Bear Mattress vs GhostBed

Inside The Updated Bear Mattress

Bear has gone through several big changes over the years. Originally, it was one of the firmest beds you could buy online and then it became one of the softest. Now, in 2019, the company changed the bed once again, and we hope that it stays this way.

Over the years, though, the construction has mostly been the same in that it’s an all-foam bed. The exact densities and thicknesses of the foams have changed, which makes for a different overall feel and firmness (more on this below).

The bed starts with your typical layer of dense, supportive polyurethane foam. I say typical because Bear, GhostBed, and pretty much every other foam bed will start here. The next layer with Bear is a transitional layer of poly foam again, only this time the foam is softer. There are two main reasons they include a transition layer. First, it prevents the sleeper from feeling the dense bottom layer. Second, it adds a little more support under the comfort layer.

This go-around Bear has just one comfort layer, which is a graphite-infused gel memory foam. If you aren’t familiar with graphite memory foam, its main purpose (aside from providing comfort) is to help keep you at a neutral sleeping temperature. Plain memory foam is known to trap heat, and so to get around that they infuse the memory foam with a cooling agent—in this case graphite. It will help to dissipate heat and prevent the bed from warming up excessively.

All together, the new Bear Mattress is 10″ thick, . Layla, Leesa, and virtually every other all-foam bed measures in at 10″ thick as well (GhostBed is actually an exception at 11″).

Laying On A Bear Mattress

Given its new construction, the bed—to the surprise of no one—has a memory foam feel. But it’s not quite that simple. Because it has just one sheet of memory foam, it won’t have as deep or true of a memory foam feel as a TempurPedic mattress, for example.

When you lay on the bed, it will slowly conform to your body, allowing your shoulders and hips plenty of pressure relief. It should also push back a little to fill the small of your back when you’re laying face up. Again, it is memory foam, so the bed will remember your shape to a certain degree.

This makes switching sleeping positions a little more involved, but you won’t feel stuck like you will with the Zinus Green Tea mattress, for example.

As you can see in our graphic above, we place Bear somewhere between a true medium and medium-firm. It’s firmer than your average online mattress such as Casper, but it’s a good deal softer than something like the Avocado Mattress.

It should be just fine for all sleeping styles, though, you should be aware that for petite side sleepers it’s going to be pretty darn firm from the get-go. Now, this is a good time to bring up the fact that all beds will get softer the more you sleep on them. That applies to Bear, GhostBed, and all other mattresses. So, while Bear might start between a medium and medium-firm, we expect it to float closer to a medium over time.

What About Bear’s Celliant Cover?

We can’t conclude a comparison with Bear Mattress without discussing the bed’s Celliant cover—which you’ll see on very few other beds. The gist of what you need to know about Celliant is that it’s been approved by the FDA as a “general wellness device,” at least according to Bear’s website.

We don’t have any concrete evidence supporting the claims of Celliant, but here’s what it’s supposedly to help with: increased circulation, faster recovery times, more restful sleep, among other things.

Again, we can’t tell you whether or not the cover works. We have certain members of our team that swear by it, but who knows if it will work for everyone. Let’s put it this way: if you’re already interested in Bear, the Celliant cover makes the bed just that much better, but it’s perhaps not a major reason to buy the bed.

In Most Cases, Bear Wins On Price

I say “in most cases” because you never know what sort of promotions GhostBed will run, but we’ve largely observed that Bear ends up being cheaper than GhostBed—that is, if you apply a discount code. For starters, a queen size Bear retails for closer to $800, while GhostBed is in the $1,000 range for the same size.

After you apply a coupon code, Bear will end up somewhere around $650 and GhostBed will be around $800-900. Now, in the grand scheme of things that’s not a big price difference, but in relative terms, Bear will often be 15% or more cheaper. For budget shoppers, we think both beds are a viable option, but if you need to save every dollar, Bear wins.

What GhostBed Is Made Of

For the average consumer, GhostBed and Bear seem similar, if not exactly the same. But if you look past the surface you will see they’re quite different—almost inverted, in fact. While they both start with a poly foam base, GhostBed has a memory foam transition layer and a responsive top layer.

The interesting thing about GhostBed is that they’re trying to program away (somewhat) from having a memory foam feel, while Bear is leaning into it. We consider GhostBed to have a mixed foam feel in that it will feel different to different people. For instance, the top layer of synthetic latex foam will have a responsive, spongy quality to it.

As such, for lightweight sleepers, you will feel mostly the latex foam, and so the bed will feel firmer and more responsive. For people in the 170 lbs to 230 lbs range, you will get more of the memory foam feel.

A Bed For All Sleep Styles

Given GhostBed’s interesting mixed foam feel, it’s able to work for all sleeping styles, so long as you’re aware of what you’re getting into. And, in reality, sleeping positions will largely be dictated by firmness. We consider GhostBed to be closer to a medium on our firmness scale, but keep in mind that all of this changes based on your height/weight ratio. In other words, it’s a subjective point that isn’t always consistent, which is why we show a range on our scale.

The heavier you are, the more you will sink into GhostBed (and every other mattress), which means it will appear softer to you. The lighter you are, the firmer beds will feel—and that is particularly true of GhostBed since the top layer is latex foam.

And speaking of latex foam, you typically do not find it on affordable beds. Zenhaven, for example, is nearly double the price of GhostBed. As such, if you want some of the benefits of latex foam, but don’t want to pay those high prices, GhostBed might be a good option for you.

Why Get One Bed Over The Other

We almost always say that your decision comes down to your personal preferences, and that is indeed still the case with GhostBed and Bear Mattress. That said, here are some questions you should be asking yourself.

• Which feel do you prefer: mixed foam or memory foam? GhostBed is the former and Bear, the latter.
• What’s your budget like? If it stops at $700 for a queen size, Bear is the winner. If you can afford to go up to about $800-900, GhostBed stays in.
• Are you interested by latex foam, or the special cover on Bear? Your answer here might guide your decision.

Ultimately, we don’t like to tell our audience what to do, and this is a difficult decision. Luckily, both are reputable brands that sell a lot of beds. If you need any more info, we have a lot more content on our mattress reviews and mattress comparisons pages. We also have a mattress deals and coupons page where we post the deals we find for a lot of these online mattresses.