I’m fascinated by this story. I was searching for a new mattress months ago. I found a casper.com case study from a web designer, which piqued my interest in a Casper mattress. After some research, I found sleepopolis.com. The site owner reviewed a dozen mattresses and his opinion was that Casper rated lower than its competitors, like Leesa, especially for side sleepers like me.
Later, the site owner mentioned he was in a legal battle with Casper and fully intended on going to war until the end. It was all over his site, blog posts and everything.
I was ready to buy a couple weeks ago so I checked sleepopolis.com again to check in and make a final decision. His site had been sold, all his posts about the legal stuff were gone and I remember feeling like the valuable “human-perspective” opinions of the writer were gone.
I would love to hear the perspective of the original Sleepopolis writer/owner - he built a valuable thing. Likely his deal prevents him from ever speaking about it publicly.
Side note: I bought a Leesa and it’s very firm compared to the W bed I bought a decade ago. It’s a few hundred dollars cheaper but we will probably return it before 100 days and buy W again.
“Casper filed the lawsuit against me in April, 2016, on the same day that it sued two other websites that review mattresses. The suit makes a number of different allegations, but they are primarily focused on my Casper mattress reviews and how I inform my readers about referral links. I am currently fighting the lawsuit and pushing for it to be dismissed with prejudice.
It is my opinion that this lawsuit is nothing more than an attempt to silence my voice and infringe my first amendment right. When my lawyer asked Casper what it would take to resolve the case, Casper’s settlement demand was that I take down my reviews of Casper’s mattress and never write about Casper again. I don’t think Casper is concerned about my referral link disclosures at all – they just don’t like criticism of their product.”
I remember reading about this when it happened. The owner of Sleepopolis was down to fight, so it’s quite sad that it ended this way. We may be the wiser, but the average consumer will never know that any of this happened.
I’m rather sad that the owner sold the blog, likely knowing where it was going, but when you are embroiled in a legal battle like this and have the option to take a decent paycheck and have it all end, I can see why they took it. I can sit here from afar and say that I would have told them “no, fuck you” and fought to the bitter end, but who can truly say they would do that until actually presented with such a decision?
I'll diverge from the main topic here for a moment. When I moved to the US I was puzzled to discover that there're stores that specialize in mattresses. Later it became apparent that US has, what seems to me, a bizarre fascination with mattresses. In my home-country (and I think many other countries) most people grew up sleeping on thin cotton-filled mattresses and the idea of mattress brands and "technology" just sounds preposterous. It seems like mattress firms have been able to reshape how a whole populace thinks about what elsewhere is a comparatively straight-forward product. Does a person really need hi-tech space-technology memory foam for a thousand dollars to sleep on? This study for example suggests that not: http://europepmc.org/abstract/med/11198791
That study is about whether thin, cheap foam mattresses (not hi-tech space memory anything) are worse than cotton mattresses.
Also, "need" is a poor measure. Very little we consider fundamental in rich, developed countries is about "need". Take indoor plumbing, running hot water and flushing toilets - do we really need those? There are people alive today that grew up without those (in rich countries), and they did fine.
Yes, a good mattress is a bit of a luxury, but you're spending a third of your life on it, so it's hardly frivolous to invest in good, comfortable one.
Perhaps I've been corrupted by the mattress salesman talking points, but it seems sensible to optimise spending money by the time spent doing certain activities.
For me that means that spending on a comfortable work area - desk, chair, monitors, keyboards - comes first. Then maybe sleeping areas. I have avoided upgrading the bedroom only because of the confusion of understanding what is good value for money so far, as there are no returns or free trials of mattresses here.
In comparison, most people way overspend on their cars, which they might use only one hour per day.
I'm tall, wide-shouldered, heavy-ish. So I should sleep on my back. But then my arms fall asleep. So for side-sleeping, I need at least a spring mattress.
I've had a few memory foam mattresses. They wear out (get divots) when the tiny air pockets get compressed and don't reinflate. So roughly, foam density is the key, denser is better.
