changing the structure of the bed, typically using a slightly firmer foam in the center or a layer of individually wrapped coils to increase support for the torso and hips. The outer third is usually slightly softer to relieve pressure on the head and shoulders. An example is Available classicsthere’s an extra layer of thin memory foam in the center third of the bed.
The Mattress Smasher 9000 has proven that the zoning support claimed by various brands is generally true and accurate. Even if we don’t necessarily feel zoned support when lying on certain beds, a mattress grinder can confirm that there are different levels of firmness.
this Get a prescription is a good example. Designed for those who have chronic back and joint pain, it features patented lumbar area technology. This technology provides more support in the middle third of the mattress and is designed to keep your spine in neutral alignment. We moved the drive to test each third of the mattress and confirmed this to be true—the inner one ranked around 6.1 out of 10, while the outer third was a little softer at around 5.4 out of 10 .
The Mattress Smasher allows us to test mattress firmness in various areas of a mattress with zoned support, such as the Saatva Rx.
Interesting findings during our testing
As with any technology, the Mattress Smasher 9000 is not always 100% accurate. It may occasionally rank higher or lower than a bed we know of, and we always use our best judgment and judgment to determine why and if a score deviates from its true firmness rating. As we continued to troubleshoot any mattress grinder issues, we came across some interesting realizations.
Mattresses with super unique construction, e.g. Leila hybridsometimes deviating from the hardness score provided by the grinder. We always investigate to determine why, and in this case, since the Layla Hybrid is reversible, the bottom of the mattress becomes softer when the firm side is facing up, which resulted in some weird scores.
We also find beds with soft-top comfort layers or cushions pillow top Often scores are softer than they are. This is because the mattress grinder’s drive arm doesn’t press into the mattress layer as deeply as a bed without a pillow top, causing it to provide a softer score than a real person would feel when lying on the entire bed.
An example of this is Titan Plus Deluxe Room. In our testing, we found this bed to be about medium-firm, while the Mattress Smasher consistently gave us lower scores between 3 and 4, which is medium-firm. We know this because of the soft, quilted gel foam top on the Titan Plus Luxe.
The Titan Plus Luxe has a thicker pillow top, which slightly affected the Mattress Smasher’s score.
Temperature affects mattress shredder results
A bed (especially one with memory foam) will score higher (firmer) when it gets colder from being outside in cold weather or in an unheated room. When a certain threshold is reached, the bed becomes firmer because memory foam is sensitive to temperature fluctuations. When cold, foam molecules become closer together, resulting in a stiffer feel. Typically, memory foam beds feel best between 68 degrees and 72 degrees.
Read more: The foam in your mattress is important. This is how it’s made
Our sleep team understands this very well. We are patient when unboxing memory foam mattresses from delivery trucks in the winter because they are firmer and firmer than they would be if they had a chance to warm up and properly inflate. It’s the same thing when you’re lying on a memory foam bed in a cold room—your body needs extra time to warm up before the foam starts to respond appropriately, sinking and contouring around you.
The building where our mattress warehouse is located has recently experienced heating issues, which means the room where we store, photograph and smash beds is unheated. The resulting cooler room temperature This affects the Mattress Smasher scores of memory foam mattresses, causing them to be ranked higher than they should be.
Watch as we unpack the ultra-cold Casper Snow Max.
Why we use technology to test our beds
Our sleep experts always provide in-depth descriptions of the bed’s firmness and feel in our reviews to help you decide if it’s right for you. These qualities are largely subjective. The feel of the bed varies from person to person. We took turns lying around and dissecting the mattress’s construction, gathering opinions on firmness levels from multiple CNET sleep experts (with different body types and preferred sleep positions), because it’s important to test and review this feature from a broad range of perspectives.
Before CNET Labs invented the Mattress Smasher 9000, it was the only way we could test the firmness of our beds. Now, having an objective way to test and determine hardness complements our expert assessments and makes our reviews more accurate by providing completely unbiased data. As a dedicated member of CNET’s sleep team, the Mattress Smasher 9000 will continue to test and analyze beds with us for the foreseeable future.
Read more: How CNET’s sleep experts test mattresses
