Purple Mattress Review

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Why You Should Trust Our Review Of Purple Mattress

At The Sleep Judge, we bring you comprehensive reviews of mattresses so you can decide which one is right for you. Our staff thoroughly test every mattress we review. We unbox them, sleep on them, jump on them, and see if they live up to what the manufacturers claim. We have personal experience with each mattress, and Purple Mattress is no exception. Our reviewers log sleep time on each mattress. If the manufacturer says the mattress will do something, or won’t do something, we try it out and give you our honest opinion.

Every mattress we review undergoes the same rigorous process. That way we can compare and contrast them and give you an honest review of what we think. You can learn more about how we evaluate each mattress in our Our Mattress Evaluation Process article.

Video Review

Don’t want to read the full review? Watch our video review instead.

What is a Purple Mattress?

Purple mattresses are made from stretchy, gel-like foam, called the Purple Grid. Purple claims this helps relieve pressure much better than memory foam mattresses. Purple sells nine mattresses; each have different amounts of  gel lattice, sitting on top of polyfoam/coils.

Their mattress lineup consists of:

• Purple Mattress
• Purple Plus
• Purple Deluxe
• Purple NewDay
• Purple Hybrid, Hybrid Premier 3 and Hybrid Premier 4
• Purple Grand
• Purple Supreme

Why should you get a Purple Mattress

   You are often hot when you sleep. In our tests, this mattress kept us cooler than other similar priced mattresses. This is due to their Smart Comfort Grid™ technology.

   You suffer from hip, back, or shoulder pain.

    You have a sleep partner and want to extend your sleep surface

    You weigh less than 300 pounds

    You need bounce for mobility but also good motion isolation

   You have a latex allergy but want that kind of bouncy feel in your comfort layer

   You are a back, side or stomach sleeper. This mattress in our tests performed well in all three.

If you’re shopping for a new mattress, there are more options than ever before. The Internet makes it easy to check them out – you don’t even have to leave the house! It’s able to target ads your way – if you’ve been shopping for a mattress, you’ve probably seen your share of mattress commercials. The Purple ad campaign is prominent and quite entertaining. I found myself watching their entire Bigfoot commercial on YouTube when I did have the skip option.

I recently tested the Purple 4 Mattress and have been pretty impressed with how they’ve used their proprietary Smart Comfort Grid™ to offer superiority in heat transfer and contour. Their raw egg test shows you how it can even preserve the integrity of a raw egg when smashed against its surface.

I found this to be impressive, so I’ve been really excited about the chance to see how it feels for myself. This product is taking the Internet by storm. You can check out our unboxing video to see how the white glove delivery works and what you can expect. My driver told me one out of five mattresses he delivers is a Purple. Keep reading our complete Purple Mattress queen review to see if it lives up to all the hype and whether it could be the right mattress for you.

You may want to read: Purple Mattress vs Leesa

You may want to check out: Purple Mattress vs. Leesa Mattress vs Casper

Purple Mattress: Why we like it

So, just what is the hype about Purple? Did they just spend more than the other guys in advertising?

Of all the mattresses I’ve tried, this has a feel all it’s own. If you’ve ever tried latex, you are familiar with its very bouncy properties. Purple’s Smart Comfort Grid™ has been used for more than two decades in medical beds to reduce pressure points and bedsores. The material is very stretchable and highly elastic. If you watch our review video above, you can see us handle a small sample you receive with your order.

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This material is like no other I’ve had the chance to try out. It provides terrific contour without making you feel stuck as is common with materials like memory foam. In fact, it’s quite the opposite as it offers very responsive bounce. So, yes, there is a lot of hype, because Purple provides a unique feel that’s right for a number of circumstances. Keep reading to learn how it could work for you.

Purple Mattress’s Four Layer Lineup

To get things rolling, let’s get an understanding of what’s inside the Purple mattress…

The Mattress Cover

The top of the cover is new and improved. There have been some changes in the Premium Stretch Knit Cover over the original:

    Original

• 29% viscose
• 67% polyester
• 4% lycra

    Premium Stretch Knit Cover

• 98% polyester
• 2% spandex

The side panels are the same material but quilted woven fabric. The new composition allows for enhanced comfort through flexibility with the various thickness options and custom soft, circular knit for the stretchy elastic qualities this cover features. The non-toxic knit barrier offers fire retardant without the need for harsh chemicals. Immediately beneath the cover is the famous Smart Comfort Grid.

I’ve experienced products in the past that do begin to stretch out, but this material feels like it’s of much higher quality. The cover features a no-slip bottom, and this helps keep your mattress from sliding around. This can be especially useful when you have a sleek foundation surface as I do.

Smart Comfort Grid

You can see this is the Purple Four. Purple has made it possible to customize your firmness through the options of two, three, and four inches of Smart Comfort Grid.