Ignore any review that doesn't explicitly mention density. Shipping weight is a good proxy. Heavier beds, like the Tempur-Pedics, higher density, should be more expensive (cuz more material).
Light-weight people will probably be happy with the cheapo (under $1000) memory foam from Costco or Amazon.
I now recommend a good quality, flippable, plain (no pillow top) spring mattress and a disposable memory foam topper (3" to 5", depending). Best bang for buck, life span. I've done this a few times and it's as good (for me) as a full memory foam mattress and doesn't divot so fast. So my next bed will probably come from IKEA and whatever topper Costco's selling that week.
I haven't tried latex foam, so can't comment.
Ideally, I'd have a cocoon chair, or adjustable hospital bed, where I'm partially upright with arm rests.
Sell fear, back pain, bed mites, lack of sleep, it's the easiest sell in the book, plus a high cost item that lasts is easily pitched, 'Yours for $10/month) (over 10 years...), throw in a 'if you don't like it send it back' (at your cost...), that's sales, it's irrelevant whether people need something, capitalism is can you sell them something.
I mean, you try out a bunch and you buy the one that feels the best. In order to try them you have to go to a store that sells mattresses.
Sure all the technology stuff is fake- we call that marketing. Do you need the latest in shoe technology to walk down the street? You do not. But people buy Nikes nevertheless.
I think that's unfair towards technology, which is our primary and - I dare to say - only tool for solving problems[0].
What Americans, and other Western cultures, have a problem with is an obsession with consumptionism - the belief that you can always buy a solution for everything, the belief that the best solution comes from those who advertise most, the belief that they even care about you solving your problem. The gullibility to buy "space-tech" widgets with "new QuantumPower formula" that is obvious bullshit, from people who obviously have zero incentive to help you, and all the incentives to take your money.
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[0] - I mean, what else is there? Magic? Hoping for divine intervention? Pretending a problem doesn't exist?
You are conflating science and technology. For example, people want to get a new mattress because they are having problems sleeping at night. Yes, you can try to find a more technologically advanced mattress and hope it solves your problem, or you can exercise more -- which has been shown to reduce insomnia in scientific tests.
Or you can do both. Sure, the mattress might only marginally increase your quality of sleep, but if the price exceeds the usefulness you get out of it, I'm not sure what the issue is. We spend a third of our time sleeping, after all. Might as well make the most of it.
I'm not. Science is what gives you answers, technology is what turns those answers into actual solutions. E.g. vaccines - the understanding of how they work is science; actual injections you get is technology.
Personally I've slept on a high-end futon for 20 years and a waterbed before that. So no fancy mattresses. That said, I do sleep in a mattress in a hotel now and then that makes me go "Damn, that's comfortable." One I went so far as to look up (The Mirage in Vegas) was apparently a variant from one of the high-end brands.
>>a bizarre fascination with mattresses. In my home-country (and I think many other countries) most people grew up sleeping on thin cotton-filled mattresses
Ya think that when 1/3rd of your time is spent (or roughly should be spent) on a mattress the quality should matter??? Not to mention back problems from not sleeping correctly or on the right position.
So, yeah USA is 200% correct in debating mattresses, just as HN crowd would be about debating about chairs, tables and keyboards.
Science moves on, so maybe "cotton-filled mattresses" aren't the best anymore. Personally I can attest that homemade sheep wool mattresses clump together, I can't see cotton do any better. $1000 is NOTHING to get a better nights sleep, Americans spend a lot of money for fancy coffees, just to start
I don't understand this. Large parts of the review business doesn't seem to abide by common ethical standards. Paid adverts are deceptively presented as objective reviews in a myriad ways. Is it even legal?
Nope not legal but the FTC/others are really bad at enforcing it. Look at all the brand “embassadors” out there promoting products on personal accounts and trying to hide their affiliation as much as possible.
