Bear Mattress vs Amerisleep

Why Bear Mattress Wins — For the sake of brevity, the number one reason to purchase Bear Mattress over Amerisleep is price. There is a subtle difference in what the beds feel like, but not enough to—on its own—drive a decision one way or the other. As such, this particular section will focus on price, and then all of the other minor reasons why you might prefer Bear over Amerisleep.

Above is a picture of the company’s original mattress, but do keep in mind that Bear sells two other beds on their website. The other popular Bear mattress is called “Bear Hybrid” and it has coils and a fluffy pillow-top. If you’re interested in an upgraded version of the standard Bear Mattress, the company also makes “Bear Pro” which is a premium foam mattress.

You Will Save Money With Bear Mattress

Given that these are both memory foam mattress, we expect that many consumers will make a decision based, in part or entirely, on price. When we mention price we will be referencing MSRP for the queen mattress since that’s the most common size purchased. The standard Bear Mattress sells for about $800, while Amerisleep AS3 is $1,100.

After discounts, we usually see Bear Mattress sell for around $650, making it more affordable than most online mattresses that were made in the US. You can check Bear’s website for their current deals and offers, if any.

With Amerisleep, the post-discount price is typically $850 for the AS3 mattress. Nearly every time we’ve visited their website in the past year, we’ve seen them discount the mattress straight away before you even add it to your shopping cart—no promo code necessary, either. You can check Amerisleep.com to see the discount today, but we’d expect that it $200-$250.

No matter how you look at it, though, Bear Mattress is the more affordable bed. If you are on a tight budget, the extra $100-$200 savings with Bear just might be worth it.

Design And Feel

The original Bear Mattress is 10″ thick and is comprised of three layers of foams. The first two are polyurethane foam and the main comfort foam is memory foam.

While the Bear Mattress is primarily comprised of neutral-foam (i.e. polyurethane foam), since the top layer is graphite-infused memory foam, the bed has a memory foam feel, somewhat similar to other popular MF beds such as Nectar or TempurPedic.

You will slowly sink into the mattress, but shouldn’t experience a giant “stuck” feeling since there’s really not all that much memory foam. The easiest way to describe the Bear Mattress is that it has a dense/thick memory foam feel.

We also place the original Bear Mattress in between a medium and medium-firm, meaning it should work for all sleeping positions, but it’s perhaps a tiny bit better for stomach and back sleepers from the get-go.

A Quick Overview Of Celliant

If you’ve visited the website for Bear Mattress, you’ll know that a feature they like to market is the Celliant cover. But what exactly is Celliant? Well, the short story is that it’s a material that allegedly can help you to get more restful and restorative sleep.

We’ve done an entire guide on the Celliant technology that you can read for more details, but at the end of the day, we don’t have any internal research that suggests that the material works, or doesn’t work. That said, certain people at our company swear by Celliant and are huge advocates for having it on a mattress, and other sleep-related products.

This press release also shows that Celliant has been approved by the FDA as a “general wellness product.” You will see a similar material on the Tom Brady sleepwear line from Under Armour.

Why You’d Purchase Amerisleep Instead — A few key areas of differentiation for Amerisleep are (1) the more responsive feel of the mattress, (2) its washable cover, and (3) just the sheer number of options that Amerisleep offers you. Amerisleep is really positioning itself to be a luxury mattress brand.

We mentioned that Amerisleep offers more mattress options, and that’s true, but they all pretty much look the same. In other words, they might be thicker (or thinner) another bed in their lineup, but they all have the same dimpled cover with the sleek blue lines at the bottom.

Amerisleep Makes More Mattresses

Amerisleep offers five different mattresses that vary in price, thickness, and firmness, however, they all pretty much look the same. Pictured above is Amerisleep AS3 Hybrid. For the record, the most popular mattress is Amerisleep AS3, which is 12″ thick and made entirely of foam—though you can add coils to it, thereby creating AS3 Hybrid.

• AS1 — The firmest and most affordable bed they offer.
• AS2 — We rate this at about a medium-firm.
• AS3 — Most popular option. About a medium on the firmness scale.
• AS4 — Pretty much a medium-soft on our scales.
• AS5 — The most expensive and the most plush option.

Our best advice is to match the model to your primary sleeping position. For instance, if you’re a strict side sleeper and you weigh 115 lbs, AS4 or AS5 make the most sense since they are the softest models. And this is a differentiator for Amerisleep: they offer soft models, whereas the softest Bear will go is about a “medium.”

If you’re 220 lbs and you favor your stomach at night, well then, AS4 might be your best bet, but AS1 and AS3 might work as well. It’s difficult to say exactly since we can’t assess you ourselves. You just have to use your best judgement.

A Responsive Memory Foam Feel

We noted that there’s a difference in the “feel” of Bear Mattress and Amerisleep. Bear has a more traditional memory foam feel, while Amerisleep is more responsive, almost as if it’s a blend between poly foam and memory foam. According to Amerisleep.com, they use “Bio-Pur Memory Foam,” which has a plant-based material to help draw in airflow.

It’s not as if Amerisleep is a latex mattress, but from all of our tests and observations it does tend to respond more quickly than other memory foam beds we’ve tried in the past. That means you’ll feel less of a “stuck” feeling and switching positions takes a little less effort.

To be fair, some of that has to do with the firmness level you choose, but certainly the foam itself is part of the equation. You will get more of a “sink in” sensation with AS5 than with AS3—which makes total sense given one of firmer than the other—but both are more responsive than you’d expect.

Final Verdict: Bear vs Amerisleep

As we’ve now stated several times, this comparison comes down to just a few sticking points. After all, both are memory foam mattresses, so there’s plenty of overlap between them. Here’s what you should be considering in the Bear Mattress vs Amerisleep discussion:

• Your total budget for a new mattress. If it’s over $1,000 then both beds are still in the picture, but if it’s more like $800, Bear is the winner.
• Preferences for the firmness of the mattress. We’ve noted that Bear is between a medium and medium-firm, while Amerisleep comes in about five different firmness options.
• The feel of the bed is important, too. Do you prefer something more familiar, or more responsive?

Aside from that, both brands hybrid mattresses. Also, it’s nice that you get free shipping and returns, plus the trial window.

But, that’s about it. Hopefully you found this article helpful. You can always visit our mattress comparisons page for more detailed guides and our mattress sales page to see the current offers from multiple brands.