The Complete Bear Mattress Review
If you’re an athlete, it’s important to find a mattress that will boost your night’s sleep and help your body recover quickly. Getting a good night’s sleep is crucial for anybody who lives an active lifestyle, as a lack of sleep can lead to poor performance, response times, and mental fogginess. Fortunately, there are a few mattresses on the market tailored specifically to athletes, including the Bear. In this guide, we’ll be discussing Bear mattress reviews to help you get a better understanding of this company’s history and what they have to offer.
Company Background
In 2015, Bear Mattress was founded by Scott Paladini. Though this company is relatively new, Mr. Paladini has been involved in the mattress industry for over 25 years. Before Bear, he owned and operated a small bedding boutique called Hibernate Bedding. Hibernate Bedding worked like a traditional mattress showroom— you stop by, try a multitude of beds for a brief period of time, and then make a decision. Scott knew this was not the way mattress buying should be, so he decided to make it easier for consumers by launching his online mattress brand.
When Bear was started, there were three key things Scott Paladini did to make the shopping process easier. First, he made his beds available online with a free sleep-trial, so customers don’t have to spend their days in mattress stores. Doing this also cuts costs because you’re eliminating the middle man.
Second, he sold only one mattress model, taking away the pressure of choosing the right bed. Third, he incorporated premium foams in the design of his bed and made information regarding his materials easy to find on the Bear website. These three aspects combined make the shopping process more convenient because you can order online, you only have one option to learn about, and the necessary information you need about the bed to feel confident before you buy is right there.
You may be wondering, if Scott’s mission was to make mattress buying easier for the majority of consumers, why are his beds tailored specifically to athletes? Mr. Paladini decided to cater his beds for athletes because exercising is a staple in his life, and he wanted to make a bed to help other people who live an active lifestyle sleep better and ultimately, perform better. By launching his business online, he’s able to reach a much larger audience of athletes around the country, making an impact on more people’s night sleep.
Though Bear only sold one mattress at first, they’ve since expanded and offer a hybrid version of their first bed. There isn’t much difference between these two beds, besides the inclusion of an innerspring coil system.
In the next section, we’ll break down the layers of each of these beds to help illustrate the comfort and support each model offers.
Mattresses & Materials
Bear’s two beds are Bear and Bear Hybrid. On their website, the Bear Mattress receives 4.5 stars with over 7,000 reviews, while the Hybrid model has a 5-star rating and 600 reviews. Let’s dive into the specifics of each of these beds.
Bear Mattress
The original Bear is an all-foam, 10-inch bed with four layers. The design of this mattress focuses on improving circulation and reducing temperatures to promote a night of restful, deep sleep. In regards to firmness, Bear ranks this mattress a 6 out of 10, with 1 being softest an 10 being firmest— putting Bear right in the middle of soft and firm. However, it’s important to mention, many customer reviews state their Bear feels firmer than anticipated.
The cover of the Bear mattress is Celliant® fabric. Celliant® has been determined by the FDA to promote better, undisturbed sleep by keeping your temperature regulated. This technology also goes one step further and helps your body recover from the day’s events more quickly than they would on a different mattress. When you sleep, you naturally emit body heat; Celliant® recycles that heat to far-infrared light, which is then absorbed by the body. The absorption of far-infrared light increases local blood flow, keeping your temperature regulated. Increased local blood flow improves circulation, helping your muscles recover more quickly.
The first layer of this bed is 1.5 inches of graphite-infused memory foam. Memory foam is known for its contouring abilities; so when you lay on this bed, the top layer should mold to your body offering instant comfort and releasing pressure and tension. Graphite is a cooling technology that acts to absorb and dissipate body heat out of the bed, preventing you from overheating. The graphite in this bed works in conjunction with the Celliant® cover to create a cool sleeping environment.
Next, lies two thin layers of poly-foam that work in tandem as one transition “layer.” Both of these layers are 1-inch thick and feel firmer than the memory foam layer above. The inclusion of this transition layer gives the bed a bouncier feel and prevents you from feeling stuck in the mattress. This layer is referred to as a transition layer because it acts as the mediate between the soft layer above and the solid layer below. It also prevents you from sinking through the soft memory foam and bottoming out on the firm core of the bed.
The last layer of this bed is 6.5 inches of firm, sturdy poly-foam that gives the bed shape and support. Though the Bear comes with a warranty, a dense base is in place to prevent premature deterioration and sagging, helping your mattress last longer.
This model, like their hybrid, is CertiPUR-US certified; meaning, it’s free from ozone depleters, PBDE flame retardants, mercury, lead, heavy metals, formaldehyde, phthalates, and is low in VOCs. Additionally, their beds are made right here in the United States— at their Wisconsin manufacturing facility, specifically.
Bear Hybrid Mattress
After the success of their flagship model, Bear decided to expand their offering and provide a hybrid model for its customers who prefer the bounciness of an innerspring coil system from their bed.
The makeup of this mattress is not much different in comparison to Bear’s first model, let’s talk about the materials in this bed.
The cover of this mattress is Celliant® fabric but is a bit more luxurious than the cover on their original bed. Quilted within the Celliant® of this cover is a layer of plush, gel-infused foam. When you lay down on this model, you’ll instantly feel the comfort of this cover, and the gel infused into it helps keep you cool while you sleep.