Which makes it really hard for people who actually enjoy the products to talk about them. If I mention any brand name in my comments, it seems about 40%-50% of the time I'll get someone accusing me of being paid to mention the name. Word of mouth is being ruined by advertisers who don't know what word of mouth actually means.
To be fair, publishing something online is not quite the same as traditional word of mouth, which is shared between friends that know and trust each other. It's a lot harder to discern the biases and motives behind a post from an unknown person on the internet.
I don't even understand why word of mouth would even be a thing when it comes to mattresses. People sleep differently and have different preferences when it comes to what they sleep on such that I can't see buying a mattress without first lying on it for a while.
I recently bought one of the newish high-tech foam brands (not saying which one so no one accuses me of shilling), but only after going into one of their showrooms and spending a couple of hours testing out the various options.
The only thing I looked at reviews to determine was what the return process was like, and for that you really need to look for user-generated content sites like Yelp rather than people with their own review sites since the return process for a demo model won't be representative.
I got a Casper mattress when they were new and liked it a lot. But recently I had another occasion to buy a mattress — to my dismay, upon doing some research I found out they bought out a review site and they’d also increased prices and swapped out latex with cheaper materials. So I went with a less expensive Leesa mattress this time around and I sleep just as well as before.
I recently went bought a Casper. I didn't like it. It gave me a sore back and neck and didn't get any better until I switched. So next I ordered a Leesa. But that had the strong chemical smell. And I left it unpacked in a room with ventilation for two weeks and the smell didn't stop. Then I ordered a Tuft and Needle, and despite being the cheapest of the three (I think?) it had no odor issues and was surprisingly the more comfortable. I'm very happy with it. The return on the other two mattresses was completely painless and easy, so I highly recommend taking advantage of their 90-100 day trials.
I bought a Nest, and the “return” process was anything but painless. You have to donate the mattress to a charity on your own, except the vast majority of charities don’t want used mattresses for public health reasons. Most of the ones that do accept mattresses won’t pick them up. So if you don’t have a truck then you have to figure that part out as well.
Nest finally sent out a guy to pick the mattress up, but after going over it with a Maglite he declared that the side that was touching the bed frame was dirty, and thus the mattress was unreturnable. Complete scam. I eventually wound up paying someone else to take it to a charity, and the charity had no problem with it.
In comparison, my return with Purple was easy and hassle-free. I didn’t like their product, but at least I have faith in the company.
Bought a mattress from them two years ago. Liked it. Last month there was an odd bump that seemed to be a defect. Called them, emailed some pictures, and within a few days a new one was delivered to my home, and they took the old one to donate for me. Painless.
I had a similar experience to you. I did find a charity to pick it up, but it took 2 months.
the surreal thing was the CEO of Nest emailed and called me. Ordinarily a CEO calling to provide customer service would be great, but this guy was a jerk, and went on and on about what a stupid decision I was making. The customer service folks were nice and helpful, but it would be better for the company if CEO just hid in his office and didn't talk to customers.
Curious: Did you consider the Purple? I tend to get pretty hot at night (no AC) and that one seems to boast the best marketing jargon with regards to cooling. Can you speak to the breathability of the others you've tried?
I haven't tried Purple, so I can't speak to that, but I have ordered 2 mattresses and returned them both (Helix, Leesa), and I'll second that the return process was easy for both of them. The Helix support actually convinced me to try a different variant of their bed which I'm trying next, which should show you there is no judgment on their end when you try it and return it.
Obviously check reviews and everything, but I've found that as helpful as the reviews are, nothing is even close to your experience with the mattress and how you sleep on it. So if there is some brand of a bed that interests you, you should just get it and then return it if you don't like it.
One note though: The return process is easier if you buy it directly from the company and not through Amazon.
We bought a Nolah mattress a few weeks ago, partly because one of its selling points is that it's "made without the heat-trapping viscoelastic chemicals used in memory foam."