When you plop yourself down on the mattress, you can definitely feel the bounce back of the material. It feels reminiscent of the bounce you get from latex, but this product is completely latex free. If you have a latex allergy and always wished you could enjoy this type of bounce, Purple offers a unique chance.

It’s highly responsive, and this makes it very easy to move around. If you suffer from mobility problems, I think this feature alone could make this an excellent option.

The Comfort Grid™ is very stretchy. No matter how hard I pull on it, it is able to reform easily and doesn’t appear stretched out. The moment I first felt the material, I was sold. It feels like nothing else out there on the market that I’ve experienced, and you can feel the properties that keep the egg from cracking on the famous raw egg test at work contouring your body and providing support, especially in the lumbar area.

Remaining Three Layers

With all the hype behind the Smart Comfort Grid, it’s easy to overlook the rest of the layers, but they’re just as important.

No matter the thickness you choose for the Smart Comfort Layer, the last three layers remain the same. Below the Purple material, we find a quarter inch of high-dense polyfoam, and it’s followed by a 7 ½ inch pocketed coil base. Encased using dual-layer polypropylene fabric, individually wrapped coils help reduce motion transfer. The lineup ends off with a final ¾ inch layer of high dense polyfoam.

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Purple Mattress Performance

While the construction is simple and only includes three materials, they work together very well to offer a unique and effective feel. Purple says it’s been their goal to deliver a product that’s soft where you want it and firm where you need it, but, if you look around at reviews, you’ll probably come across reports of the mattress being the cause of ache and pains, primarily back pain.

If you come across one, keep in mind Purple recently introduced firmness options to help you customize the feel to fit your needs and preferences. As a rule of thumb:

    Plush

• You sleep on side and back
• You suffer from poor circulation
• You have medical problems like arthritis or scoliosis
• You don’t carry much weight

    Medium

• You fluctuate side, back, and stomach sleeping
• You don’t like it too plush or too firm.
• You’re of average weight

    Firm

• You sleep on your stomach
• You like the “float on top” feeling
• You have back problems that strain your muscles
• You carry a lot of weight and don’t like to feel “stuck” in the mattress

I like that the Smart Comfort Grid™ is individually calibrated for enhanced pressure relief and spinal alignment, and I really feel it when I lie on my back. My favorite part about the feel is the incredible amount of bounce you get from the combination of the innerspring unit and hyperelastic polymers found in the Smart Comfort Grid.

You may want to check out: Which is Best: Purple Vs Nectar 

Purple Mattress Firmness & Sinkage Expectations

Keeping in mind that I have the plush version of this product, let’s take a look at how Purple’s firmness compares to other products out there. My 130 pounds of body weight typically sinks 6 1/2 inches when I stand in the middle of a medium product. The plushest I’ve experienced is 11 inches.

When I stand in the middle of the Purple 4 mattress, you can see I sink in about seven inches. This is more of a medium plush feel, so it’s not going to be excessively plush. For most people who like a plush sleep surface, this is going to be just what you’re looking for.

What is Purple Mattress’ Foam Firmness

To give you a better idea of firmness, let’s look at some individual properties of the layers. In the foams, you want to look at the indentation load deflection. Twelve is highly plush and 50 is very firm:

• Side rails
  • 55
• Foam above innerspring
  • 18
• Foam below innerspring
  • 55

Purple Mattress Innerspring Firmness

In the innerspring unit, we look at coil gauge. A higher number means the mattress is plusher. Twelve is firm and 15 is plush. The Purple Mattress innerspring weighs in at 13.75, so that’s just slightly on the plusher end and very much in line with the results we got during our sinkage test.

I would venture to say the medium is very close to a standard medium feel while the firm setting is probably just slightly firmer than medium.

Motion Transfer Reduction

The construction of the Purple Mattress includes zero motion transfer technology. While products with coil units have a bad reputation for an excessive bounce, keep in mind the Purple coils are individually wrapped in custom fiber that provides noise-proof and friction-free support.

Considering it’s sandwiched between two layers of highly durable polyfoam, we should have a mattress that does a decent job keeping motion isolated to the point of impact. If you take a moment to watch the video above (cue up to 8:05), you can watch as I drop a 20-pound medicine ball from eye level next to another of equal weight. Considering the very high degree of bounce you’ll observe, the impact was surprisingly minimal.

I was never disturbed by my sleep partner using my Purple Mattress. When combined with the excellent bounce, edge support, and compatibility with all three sleep positions, I think this is an excellent option for sleep partners.

Does a Purple Mattress have excellent heat transfer?

The total thickness of this mattress is 12 ½ inches. Most of this total is composed of naturally breathable materials:

    The Smart Comfort Grid™ features a honeycomb construction filled with holes that allow great heat transfer.

    The inner-springs are also highly breathable.

