Part of the testing includes removing the mattress cover and analyzing its interior construction and materials.
Testing mattresses is a very hands-on process at CNET. It involves everyone to ensure that we include all body types, sleeping positions and genders. Our team of nine experts has collectively tested over 300 beds with our established testing and methodology. The magic happens in our 6,000-square-foot testing facility in Reno, Nevada. We use our first-hand experience with each bed to collect data, rank the bed and make our recommendations for you.
We’ve had team members sleep on beds for months, sometimes years, to understand a bed’s true performance.
Read more: Yes, We Lie on Beds for a Living. Here’s How We Test Mattresses
Firmness
This mattress is great at isolating motion.
Think about motion isolation as how well the bed dampens movement across the surface. It’s a huge factor for those who sleep with someone who moves around or have pets who jump on and off the bed. We test motion isolation in two ways. First, we simulate partner sleeping by lying on the bed and closing our eyes while a peer moves around on the bed. We rank how much movement we feel. Next, we use the classic water glass test. This involves us rolling toward or away from a glass or water while someone else measures how much the water moves.
Memory foam tends to score the highest in motion isolation.
Edge support
Edge support is how strong the bed’s perimeter is, which is especially important in full beds because you need access to the entire sleeping space if you have a partner. It’s also essential if you sleep on the edge of the bed or have mobility issues that make it difficult to get in and out of bed. We test edge support by sitting and lying on the edge of the bed and measuring how much it depresses under our weight. If we feel like we might fall off, the bed doesn’t have the best edge support.
Hybrid beds tend to score the highest in edge support.
Temperature
If you’re a hot sleeper, you know how important it is to sleep cool at night. Many people are looking for cooling features that promise a good night’s sleep. Unfortunately, maybe brands will market their bed as cooling without the performance to back them up. We use our established industry knowledge of cooling materials to sort through what’s really going to move the needle for temperature and what’s just marketing.
We also test each bed in testing controlled rooms without bedding to make sure we get as clean of a read on a bed’s cooling potential as possible.
Read more: What I Learned Testing Beds at Our Mattress Warehouse