I'm still not entirely sure what differentiates its material -- which it calls Air Foam -- from memory foam, because it feels very similar to other memory-foam mattresses. And the website doesn't do a very good job of explaining precisely how the materials differ.
It hasn't seemed any warmer than our old spring mattress, though, so I guess its "100% temperature neutral" claim holds up.
But as OP's post points out, the mattress review sites are very little help. It seems like they're all affiliate-link driven. I spent a good long while trying to find a review site that seemed trustworthy and that didn't make its money through referral links, and I finally gave up and decided I'd just have to try my best to evaluate each company's claims on my own.
Speaking of referral codes, it seems as if for Nolah, there's an almost constant $100 off code that is advertised on the site itself. Nolah also runs a customer referral program, where if you use my referral code, you get $75 off and I get $100 for the referral. Which is crazy. Why would you ever choose the $75 discount instead of the $100 discount? It's almost like you have to be willing to screw your friends over to participate.
That said, if anybody wants to PM me and obtain my $75 referral code, I will be donating any proceeds to the Trappist Caskets Child Fund, which provides caskets free of charge to families who have to bury a child: https://trappistcaskets.com/child-fund/
We bought a Purple and gave up on it after three nights. The foam portion of the mattress compresses a lot and the purple grid on top has this weird property where it holds weight up to a point and then collapses completely after that point - there's no progressive compression property in that grid. Those two aspects of the foam + grid amplify one another to result in something that has deep valleys where you have your most weighted points of contact (for example hips and shoulders for a side sleeper) and peaks where you don't. For me this meant that my legs would be coming at an uncomfortable angle out of the hip valley placing weird stress on my knees and my core/torso would similarly be forced into a weird curve over the peak between hips and shoulders. I woke up every day feeling like I'd been mildly beaten up and my wife compared it to a torture device - she has never experienced back or neck pain in her whole life but three nights on the Purple were close to debilitating for her.
The telling aspect of their marketing/FAQ is they actually tell you to expect this: they claim that years of sleeping on poor mattresses has conditioned your body to the wrong position and so it will be painful for 1-2 weeks while it corrects to their one true mattress. This seems like a load of bs. I've slept on hundreds of mattresses across the spectrum, from quarter inch closed-cell foam pads on top of rocks/roots to various hotel luxury mattresses and everything in between - and never experienced this level of painful need to "get used to a good mattress".
The past few years I've just been buying T&N mattresses. Simplified my life since they are cheaper and, to be honest, I've never actually noticed anything I would consider better.
My boss has a Purple and loves it. I just bought a mattress and had considered getting one. I shopped quite a bit before I made my decision, but after doing hours of research I’m of the opinion that mattresses in general are overpriced and pretty easily fall victim to marketing hype. I looked at Casper, Tuft & Needle, Purple, and several others and finally decided on a $350 CoolGel king from WalMart. Works perfectly. I’d bought a Contura queen, also from WalMart for $275 6 years ago and it’s sitting in our guest room right now working gloriously and we always get compliments on how comfortable it is. We went with the CoolGel because the Contura sleeps a little bit hot and we live in a warm climate. The Contura is fantastic in the winter, but we really only get about two months of winter here.
Bottom line takeaway, and many might disagree, you can get a perfectly sleepable great mattress for less than $500 and anything more than that is straight up marketing cost or at the very least severe diminishing returns on your value.
I just recently bought a Purple pillow. Good god, I love this thing! I've tried every kind of pillow to help alleviate my neck pain and sweating and while some got pretty good at eliminating the sweatiness, none did squat for my constant neck pain...until the Purple pillow.
The only issue (and it's a very slight one at that) is the weight of this pillow. I think the shipment said it was just shy of 10lbs. The best way I can think of to describe this pillow is that it's like a sack full of ass fat.
I ended up with a mattress from Novosbed. For anyone who is in the market, stay away from Nectar. They are a horrible company to deal with. They will ship late, ignore your emails, and refuse to honor their own return policy.