To put these materials to the test, I lied on my Purple mattress for a half hour in a room temperature of 64 degrees Fahrenheit. It takes around 10 minutes for the average mattress to cool back to room temperature, but it only took the Purple Mattress nine. This is 10% faster than average, so, if you sleep hot, this could be a good choice.

Edge Support

Edge support was a bit of an issue in the original Purple Mattress, and they have responded accordingly. I think the addition of the coil unit makes a significant difference. Although I haven’t tried out the original Purple, it was all foam aside from the Comfort Grid. This is especially problematic on the corners.

However, you can see this mattress does an excellent job keeping me well supported on the edge. For sleep partners, this essentially extends your sleep surface. It also makes getting in and out of bed easier. If you sit or lie on the edge often, I think you’ll be happy with the adjustments Purple has made over their original model.

You may want to check out: The Original Purple Mattress VS the DreamCloud

How Durable is the Purple Mattress?

As I was looking around online to see what other people have had to say about their experiences with Purple, I did notice a few who have reported the development of sagging within the first year.

Purple ensures this is atypical, and they don’t recommend the mattress for individuals over 300 pounds and sleep partners with a combined weight of over 600 pounds. Although the Purple four is still pretty new on the market, there are some numbers we can look at to get an idea of how long it should last.

Density of Polyfoam

For starters, both polyfoam layers look good in terms of density. You want to shoot for 1.8 pounds per cubic foot in polyfoam. While the layer above the innerspring unit weighed in at one point eight on the original Purple Mattress, the new version features a density of two PCF in both layers of polyfoam.

There’s a particular reason I think this was a good idea and that is the top polyfoam layer is closer to the direct impact of your body, and it’s here where you’d want to focus more durable materials. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find products that drop the density in the final thin polyfoam layer, so to see that both layers go above and beyond is unique.

Coil Count in Innerspring Unit

I am somewhat concerned with the coil count. In a queen, you really want to shoot for a coil count of 800 for maximum durability. In the queen Purple Mattress, we find 540. While significant durability issues aren’t as likely with a coil count over 400, I’d like to see this number higher for the cost, so I hope Purple will continue innovating their coil unit to help avoid the development of indentations over time.

However, I do like that the materials are made in the USA, and the composition of the Smart Comfort Grid™ seems to be very strong and elastic. If you’re worried about the coil count, keep in mind that Purple does offer a 10-year warranty to cover manufacturing-related defects. To best ensure durability, spot clean your cover when needed with a mild detergent like an upholstery cleaner.

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Maintenance, Protection, Care and Warranty

This product stands apart in that it features the Comfort Grid. This stretchy material is composed of Hyper Elastic Polymer, aka Purple. If you haven’t seen the raw egg test, take a moment to check it out. It really demonstrates the uniqueness of this material type and gives a better understanding of how it can work to provide excellence in contour without a compromise in support.

If you decide to buy, refer to the FAQs for a few things that’ll be good to know.

You may want to read: Purple Mattress VS TempurPedic

Purple Mattress Reviews and Feedback

It’s worth noting that, if you will be moving at any point in the future or otherwise needing to move the mattress, it is very unwieldy. Especially if you have a thicker top layer of Purple material, you’ll notice the mattress is like carrying dead weight as it does support itself internally as foams and innerspring units do. However, I think this is a small price to pay for a product that:

    Offers firmness options

    Provides a unique bounce without compromising on motion isolation

    Makes accommodations for all three primary sleep positions to get just the right firmness

You may be interested in: The Original Purple Mattress Vs The DreamCloud

The Purple material is non-toxic, and the foams are CertiPUR-US certified. Although there is a slight offgassing, it wasn’t what I was expecting considering the plastic feel of the Comfort Grid. Considering the product’s good breathability, I wasn’t surprised that the smell faded off quickly.

When you get your mattress, it comes with two Purple sleep masks and a nice little sample grid. You can use this to show all your friends and family how cool your new mattress is.

Our Final Verdict

So, did the Purple Mattress live up to the hype? In my experience, I would say yes. While there have been some complaints of the early development of indentations, Purple does note that their product is best suited for people who weigh less than 300 pounds and sleep partners weighing less than 600 pounds. I appreciate that Purple allows you to personalize firmness with the three levels of Smart Comfort Grid™. This really opens up a world of possibilities in terms of getting just the right feel for your preferences.

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Purple Mattress Layer Composition

Material	Thickness	ILD	Density	Coil Count	Coil Gauge
Smart Comfort Grid™	4 inches	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
High Dense Polyfoam	¼ inch	18	2 pcf	n/a	n/a
Pocketed Coil Base	7 ½ inches	n/a	n/a	540	13.75
High Dense Polyfoam	¾ inch	55	2 pcf	n/a	n/a

Purple Mattress Review Full Image Gallery

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