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Mattress testing is what we do. With over 200 mattresses under our belt, we’ve spent thousands of hours testing and rating beds. During our years of testing, we have established a variety of procedures that evaluate each mattress based on factors such as firmness, motion isolation, durability and edge support.
Firmness and feel
We assign each mattress a number on our firmness scale of 1 to 10, which corresponds to industry terms such as “medium” or “medium firm.” When we test firmness, we get the perspective of different body types to get a complete picture of the mattress.
When evaluating the feel of a mattress, we pay attention to how it feels while testing. Are we sinking or sitting on top? In addition, we observe how the materials react when we remove the pressure. Some foams rebound quickly, like latex foam, while more traditional memory foams take a while to react, making it difficult to change positions.
Motion isolation
Motion isolation might not seem like a big deal, but if you sleep with someone who moves around at night, you know how crucial it can be to a good night’s sleep. We have several methods for testing motion isolation. First, we note if our tester can sense the movement of the person who is tossing and turning next to them. Then we use a glass of water near the end of the bed and turn to see if it falls over. If so, the bed doesn’t have the best motion isolation.
Durability
We look at the construction, how durable and resistant the bed will be. We do this by opening the bed and checking the layers inside. Beds with innerspring systems or individually wrapped coils tend to last longer and have more support.
Edge support
Edge support is another one that might not seem like a big deal, but is important if you need access to the entire sleeping surface. Edge support is how strong the edge of the bed is. We test this by sitting on the edge of the bed. If the edge sinks under our weight, then it does not have good edge support.
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