I bet there are plenty of people Googling specifically for coupon codes and then lifting them off of review sites like Sleepopolis without even reading the review. In that situation it does not even matter how favourable the review is, just that the site has good SEO.
If you find a substantial seeming coupon that's valid then that's a major positive feeling that encourages completing the purchase.
You can buy a whole shipping container of Memory Foam mattresses like the Casper kind for about $200/Queen, $100/twin, $250/King from China. Log on to Import Genius and you can find all kinds of excellent suppliers. In Canada they get them in and wholesale them out. They typically sell them for about $400 for a Queen. I have one in my guest room. Doesn't smell, is comfortable if you like memory foam. My guests so far like it. I like to sleep on individual pocket mattresses (traditional).
Anyway, the other mattresses I bought for my dwelling in Toronto was from Queensway Mattress Warehouse across from Ikea in Etobicoke. Double size that is completely organic cotton with individual coils with a thick pillow top and box spring for $600 CAD. It is the best mattress I have eve purchases in my life.
My primary dwelling in DFW has mattresses that cost 3 times as much and are half as comfortable. I have come to realize that there are only 2 or 3 companies that sell mattresses in the USA and that is why they are so expensive. Total ripoff in America when it comes to mattresses.
Casper doesn't seem like anything special since anyone can buy from China and mark it up and sell it in a market like the US for a big profit since there is no competition really.
I like how the final remarks so clearly show the shift in perspective, review and affiliate marketing after the Casper influence. Many of these on-demand mattress companies had 30-day return policies: has any one tried and returned such a mattress? My suspicion is that the large unwieldy-mess of the mattress suppresses ability for the customer to return, so the police is great on paper, but then you end up stuck with the mattress and settle?
From what I've read, the companies have done a lot to make this as frictionless as possible by picking up the mattresses rather than requiring the customer to package and ship them themselves if necessary. Here are two I'm aware of:
Tuft & Needle: "Instead of shipping it back to us, we'll work together with you to donate the mattress to a local charity or non-profit organization. Upload or email us a scanned or photographed copy of your donation receipt and we'll process your full refund. If no charity is available nearby for donation, we'll arrange a 3rd party pickup for the mattress." (https://www.tuftandneedle.com/faq/#category:3)
> My suspicion is that the large unwieldy-mess of the mattress suppresses ability for the customer to return
I have. I bought a Casper bedframe and I didn't like the height of the bedframe, so I opted to return it. Casper sent some guys from GOT-JUNK to pick it up from my apartment and refunded me. No haggling on the phone either
As someone who grew up with the web, it feels odd that I distrust all of these direct-to-consumer product sites by default. Mattresses, underwear, watches, shaving equipment, etc. It all feels like a gimmick.
I have one right now, (I bought the mid level one) and I don't like it. Not comfortable on the long run and it seems it is actually smaller (by one inch in both sides and length) than my older mattress. If you are tall it can be a problem.
I recently bought the same brand after the Leesa didn’t work out. Tried out a lot of beds and the Sterns and Foster is working out, seemed too pricey but it’s fine. There just doesn’t seem to be enough support for me in an all foam mattress. It’s a bummer because going to a mattress store is a complete and utter hassle, just like car salespeople. They use the same tactics and I want none of it. And you hear the sales people say thing like “Well beds haven’t changed much however the sleep science has come a long way.” What the hell are you talking about. So I went in the store, tested out mattresses and then left and priced them online. Called them back and beat them up on the price and bought it.
Agreed. I just bought mine the other week from Macy's where every mattress was "on sale" for almost half of the list price. Then they took another 10% off for a Labor Day sale. The $900 mattress I bought was the same quality as all the other ones I tried for around that price in other stores - each of which had their own ridiculous list price and sale.
MattressFirm was even worse. They wanted over $1000 for mattresses that felt like junk and were $500 elsewhere. Sleepy's was great before they were bought by them.
