Best Mattress for Adjustable Beds in 2024
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Our Mattress Smasher 9000 is testing a bed.
hardness: The firmness of a bed is very subjective and depends on how much pressure you apply to the bed. In addition to real-world testing, CNET recently developed a way to measure the true firmness of a mattress: a machine called the Mattress Smasher 9000. This proprietary device and corresponding software were developed in-house by our laboratory technicians. It presses into the middle of the mattress and rates each bed on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the firmest and 1 being the softest. We also personally tested each bed’s firmness and feel, and we have the MS9000’s data to back up our conclusions.
Here’s the data we got when we tested the best mattresses for adjustable beds using the Mattress Smasher 9000. Ranked from softest to hardest, here’s how mattresses score on the firmness scale.
Feel: We got our hands on the mattress to see how the materials felt. This is different from being firm. Based on the mattress’s foam and materials, we can tell whether the bed is bouncy, slow to respond, pressure-relieving, or soft and fluffy.
Durability: It’s hard to tell exactly how long each bed will last because we don’t test them for years on end. We can infer the sturdiness of the bed by observing its structure. Hybrid beds or innerspring beds are more durable and last longer than foam mattresses.
Best body shape: Based on a person’s weight, we determine the comfort level of a mattress. We tested the bed using different sized sleepers and focused on the bed’s construction.
Best sleeping position: We tested the mattress for each sleeping position using different sleepers: side, back, and stomach sleepers.
Movement Isolation: We tested the attenuation of motion transfer on the bed with two people, or placed a glass of water next to the bed to see how much it moved when we bounced.
Edge support: We analyzed the mattress’s construction and actually lay on both sides of the mattress to see how its support felt.
temperature: Instead of fantasizing, we relied on our own experience sleeping in the bed and the temperature gun. We can tell if a bed is cool, breathable or hot by how many nights we sleep in it.
smell: A mattress in a box smells like a new car once you unpack it. Don’t worry, it won’t stay. The odor will disappear in 24 to 48 hours. Some beds emit less smell than others.
Read more How we test mattresses.