The first layer of this model is 2 inches of Bear’s proprietary Comfort Foam, a poly-foam designed to feel like memory foam. When you lay on this foam, it will contour to your body and offer a cushioning feel. A benefit to not using memory foam in their beds is it reduces the chance of the bed trapping heat.
Next, is a 1-inch transition layer of firmer poly-foam, in place to act as a barrier between your body and the coil system below.
The pocketed coil system that comes below the transition layer is 8 inches tall, so it has a super bouncy and responsive feel to it. Instead of cradling your body as foam would, these pocketed coils help suspend your body in the mattress and promote healthy spinal alignment. Because these coils are pocketed, they move individually of one another and isolate motion quite well. Meaning, you should not be disturbed by movement in the bed, fostering undisturbed sleep.
The bottom layer of this bed is 1-inch of high-density poly-foam in place to give the coils something to bounce off from and to support the rest of the layers above.
Overall, this bed comes in at 14 inches tall and is designed to have the same firmness as their other bed. Bear ranks this bed a 6 out of 10 on their firmness scale, making it medium to medium-firm, depending on your body type.
Pricing
A new mattress is an investment towards better sleep, and usually, aren’t cheap purchases. Sure, there are plenty of budget-friendly beds on the market, but it’s important to never skip out on quality to save money. A cheap bed may seem like a good idea now, but will probably break down and need to be replaced rather quickly. Fortunately, many online mattress brands can cut costs and sell their high-quality beds for affordable prices by choosing not to sell through third-party mattress retailers— this is the case for Bear, who sells direct-to-consumers exclusively on their website.
To give you some context, we’re basing our prices off of Queen sizes. An original Bear mattress costs $840 while the hybrid model will run you $1,390.
Let’s dive into what’s included with the purchase of your mattress.
Sleep Trial & Warranty
When you purchase your Bear bed from the website, it comes with free shipping and a 100-night sleep trial. The sleep trial allows you to try your new mattress in your home for a few months while deciding if it’s the best bed for you. If you decide against keeping it, Bear offers free returns, too. We should mention, Bear does require you to keep their mattress for at least 30 nights, or through the duration of the adjustment cycle, to give their bed a fair chance.
In addition to a sleep trial, your Bear mattress comes with warranty coverage, protecting your investment from damage. The length of your warranty differs depending on the model you purchase. Bear’s all-foam bed comes with a 10-year warranty, while the warranty for the hybrid model is 20 years— a substantial difference.
Let’s break down the specifics of each warranty.
The warranty for the Bear all-foam mattress covers visible indentations at least 1 inch deep in the mattress. Additionally, if the materials in your bed become cracked or split as a result of the construction of the mattress, Bear will repair or replace your bed.
The Bear Hybrid’s warranty covers visible indentations, too, but they need to be at least 1.5 inches deep, rather than just 1 inch.
Both warranties protect the cover of the mattress for 1 year after purchase against faults in the material or craftsmanship. Should your mattress become stained, your warranty would be voided. For that reason, we recommend investing in a durable mattress protector to keep your bed like-new.
Are you suffering from back pain problems? Read out guide about the best mattress for back pain.
Bear Mattress Reviews
Before writing this article, we read through numerous customer reviews so we could include opinions other than ours, giving you as much feedback as we can to help you make your decision. Ultimately, our biggest hesitation with Bear is the fact that they’ve been open for less than five years, so it’s hard to judge how well their beds hold up over time. There’s also little information about warranty claims with Bear mattresses; meaning, we cannot find customer reviews detailing their experience trying to submit a warranty claim. We like to believe Bear would stand by their products, but they also wouldn’t be the first company not to hold up their end of the bargain when it comes to warranty issues. Before buying a Bear mattress, we encourage you to ask questions to feel confident what you’re buying is a comfortable bed and good use of your money.
When reading customer reviews, we found a glaring trend amongst both positive and negative reviews— they focused pretty much on the delivery process. Some positive reviews mentioned receiving their bed earlier than anticipated and being excited to try their new bed out, while negative reviews detailed the chaos they endured trying to figure out when their mattress would finally arrive. As always, take mattress reviews with a grain of salt, and do your own research before purchasing— what may be an important issue to one customer, may not be an issue for you.
Other Mattress Brands to Consider
One brand that shares much in common with Bear is Zoma. Zoma mattresses are also marketed mainly to athletes and rely on a number of cooling materials to promote restorative rest.
Another top-of-the-line brand to consider is Amerisleep. They offer five mattress firmnesses and nine mattress models. We have an in-depth Amerisleep vs Bear guide that thoroughly compares the two.
Purple also offers numerous mattresses, including one specifically for children’s use. Instead of relying on cooling gel memory foam like Bear, they use a unique grid-like material that flexes under weight and doubles as hundreds of air channels.
Is a Bear a Fit For You?
We hope this guide has helped you decide whether or not a Bear mattress is a fit for you. If you’re still unsure, it doesn’t hurt to read about other mattress brands to find one more interested to you. Use customer reviews and sleep trials to your advantage during this process, too.