The FTC should treat sites which offer reviews and have affiliate links the same way they do as celebrity endorsements on social media: They should be required to disclose that, and fine those who don't.
Does anyone sleep on a hard surface? I generally don't, but when I get a migraine, I can't stand to sleep on a soft surface. I also can't deal with pillows. Maybe the reason is that I can put my body in the exact position I want without any give or movement. When I don't have a migraine, I sleep on a thin foam, but I don't mind hard surfaces with a blanket covering.
I invested in a Rumpl blanket and eventually took to putting that on the carpet, a smaller blanket to support the head, and one top cover. The Rumpl is designed to be of a similar quality to a sleeping bag but easier to spread and wash. It's an "as if perpetually travelling" mindset.
For anyone reading this interested in mattresses, I highly recommend natural latex. It's pricey, but 7 years and 17k+ hours of use later, it's still in near impeccable condition, sleeps perfectly (I got the firm) and is easily the best $2k investment I've ever made.
Except when it gets hot. Latex holds heat like a brick; if you haven't got air conditioning and live somewhere where it gets warm, stay well clear of latex.
One of the reasons I trust the reviews on The Wirecutter/Sweethome is because they are pretty up front with disclosing they get paid via affiliate links. I don't know how these sites built up enough trust to influence people's purchasing decisions.
We bought a Costco Novaform Serafina 14" about six months ago, unpacked it and let it pop for a few days, and its been the most comfortable bed we've owned.
My wife and I really enjoyed our Novaform when we first got it however it has developed a lump in the middle where we usually don't sleep so it bothers the wife. We will be in the market for a new one soon.
There are hybrid mattresses that give you strengths of both. Basically foam wrapped coils. So you still get the nice spring action for sex, but for sleeping it conforms to your body, and doesn't wake your partner. Ordered Saatva mattress, and it's by FAR the best mattress I've ever slept on. Organic cotton, no horrible gas smell, no overheating like full foam, eco friendly construction. The thing is magical.
Seems like a decent matress but the reviews page were somewhat suspicious. 12,000 reviews most 5 stars and first time ever I found a website where each review is professionally written - with nice grammar, punctuation, full sentences, few nicely worded paragraphs. Most start with "client" fear of buying online and ends with full relief upon sleeping on it first night.
I've got springs now (Ikea), and a partner who moves often in their sleep. Having stayed in some Airbnb's recently with foam, the difference was huge. Planning on getting a Caspar or similar soon.
I bought a Zinus Memory Foam Mattress recently on Amazon for a 1/3 of the price of Casper. Most comfy I've ever slept on. Not sure why one would pay 3x the price.
My general feeling is that two mattresses might feel the same at first, but they could age differently.
I don't know if this is the case here, and it's difficult to assess this even with side-by-side testing in a showroom. What you really need is years worth of data from genuine reviews.
As this article indicates, genuine reviews are hard to come by.
It amuses me that many of the informal reviews and attestations in the comments echo the mattress sales pitch. Also buyers-bias.
I'm not saying anything is untoward.
I'm just saying that when someone mentions how many hours they slept on a mattress I can immediately see a sales rep or marketer pattering. Also reminds me of when audiophiles talk about their kit.
Also, how can a store have a policy where you destroy the item and get your money back, without the price being a complete and utter scam with markup that’s through the roof?
Later, the site owner mentioned he was in a legal battle with Casper and fully intended on going to war until the end. It was all over his site, blog posts and everything.
I was ready to buy a couple weeks ago so I checked sleepopolis.com again to check in and make a final decision. His site had been sold, all his posts about the legal stuff were gone and I remember feeling like the valuable “human-perspective” opinions of the writer were gone.
I would love to hear the perspective of the original Sleepopolis writer/owner - he built a valuable thing. Likely his deal prevents him from ever speaking about it publicly.
Side note: I bought a Leesa and it’s very firm compared to the W bed I bought a decade ago. It’s a few hundred dollars cheaper but we will probably return it before 100 days and buy W again.