Bear Mattress vs Puffy

What Are The Materials Inside Bear?

Before we start discussing the different components to Bear, we want to point out that this comparison is focused on their flagship model, but they do have the Bear Hybrid mattress which we recommend to heavier individuals. Folks who weigh 250+ lbs should look into hybrid beds because they contain both coils and foam, making them extra supportive and durable.

Switching gears back to Bear’s flagship all-foam model, it contains three layers of material which totals to 10” thick. The first layer starting from the bottom is a dense slab of support foam to provide a foundation for the rest of the bed, which is pretty common for bed-in-a-box mattresses. The second layer is made from response foam; a softer material to neutralize the firm support foam underneath.

Finally, the top layer is made from graphite-gel memory foam which contours to the curves of your body to relieve your pressure points. This is the layer responsible for giving you most of your comfort—it really defines the overall feel of the mattress.

What Is A Celliant Cover?

The cover that encases the mattress is part of what differentiates Bear as a brand, and one of the reasons why we recommend it to athletes and active folks. It’s woven with Celliant, which is recognized by the FDA as a wellness material—you can read more in this press release. It’s supposed to take your body’s natural body heat and turn it into infrared light, which in turn increases blood flow and aids in the recovery of your body after exercise.

With that said, the Slumber Yard is located in an office, not a laboratory. So unfortunately, we weren’t able to measure how well the Celliant cover works. Regardless, it’s definitely a nice perk to have if you’re an athlete or active individual, just make sure you like the other parts of Bear too so you’re not just purchasing it for the cover. For the record, certain members on our team swear by the Celliant cover, but, again, we don’t have data to prove its supposed effects.

Bear Feel And Firmness

Earlier in 2019, the company made a few changes to their mattress so it’s slightly different than the Bear we used to know. At first, it leaned more towards the soft side. Now, we think the mattress sits between medium and medium-firm. It actually reminds us a good deal of the popular Nectar mattress.

That means it’s an ideal mattress for back sleepers and stomach sleepers because you sleep more on top of the mattress than inside it, so if you identify with one of these sleeper types, you should be pretty darn happy with Bear. We also think combination sleepers will be accommodated, just keep in mind that memory foam can be a little harder to switch positions on.

Because the bed leans firmer, petite side sleepers should be a little weary—it’s just not as soft as something like Nolah or Layla. It does soften over time, however, but we don’t want you thinking that this is a properly soft mattress.

Now getting into the feel of the mattress, we think it feels like firm memory foam. You usually get a deep viscous feel on memory foam mattresses, but again, you don’t become nestled into Bear as much as you do on other memory foam beds.

Bear Is More Affordable Than Puffy

If you were to solely compare Bear and Puffy retail prices, Bear is several hundred dollars less expensive. We honestly think it’s pretty difficult to find a premium mattress like Bear for a better price, so we think its value is pretty great. That isn’t to say Puffy isn’t a good mattress, we just think you get a bigger bang for your buck with Bear.

A queen size Bear mattress goes for about $800 and Puffy retails for around $1,150. Once you calculate promotions or discounts, pricing usually ends up around $650 for Bear and $850 for Puffy, which is a considerable difference.

Three Layer Construction Of Puffy

Similar to Bear, Puffy is a 10” thick mattress with a three layer construction. For the first layer, you have your typical dense support foam. Again, this is meant to provide a solid foundation for the rest of your mattress.

Next, is a proprietary foam (foam made by the company for their own use) called Climate Comfort Foam. It’s main purpose is to serve as a transition layer between the hard support foam on the bottom, and comfortable top layer. That comfort layer is made with another proprietary foam called Cooling Cloud Foam.

It’s another proprietary foam from Puffy, made out of gel infused visco polyurethane foam. But to you, it’ll basically just feel and function like memory foam. It was made using Puffy’s VPF (Variable Pressure Foaming) process, or in simpler terms, in an environmentally friendly fashion.

Puffy Has A Machine Washable Cover

Some folks need a machine washable cover to make sure their mattress doesn’t look like it was used as a shield in a paintball tournament. We get it, it can get pretty colorful after having your kids in bed with you, wine Wednesday, or some breakfast in bed. Puffy gets it too, which is why they manufactured their mattress with a removable and machine washable mattress cover. As the folks over at Puffy say, just “zip-n-wash,” because the process is that easy.

There are only a few other brands including Helix and Yogabed who offer a mattress with a machine washable cover, so it’s definitely one of our favorite things about Puffy.

If you’re a fan of aesthetic, we also really like the imprinted clouds on Puffy’s cover. Your sheets will likely cover them, but we appreciate their attention to detail.

Feel And Firmness Of Puffy

Puffy also made a few changes to their flagship mattress in early 2019. It wasn’t huge, but we think it changed the overall feel of the mattress quite a bit. We told you how they use 2” of transition foam and 2” of memory foam in their mattress, but they used to only use 4” of “Cooling Cloud Foam.” So it used to have a pretty prominent memory foam feel.

Now, we think Puffy feels like blended, soft foam. The top layer is reminiscent of memory foam, but the layer in the middle makes the mattress feel more like neutral foam. So it honestly feels like a blend of both materials—we’d say it’s more neutral than anything.

On our softness to firmness scale, we thought Puffy landed right in the middle at a medium—perhaps a medium+ in reality. This means it has a pretty great balance between being supportive, but also pressure relieving.

So we think all sleeper types (back, stomach, side, combo) will sleep comfortably on a Puffy mattress. Just remember that a lot of this hinges on your body type and height-to-weight ratio.

Verdict

When you’re trying to decide which mattress you can see yourself sleeping on for the next 10 years of your life, you should consider what’s important to you in a bed. When you look at Bear vs Puffy, we think it really comes down to this.

• Do you want a slightly firmer mattress? Bear is probably the way to go. If you want something closer to a true medium, go with Puffy.
• Do you want the ability to throw your cover in the wash? It sounds like Puffy is the winner.
• Do you want technology in your mattress to help you recover? We suggest you consider Bear.
• Is a long warranty important to you? It doesn’t get any longer than Puffy’s lifetime warranty.
• Are you trying to save as much money as possible? Bear usually comes out to be more affordable than Puffy.

Thanks for trusting The Slumber Yard with all your bedding questions and concerns, and feel free to take a look at the other content we have on our site including individual mattress reviews and many other head-to-head mattress comparisons.